Severe Weather Stories?

Does anyone have any severe weather stories they'd like to share? We had some awesome thunderstorms yesterday and the potential for tornadoes today and baseball sized hail possible. The only worst weather I've been through was a tornado I sheltered for as a kid. Didn't do much damage. I think it's exciting to watch for funnel clouds and spinning clouds as well as watching the lightning strike and streak through the clouds.

I survived the Blizzard of '77 in Buffalo NY.

It was a pretty big deal as it crippled the city for days if not a week or more.

People were stranded at work and the interstates were shut down.

 

I survived the Blizzard of '77 in Buffalo NY.

It was a pretty big deal as it crippled the city for days if not a week or more.

People were stranded at work and the interstates were shut down.

 

HOLY SHIT! That's INSANE! I've been through snowstorms and been snowed in before but nothing like that. I'm not looking towards winter here. It gets really bad from the photos and story people have shown and told me.

 

On another note, if that happened today, can you imagine how many people would blame Global Warming? Lol.

It was sunny once.

It was sunny once.

 

Was that before or after Brexit?

It rained yesterday after few weeks of sunshine, so annoying

It was sunny once.

 

It was 3.45 to 3.47 on Tuesday the 12th of September, 2005. We all took our shirts off and lay on the park bench.....

I worked in downtown Detroit for a number of years, and we got a pretty substantial snow storm one winter. It shut down the city.

 

So a couple days later this popped up in my network. I got a big kick out of it because it was all the Detroit landmarks and downtown of a major metropolitan area, absolutely deserted and watching some people play on sleds.

 

Hurricane Andrew. I was a youngin', but I remember the last of the shutters going up and the garage door being the last to close before it was total darkness, minus flashlights, going forward (and for about 2 months after). The sound of the wind screaming around the house was terrifying as a child. Our house was fine, but when we opened it back up it was absolutely bizarre with every piece of vegetation stripped and fences down all around. I was in Coral Gables so we didn't even get close to the worst of it. Our family members 7-10 miles south lost their roofs and had to ride out the storm in closets or bath tubs.

Nothing that I can think of, but propably that my sister and I were every winter left casually on our own at sking center in -35c freezing cold and often with high winds and low visibility and low light conditions. But that was fun and normal back then. Nowadays even few finns would bat an eye if someone left their child without any way of contacting on ski center and just told the small kids that see you in 10 hours when we come back to collect you from here.

We had severe t-storms last night and this morning. Lots of lightning and wind. There was a lightning strike very close to the house and it fried the Lutron system controller.

I survived the Blizzard of '77 in Buffalo NY.

It was a pretty big deal as it crippled the city for days if not a week or more.

People were stranded at work and the interstates were shut down.

 

Buffalo actually got hit with a snowstorm like that just a few years ago. I don't know if it was as bad, but the same stuff, people trapped, snow up to people's second floor, etc...

Does anyone have any severe weather stories they'd like to share? We had some awesome thunderstorms yesterday and the potential for tornadoes today and baseball sized hail possible. The only worst weather I've been through was a tornado I sheltered for as a kid. Didn't do much damage. I think it's exciting to watch for funnel clouds and spinning clouds as well as watching the lightning strike and streak through the clouds.

 

I like how you say about the tornados so nonchalantly, I'd be terrified if I saw a funnel cloud.

 

HOLY SHIT! That's INSANE! I've been through snowstorms and been snowed in before but nothing like that. I'm not looking towards winter here. It gets really bad from the photos and story people have shown and told me.

 

On another note, if that happened today, can you imagine how many people would blame Global Warming? Lol.

 

Well global warming could result in severe snowstorms, as a warmer climate doesn't necessarily mean all warmer weather. But the thing with this is that no matter what the weather is, they can blame global warming.

Nothing that I can think of, but propably that my sister and I were every winter left casually on our own at sking center in -35c freezing cold and often with high winds and low visibility and low light conditions. But that was fun and normal back then. Nowadays even few finns would bat an eye if someone left their child without any way of contacting on ski center and just told the small kids that see you in 10 hours when we come back to collect you from here.

 

The ski center was a heated building though right?

I got stuck in Lake Tahoe once. Getting back from Tahoe to SF was quite a drive that took about 10 hours. This would normally take 3-4 hours. Cars were fighting for gas and snacks at every stop. It was a bumper to bumper ride the entire trip. Kind of like an evacuation in a disaster.

 

 

Blizzard of '96 NYC was as bad as it got for me. Many streets closed, and walking in the street on top of the shoveled snow was at least 2 feet higher than the sidewalk. Probably the most extreme part of an NYC super blizzard is how quiet it makes a noisy city.

 

But I'm lucky I've never experienced and probably never will experience what Redlambo has seen in Buffalo!!

I only slightly remember the blizzard of 96 as I was only 6 years old. I do remember it being the most snow I have ever seen to this day.

