My family had been living in Buffalo for decades, stemming back from my great-great grandmother. In 1975 my dad moved my mother and my 5 brothers and sisters to Crane Ridge, a small area about 20 minutes outside of Buffalo in the middle of ski country and right across the highway from the areas biggest ski resort. The house sat back in a wooded area as did the rest of the neighborhood and the terrain was hilly. They were not strangers to harsh winters in fact they welcomed them with open arms. It gave the kids something to do, and my parents a chance to ride around on their snowmobile; house to house. Little did they know that the whole area of New York was in for a big surprise.

In 1976, Buffalo was recording record lows

During the morning, the temperature rose rapidly from five degrees at midnight to 26 degrees at 11am. For anyone that knows anything about storms, frequent fluctuation of temperature is not a good sign. At 11:35am the front passed through the Buffalo International Airport. In a short time, the visibility went from 3/4 of a mile to 0 and the wind shifted and increased to southwest at 29mph, with gusts up to 49mph. The temperature fell 26 degrees to 0 in a little under four hours.

I regret not being around for that grand scale event. It sounded like a time of fun and of course NO SCHOOL! All I have to bank on are the recollections from my family, and to me there are no better stories then the ones they share about "The White Death", the Blizzard of 1977.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Western York, Buffalo Zoo, Lake Erie, Maritimes January, White Death, National Disaster, Buffalo Airport, International Airport, Crane Ridge, Little York, blizzard 77, western york, snow falling, james bay, brothers sisters, trapped inside cars, lake erie, cold weather, national guard, snow fell, national disaster,
Approximate Word count = 1634
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)