In “honor” of the weather some of the United States has been having this week, I am posting photographs from the Burdick and Balch neighborhood in Kalamazoo during the blizzard of 1978.The yellow house was my grandparents’ house at the corner of Burdick and Emerson.The white building was my grandfather’s Sunoco station.The other houses are from the neighborhood. As befitting a 1970s camera and film, the color is poor–yellowy and faded.
I’ve posted the house and gas station in the past. Here is the house from 1947:
Grandma and Grandpa’s house on Burdick Street
You can find the station at Down at the Station.
Meanwhile, Phoenix was about 90 degrees yesterday :).
The Family Kalamazoo 
It doesn’t look like that much snow? We have about that outside right now from Storm Stella. But I clearly remember the February blizzard in New England in 1978. Boston was completely shut down—no one was allowed on the road, businesses and schools were closed for at least a week, and I believe there was well over two feet of snow. Maybe more. Was that the same storm that hit Michigan? There was also a storm in January 1978 that was pretty severe in NYC. My nephew was born during that storm, so I always remember that one as well.
Amy, it has its own Wikipedia entry: “The Great Blizzard of 1978, also known as the White Hurricane,[1] was a historic winter storm that struck the Ohio Valley and Great Lakes regions from Wednesday, January 25 through Friday, January 27, 1978.” But let’s face it, other than this year, Michigan always has a lot of snow ;).
Does it say how much snow there was? 🙂
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeastern_United_States_blizzard_of_1978
27 inches in Boston! Looks like the Midwest version did not have as much snow, but had more damage, and people died. No one died in the New England storm, as far as I know.
27 inches! Ugh. What I remember from living in Michigan is that the ice is by far the worst thing of any storm. Scariest for drivers and dangerous for wires and trees and all that.
I agree. I will take snow over ice any day.
You said Storm Stella. So it has a name? Maybe it will get its own Wikipedia page!
It did reach blizzard proportions in some places. But it was hardly historic in terms of snowfall. What was historic was that it occurred in mid-March.
If it makes you feel any better, it’s hotter here than usual this early, and that is scaring me for summer.
None of these weather extremes and odd occurrences make me feel better…but don’t tell Trump—after all, climate change is a hoax.
Wow! I am such a soft Antipodean. I can’t imagine that much snow where you actually live! I drive 5 hours to see that stuff and call it a holiday.
This is why I actually no longer live there, but in Phoenix, Arizona–the desert! 😉 But I do miss the seasons and the first snowfall a lot!
I can understand that. Snow is such a novelty for me; and I think I’d like to keep it that way. 🙂
That’s a good place to keep it haha.
I’m with Amy, it doesn’t look like much snow. 🙂 But sometimes the other conditions – wind, ice, etc make it very dangerous. We have had tons of snow this year. In fact, they are predicting serious flooding this spring. Hopefully the snow will melt “a little at a time”, as many of the elderly people around me are regularly praying for.
Haha, maybe it just looks like it to me. However, this WAS the big blizzard as recorded by history :).
Brrr…love the old pictures – as always – love thinking about your grandparents, too!
Me too :). Looks so cold to me! It’s been in the 90s for a week here in Arizona!
I also have a lot of snow storm pictures from across the years. It seems like there was nothing like a storm to make people think about getting their camera out and taking a few photos. Like your photos, so many of my pictures from the 70’s are faded and yellowed – and are in much worse shape than older black and white ones. Even though the years are passing rapidly, it doesn’t seem like they should be in such bad condition.
It’s shocking that the technology went backwards. I’m sure they didn’t realize it at the time, but our photos from the 70s are being destroyed very quickly!