For those of you that want snow for Christmas, be careful about what you wish.

As many who follow me on T-Man know I like to outguess the weatherman and watch it very close. This map, of course, covers mostly Ohio, but I am sure the outcome of this situation will affect a much wider area.

The last time I recall anything similar to this in my part of Ohio, was in 1978, when the great blizzard hit. We knew before-hand that we were going to get some snow. I was working the desk and radio for Licking County Sherrif's Office. All we knew when I went on shift at 11:00 PM, was the temperature was dropping fast and it was getting much colder. At approximately 12:15 AM, I received a warning call from the National Weather Bureau, about the coming storm. It was coming from SW with winds at 75 to 85 mph, temperature to drop into low teens, with potentially 10 inches of snow and at its rate of travel should hit us about 3:00 AM. I notified everyone up the chain of command as was customary and notified the Sargent and 2 officers on patrol. I notified the small villages and towns around the county.

At about 2:30 AM, the snow started falling and the winds picked up to probably 10 to 15 mph. I ordered the 3 cars to go stationary in towns or villages, with easy access to routes back to base. Our furthest west car was in in Pataskala, which was the point the storm would hit first. The storm hit at that point about 2:55 PM, and the phones went crazy... not from people calling, but from every alarm in the southwest went off. My officer radioed in and stated when the storm hit it ripped the metal awning from the store he was sitting in front of completely off of the building and shook his patrol car like it was a toy.

Well, I ended up working through 72 hours straight with only short naps here and there. By daylight, the bulk of the storm was over. A good part of the county was without electricity and many people were completely snowed in. We commandeered all of the 4-wheeled drive vehicles we could from dealerships and any other source. Most every county and township road were blocked. The second day we were able to get assistance from the National Guard with 2 dozers and 2 road graders. The East end of the county is quite hilly, so, every valley road between those hills was closed. I personally saw snow drifts over 21 feet high. I went with one of the dozers operators, to clear several with very high drifts. On the one road we came across 2 vehicles that been abandoned and almost completely covered in snow. I radioed in and asked for directions and was told... "Get them off of the road." So, they were pushed over the bank through the fence, with one of them rolling about 3 or 4 times.

Well... back to the present... Here are the current projections... Pay close attention to what you see happening around midnight on, on Wednesday night Thursday morning.



If you want to follow this live, here is the web page.... https://www.wunderground.com/forecast/us/oh/heath/43056

Tight chains my friends and a Merry Christmas and Prosperous and Healthy New Year.

Garry-

White, Cleveland’s all time low was -20f with 56 hours of temperatures below zero.

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