#157--Let It Snow, Let it Snow More

.
Everyone who has lived in New York City has heard of the Blizzard of ’88, the epic snowfall that pretty much paralyzed the city.  In fact I blogged about it several months ago.  However, most people do not know or have never heard about the Blizzard of 1947.  I was a small child then so I do not really remember that storm, but have heard about it from my parents.  Wanting to know more, I googled Blizzard of 1947 and discovered that Baruch College NYC data has a very comprehensive summary:

“Similar to the Great Blizzard of 1888, the blizzard of 1947 was an unexpected visitor, ready to wreak havoc on the post-holiday calm that had settled over NYC. The weather bureau predicted cloudiness and cold winds throughout the day, but little mention was made of snow accumulation. On December 26, 1947, snowflakes began their descent unexpectedly and within the next 24 hours the city was covered by 26.4 inches of white mounds, with snow falling at the rate of 3 inches per hour. Although the blizzard of 1888 had a more powerful impact, claiming up to 400 lives and destroying communication systems all across the north Atlantic States, one distinguishing factor puts the blizzard of 1947 in the ranks of the strongest snow storms to ever hit the NYC region: 

The blizzard of 1947 was fed by the moist weather traveling up from the Gulf Stream and cold weather coming from the north, but what made it different was an absence of high wind speeds and below zero temperatures that made the blizzard of 1888 so deadly. The blizzard of 1947 was known as a mesoscale storm; instead of affecting a vast area evenly, it descended on one spot with a concentrated force.
NYC's transportation systems were devastated, cars and buses were stranded in the streets and train stations faced delays of up to 12 hours. The estimated number of people killed by the storm was 77 and it was widely speculated that if temperatures were colder and wind speeds more severe this number would have been much higher. Other issues that developed during this crisis was a lack of efficient snow plows, slow police response due to inadequate staffing to manage the overwhelming activity of phone lines and difficulty with delivery of crucial supplies to people and local businesses. Although the exact figure is unknown, the damage caused by this storm is estimated at several millions of dollars.”

 I also found a great old news video.  Just click.on the arrow.

I
 


Since it was just after Christmas, my aunt, uncle, little cousin and grandmother were staying with us.  As my mother told the story on the 27 of December when it stopped snowing, we had run out of milk, something that you need if you have small children.  So my father and uncle decided that they would walk in the street down to a dairy they knew about and get milk.  They bundled up and off they went.  A little while later they returned, not only with milk, but also with ice cream, I believe the flavors were pistachio and chocolate.  

If I could talk to my parents, I would like to know where they bought the milk and ice cream; how far away it was, and how hard it was to walk in all that snow.