 

Maybe about 12 years ago I was at a car show at Raceway Park with my brother and a bunch of friends. It was a cloudy day but we didn't hear any reports of rain or anything so we figured lets go. My brother and I went to the end of the track on the other side of where the parking was to look at a car and it started pouring. We were drenched by the time we got back to the cars where our friends were. Then the wildest storm I have witnessed began. There were funnel clouds around, very low lightning and the loudest thunder I have ever heard. A bolt of lightning hit a car and blew the hubcaps off and uprooted a small tree and tossed it into another car. Apparently, I was told, a small plane crashed at the airport next to the drag strip.

Heading to Palm Desert Tue-Wed next week... spontaneous combustion is a possibility.

 

That's almost 49C for our international friends.

Glad this is all we got in my neighborhood. Just have to pick up some sticks and this branch. That wind was crazy I thought for sure I was going to wake up to a branch falling on my house.

 

I survived Snowmageddon Atlanta, 2014.

 

It was January 28, 2014, the skies were hazy and the air still. Little did we know that Atlanta was about to see the worst 2.3 inches of snow EVER!

 

The grocery stores were devastated. Not a loaf of bread in sight! The milk was gone even the clearance egg nog. Looking for some potato chips? Forget about it! The entire potato chip isle was empty!

 

It was crazy I tell you! The abandoned car's lined the streets and highways like a scene out of the walking dead. Interstate babies were born and insurance companies were ravaged.

 

This lasted for days...but it seemed like weeks. People stuck at work sleeping on the aisles of Walmart......WALMART.

 

 

It was horrible I tell you. Absolutely horrible.

 

 

I'm proud to one day be able to tell my grandkids..."Yep, your papa survived the great Atlanta Snowmageddon of 2014"

 

 

 

 

 

Buffalo actually got hit with a snowstorm like that just a few years ago. I don't know if it was as bad, but the same stuff, people trapped, snow up to people's second floor, etc...

 

Yeah, we did get hit very hard back in Nov 14

 

Shut the entire city down for about 5 days. Funniest part is where I live (northtowns) for those familiar it was literally sunny at my place while just 20 mins south they were getting absolutely rocked. I think the worst parts for like 80" in 48-72 hours.

 

Lots of people trapped, died, etc. national gaurd was in town, major driving bans everywhere.

 

At the time I had an Evo X MR and don't think I've ever had so much fun ripping down the snow packed roads with zero traffic what so ever.

Buffalo is so well equipped to handle snow that it takes several feet in a short time to affect how people go about their lives.

 

When we lived in Chicago - more or less the same deal.

 

When we lived in Maryland - OMG - just the uttering the word "snow" on the news sent people scurrying to the grocery store to buy all the bread, milk and toilet paper. It was hilarious. We were in disbelief at first. Businesses closed. Schools closed. Roads were deserted. No one knew how to drive in slippery conditions and it was treacherous (not necessarily from the roadways but from the danger of other drivers).

 

Apparently no one kept more than a two day supply of bread, milk or toilet paper in their house.

 

The funniest part about snow in Maryland was that winters were so mild, even if snow accumulated, usually it was melted within a day or two and often temps would reach 50F, as opposed to Buffalo or Chicago where temps could be well below freezing for days/weeks at a time.

 

We kayaked every New Year's Day for 8 years when we lived in MD (the first time). Had the river to ourselves and it was lovely! Water was cold - had to wear wet suits for safety - but otherwise it was like a spring or fall day.

Apparently no one kept more than a two day supply of bread, milk or toilet paper in their house.

 

I will never understand that. Even here in NJ when the news says snow it is madness at the grocery stores.

 

I will never understand that. Even here in NJ when the news says snow it is madness at the grocery stores.

 

You should have seen Oahu before the Hurricanes the last two years. People were fist fighting over bottled water at the grocery stores.

Yeah, we did get hit very hard back in Nov 14

 

Shut the entire city down for about 5 days. Funniest part is where I live (northtowns) for those familiar it was literally sunny at my place while just 20 mins south they were getting absolutely rocked. I think the worst parts for like 80" in 48-72 hours.

 

Lots of people trapped, died, etc. national gaurd was in town, major driving bans everywhere.

 

At the time I had an Evo X MR and don't think I've ever had so much fun ripping down the snow packed roads with zero traffic what so ever.

 

Below are a few pictures from a freak snow storm that hit Buffalo on October 12, 2006.

My in-laws were celebrating their 50 wedding anniversary in Niagara Falls the following day, Friday October 13.

Niagara Falls had zero snow while Buffalo was a disaster area.

We had to cancel the Friday nights diner celebration as my wife and I were staying with friends in Buffalo and we could not get out of town.

We had the diner on Saturday October 14 as that is how long it took us to dig out of the driveway to leave

For those that are not familiar with the distance between Niagara Falls and Buffalo it is roughly 20 mile northeast of Buffalo.

Our friends were without power for several days.