The winters of 1977 and 1978 are two that will certainly be remembered throughout the Evansville area for a long time. Between the brutally cold temperatures and the abundance of snow, these two winters made their impact. The winter of 1977 is particularly known as one of the coldest winters to ever hit the Tri-Stay area. The winters of the late 70s brought everything from multiple feet of snow, record load temperatures, a frozen river, and thousands of residents stuck in their homes for weeks. EVSC schools are forced to close for around 14 days and people were trapped in their houses with nowhere to go during this time. I remember missing a lot of school. It seemed like at least two straight weeks. I was really cold outside and the snow was deep so it was not easy to go outside and sled. We weren't able to drive to like hell-fric. I actually remember being pretty bored. I'm not excited about missing school and I was really ready to go back to school. On January 28, 1977, a winter storm hit the United States, including the Tri-State area. Before the storm even hit, snow already had fallen throughout the past month. Evansville's current mayor at the time, Russell Lloyd, issued the first volunteer energy conservation plan. The most unusual weather pattern for both of those winners was the fact that we had a polar jet stream coming down, which was just kicking this, you know, Arctic air into the Tri-State. The January of 77, I believe, is one of the three coldest, if not the coldest, on record. We had one day where it was 21 degrees below zero. And I think in that month, there were only three or four days where it got above freezing. So any snow that we got stuck around. The winter storm of 77 ended up costing Evansville's city water department $130,000 for wages, extra help, materials, and maintenance on water lines. The city experienced a total cost of about three to $500,000 in total for all of the snow removal and related costs. Grocery and convenience stores were bombarded and shelves were emptied. The Ohio River was covered in a sheet of ice that was as thick as eight inches in some spots. On January 17, 1977, Evansville's upstage theater caught fire. Firefighters described the weather conditions as one of the harshest times they ever had to experience. Temperatures were so cold that several fire hoses and hydrants were frozen, making it difficult to get water onto the blazing fire. The air was so cold that the water being sprayed onto the building almost instantly froze on contact, leaving a solid sheet of ice around the upstage theater. The particular night that the upstage dinner, the air burnt back then. It was exceptional because the windshield got down to like minus 40 that night. And consequently, even being on duty and being prepared for it, the fire got out of control and they called in the off-duty people. And I can remember having like two sets of long underwear on. Plus, my regular uniform, they was rotating people in and out from the fire scene across the street to the McCurdy Hotel at that time in the lobby. After a long struggle in the cold, the fire was finally put to a stop after doing over $200,000 worth of damage. Once the winter storm had ended in February, the residents of Evansville recovered and went about the normal lives. Little did they know what was in store for them the following winter. In the following year, 1978, the month of January brought drastically low temperatures and a snow storm that was much bigger than expected. The first couple of weeks of 1978 brought light snowfall as only 5 inches fell through January 17th. Though after the 17th, a total of 16 inches of snow had fallen and more was to come in the days following. On January 25th, wind gusts reached 51 mph, stirring up snow and causing whiteout conditions. By the end of the day, an additional 4 inches of snow had fallen onto the city of Evansville. The national weather service changed what was just a winter storm watch to a blizzard warning. These extreme blizzard conditions, including a wind chill around negative 50 degrees, lasted until 2 in the morning the next day. Snow drifts up to 8 feet tall were formed and cause roads and highways to shut down all around the tri-state area. Residents did not feel safe leaving their homes causing Evansville to stay on halt. President Jimmy Carter issued a national state of emergency. National and local governments, along with citizens, worked together to help those in need. The National Guard was called in for several weeks to help aid the community until the snow was mostly melted. With the help of the National Guard, we were out in Humvee-type vehicles. Actually, my partner and I, we were with a... I'm not sure what his rank or job was, but it was like a tank, but it was without the weapons. We would actually use that to go and pick up people and take them to work when they had jobs that they had to be there. We also were searching the roads for cars that were caught in the drift. And we rescued a number of people that had thought they could easily make it down the street. And then they would get a mile away from their house and they just couldn't make it any farther. Hundreds of courteous four-wheeler owners helped to transport nurses, doctors, and other hospital employees to and from work. But that was a lot of snow for Evansville. Typically, in a whole year, we'll only get about 13 inches on average. So here you had more than half of the average in a couple of days. And then it stuck around because it was so cold. After the snowfall ended, the firefighters and police officers went back to work, but work was slowed by the remaining snow and ice on the roads. Local residents became tired of the constant and horrendously cold weather and looked to get out of the house for a hot meal. Households were also quickly running out of food and supplies, which forced adults to walk in the snow to provide for their families. The indoor dorms restaurant on Franklin Street was one of the only businesses open at this time. I got there and opened and my night bar tender had left people stay there and sleep and because they couldn't get home, you know. And some people was needing like milk and stuff and that. And I was writing them, I have my milk and stuff, you know, they picked course they painted me for it, but because nothing was going to be opened. So things that they needed if I had, we just sold it to them from our fitness because we were going to be closed they were still there anyhow. Kids of Evansville were out of school for more than two weeks and some rural counties were even closed until February. On their days off, children spent the time sledding, having snow ball fights and building several things with the abundance of snow. The winters of 1977 and 1978 will remain some of the worst winter storms in the United States history. The people who lived through these winters will never forget these unbearable conditions.