The January 19, 2023 meeting of the Twentieth Century Club of Garrettsville was held in the Charles Klamer Professional Development Center at Garfield Elementary School, with Bonnie Oliver and Carol Torda serving as hostesses for the evening. As the evening’s program was about blizzards, the tasty viands were distinctly cool.
The roll call response was to reveal what each member did during a blizzard which they had experienced; for most, that was the “White Hurricane” of ‘77 & ‘78. These responses included at least one “three-dog night”, 3’ drifts, snow sculptures, snow-derived travel difficulties & quarantines, a case of “new-house blues”…with moving trucks, lots o’ shoveling and some rescues, a baby wrapped up like a caterpillar in a cocoon, an impromptu visit and commentary upon the regrets for non-attendance by the snowbirds of the group. Are there “crocodile tears” in Florida?
The Spring Party committee is at work to find a suitable local venue. More news to come. A number of members voiced approval & appreciation for the online minutes of each meeting made available (and rapidly !) by indefatigable secretary, Jane Hill. Many of those in attendance were also displaying their coolness by wearing pearls for the evening…”just becuz”.
The program, “Blizzards We Have Known” was presented by Iva Walker and included the information that we are all much less likely to be severely affected than in days of yesteryear because of the National Weather Service, which, no matter how much we scoff at its predictions sometimes, gives us all far more warning time than was available to the nation in times past. An illustration of which was the “Great White Hurricane” (They all have names now.) of 1888, which took place during March 4-11, with an unseasonably warm period followed by plunging temperatures, 50’ drifts, fires & floods (hoses froze, ice jams) and paralysis of all major cities.
Similar scenarios happened in “the Solstice Snowstorm” ( December 2004 when the “Alberta Clipper” became a thing), the Knickerbocker Storm in 1922, the Arctic Freeze of 1994 (January wind chills down to -57 degrees), the Great Thanksgiving Snowstorm/ Great Appalachian Storm of 1950( the “Blizzard Bowl–OSU vs Michigan–27 total yards), the North American Blizzard on March 6-10, 2008.
BRRRRR !
Next meeting will be on February 2, 2023 at the Kitko home….hopefully, warmer.
