Anybody got any cool winter stories

[squatting dog]

I've got a couple.
Before I joined the service in May of 68 the old house I was staying at in Vermont was buried in a snowstorm that closed the main highway (rt 110) from Chelsea to barre for 3 days.
The Storm: March 20–23, 1968 What Happened:
A nor’easter dumped 15–24 inches of heavy, wet snow across central Vermont, with winds of 30–50 mph piling drifts 4–8 feet high along Route 110. The Chelsea-to-Washington stretch, a hilly, wooded corridor, was buried, closing the road for three days and stranding folks.

What Happened was The storm started as rain on March 20 but turned to snow overnight into March 21, dumping 1–2 feet across Orange and Washington counties. Winds of 30–50 mph created 4–6 foot drifts in valleys and on exposed roads like VT-110, which runs north-south through forested hills prone to blow-overs. State plows struggled with the volume, and temperatures hovered around 20°F, keeping everything locked in. By March 22, reports noted closures on secondary routes like 110, 302, and parts of I-89 feeders, with Barre-area schools and businesses shuttered for 2–3 days. Cleanup dragged into March 24 as equipment got bogged down.

We were at ground zero, (between Chelsea and Washington) and as luck would have it, we ran out of firewood. Ended up burning some of the furniture until I got the stubborn chainsaw running and was able to cut some wood. Because it was going to be green, I tried to only cut smaller trees. 3-5 inch maple knowing they wouldn't burn perfectly. Beat the alternative though. (smile)

I also brought soup out to a stranded semi truck driver on the highway who couldn't leave the truck because it was the USPS. Took big cat dozers to open the road.
Funny follow up... when the snow finally melted a bit, the stumps of the tree's we, (I had cut stood over my
head...5' 5") lol

You might think that was the worst winter ever, but, It was only one story about some of the brutal winters we survived, However...
The Blizzard of 1978 was one of New England’s most infamous storms, and Vermont got clobbered. It dumped 20–30 inches of snow across the state, with winds of 50–80 mph creating drifts up to 10 feet in places like Orange County. The blizzard shut down Vermont for days—Interstate 89 was a parking lot, and secondary roads like VT-110 were impassable until heavy equipment rolled in. Power outages hit thousands.

Wife and I were living in East Brookfield then and decided to visit some friends in Chelsea about 10 miles away. It started snowing but nobody thought mush about it. However, as the snow kept piling up, wife and I decided to headed for home. Got a little over halfway, pushing snow up over the bumper and hood of our old Chevy. Going down a steep hill, we crossed the county line and discovered that the county hadn't plowed the road yet. Pushed on until we got stuck and couldn't go any further.

Being a little under 5 miles from home, we left the car and started walking on foot. Things got bad (temp around 0, wind blowing hard) and we were starting to get really frozen when I saw a farmers house. He let us in, took one look at the wife and built up a roaring fire. Slowly we started to thaw. I'm not lying here My wife's hair was so froze that I could snap it off. 3 days later, I fired up the cranky old 8N tractor and pulled the chevy out of the snowbank and brought it home.
Just another Vermont winter. Couldn't wait for Vermont's unofficial 5th season... Mud. LOL

 

[Aunt Bea]

We’ve had a few major blizzards.

In 66, I was 12 and the blizzard stranded many cars on I81 near our home.

The local volunteer fire department brought the people in from the highway on snowmobiles and made arrangements with local families to put them up until the roads reopened.

We had a young military man, still a teenager, and an old woman stay with us for a couple of days until their vehicles could be dug out and moved to the school parking lot by volunteer firemen.

I remember my mother packing some food for both of them to take with them when she sent them on their way.

My mother and several others also cooked what food they could and sent it to the firehouse for the volunteers and others that were stranded with no accommodations.

I think that our contribution was Spanish rice and baked beans made in old granite ware roasting pans.

Things were a bit different then.

Today, I would rather sleep on the floor at the firehouse and eat food from the vending machines instead of spending the night in a home with people that I didn’t know.

 

[jujube]

We lived two houses off a major highway. Every winter, there was at least two huge snowstorms, trapping cars.

My dad would take a lantern up to the highway and bring back a couple of cars full of families to spend the night.

We met the nicest people that way.

 

[jujube]

My late husband, small daughter and I spent the night on the highway in a major snowstorm once at the Ohio/Michigan border. In a Pinto. With one blanket and no boots.

We spent the night turning the car on-and-off with me wavering between whether we were going to die of hypothermia or die carbon dioxide poisoning. I was pretty sure we were going to die...LOL.

It was a long night. Peeing in a Dixie cup in a Pinto was the highlight.