PITTSFORD, N.Y. -- Forty years ago, beginning on Jan. 28, 1977, a blizzard of epic proportions crippled Buffalo and surrounding counties, leaving thousands stranded and killing close to two dozen people.
For anyone who lived through it, the Blizzard of '77 stands the test of time as both a Western New York cultural touchstone and a reminder that, no matter how difficult the winter, it could always be worse.
"The snow piles were so high, some people claimed it was the 4th of July before they finally melted," said Tim Kneeland.
Kneeland grew up in the Buffalo suburb of East Aurora. Now the chair of the history and political science department at Nazareth College in Pittsford, Kneeland has published "Images of America: Buffalo's Blizzard of 1977."
"I was a kid, I was 14, and for me it was exciting. It was an adventure. No school for weeks on end."
Some places received up to 100 inches of snow. Places like Batavia and Watertown were snowbound for days by a freak confluence of a monster storm during what had already been an intensely cold and long winter.
"It picks up all of this snow that's sitting on top of Lake Erie, and aims it all right at the heart of downtown Buffalo and beyond," Kneeland said. "It's below zero wind chills."
"It was a crisis beyond the capacity of local and state officials at the time to deal with. But what was great about it was neighbors helped neighbors," Kneeland said. "So many people have stories of people of reaching out and helping and I think that's really the resilience of the community in disaster is a story worth telling."
The book, which tells the story though hundreds of photographs sure to make you shiver, can be purchased here.