Blizzard of '99 12 yrs ago

**Gistok** · January-03-11, 06:37 PM

Yes that snow storm gave Mayor Archer a lot of grief from his constituents...

I was working in Ann Arbor at the time, so I worked the 11AM-8PM shift... just so I wouldn't spend 3 hours per day in traffic each way.

My car required some maintenance, but the hood war frozen shut... so I had to borrow one of my parents car for about 2 weeks. In early 1999 both parents wer ill [[Dad had a stroke, and wouldn't survive the year... Mom had the first of 5 cancers that she fought valiantly for 11 years, finally succumbing in July 2010 at age 88).

So 1999 was the worst winter in living memory....

**dtowncitylover** · January-03-11, 06:43 PM

I do believe this was the storm I built a snow slide down that curved around tree that used to be on the grass curb at our house. I had loads of fun, as I watched my dad shovel...

**Meddle** · January-03-11, 06:54 PM

Missed this one. I left in the fall of '98, but I remember the one in '77-'78. I was driving a '68 Fury III that would plow through just about anything.

**aoife** · January-04-11, 10:28 AM

I was 9-months pregnant with my first child and we were living in a flat above a shop. The alley that our garage fed into was totally impassable- there was no way to get out. I remember feeling so clausterphobic being trapped up there and looking out the window at the snow that would not stop- being terrified that the baby would come and we would not be able to get to the hospital. My husband ended up shoveling out half of the alley only to have a plow come by and seal our garage back in. Twice. It was like something out of a terrible Lifetime movie.

**Russix** · January-04-11, 01:17 PM

I was 18. Some buddies of mine piled into my '90 Grand Marquis and we drove around the sub until the engine overheated at 3am. So much snow had piled up in front of the car that it was coming over the hood as we drove.

**Downrivergal** · January-05-11, 12:45 AM

That was also the day BK was debuting their "new Fries" and they were gonna give them away for FREE!! My husband and neighbor were very excited, too bad BK was probably closed and I was quite keen about getting the ice dam off the roof

**Al Publican** · January-05-11, 12:58 AM

My wife and I were at a suburban restaurant when the storm began. The streets were bare in late afternoon. By around 8pm we were barely able to get up the Howard St exit on the Lodge Freeway downtown. We struggled to get down Bagley to where we lived taking turns getting out to push the car while one of us steered.

Out of nowhere a good samaritan with a shovel appeared like an apparition in the blowing snow. He helped me to shovel out a curbside revetment to park my car in. I offered him $20. for his labor. When he refused, I insisted that he take at least $10. He politely took the money, and I'm sorry to say, I never saw him again.

I also remember Detroit's second worse snowfall of 30 Nov-1 Dec 74, something like 19 inches. I was going to Wayne State and my '64 Chevy Impala's snow tires got me through the blizzard, barely.

**EastsideAl** · January-05-11, 01:52 AM

I was supposed to leave that day to go back to NYC, where I was living then, after spending the holidays with my family. With the snow falling heavily outside their window, I had no choice but to just sit around and watch the football games while using up the last of the Calder Dairy eggnog. However, I had to be back in NYC by Monday morning, so I waited around as long as I could on Sunday, waiting for the roads to be as clear as possible, and took off in the late afternoon dreading how long the trip was going to take me.

The local streets weren't really cleared much at all, and the snow was blowing around pretty good. I even got stuck for a little while trying to come out of a gas station. There was only a single lane fully cleared on 75, so the going was slow for a while. But as I was going downriver things began to gradually open up. By the time I got to the south side of Toledo there was pretty much no snow at all and the road was dry and clear. The rest of the trip was a snap.

**cmubryan** · January-05-11, 01:57 PM

I was 16 and a junior at West Bloomfield High, school was closed for a couple of days. To this day it was the largest snow storm I ever remember. I remember the offical number being 14 inches. At least that is the number I have been using for the past 12 years whenever I compare any storm.

**13074Glenfield** · January-05-11, 03:23 PM

I had been back in Detroit visiting family over the holidays. My plan had been to spend New Year's weekend with them and fly back on Sunday but, because I was flying on miles, I had to leave on January 1st. I took a flight that left at something like 11 pm to get out before midnight. That weekend I saw that everyone who was planning to leave the next day was still stuck at DTW. Close call.

**SMRJim** · January-05-11, 06:23 PM

If that's the year I'm thinking of, we had another big storm soon after and had about 2 feet of snow on the ground altogether [[on the lawns, etc). I can't remember anything specific about that particular storm, I may be mixing it up with another year towards the end of the 90s. But the time I'm talking about, I ended up with some sort of ice jam above my bedroom window. I kept hearing this noise in my room, couldn't figure out what it was at first, turned out it was water dripping through the window! This was soon after the 2nd storm, after we got some sun. Whichever year it was, I do distinctly remember walking through the snow with my ladder to clear up the ice, and the snow was up to my knees or a little higher!

Come to think of it, 99 may have been the year where they kept predicitng huge storms, and other than that one, they kept staying just south or east of us. I clearly remember hearing all the media fuss about one storm - we were going to get 10-12 inches, they ended up announcing the closing of all the schools that night, weather kept coming on TV talking about this terrible blizzard. I woke up the next morning extra early to avoid all the traffic, and there was NO SNOW!!

**jackie5275** · January-06-11, 11:05 AM

Originally Posted by SMRJim

If that's the year I'm thinking of, we had another big storm soon after and had about 2 feet of snow on the ground altogether [[on the lawns, etc).

You're right. We got hit with the first big blast that Saturday. Then it snowed again on Monday with about another foot of snow.

**JBMcB** · January-06-11, 03:12 PM

I didn't live downtown, but I commuted in from the east side to WSU. I remember the streets were somewhat plowed - Woodward was in good shape, but the side-streets had a half-foot of frozen snow that you were driving on that made the potholes deadly to ball joints.

I only had two classes, film appreciation and electronics. There were, maybe, a dozen students in each one, but both professors showed up.

Afterwards I visited my friend who rented over by Trumbull and Forrest and helped him, and the rest of the neighborhood, dig out. It was street parking only over there, and I remember neighborhood sentries protecting the spots they had cleared out for their own houses from other people trying to park there. One scofflaw got his car buried under several feet of snow after parking down the street from his own house in a cleared spot.

**detroitbob66** · January-07-11, 01:07 AM

Originally Posted by jackie5275

You're right. We got hit with the first big blast that Saturday. Then it snowed again on Monday with about another foot of snow.

AHH HA! YES, I REMEMBER THIS NOW! OMG!

**Danny** · January-07-11, 08:58 AM

2011 will be a La Nina type Winter, There will be upcoming blizzard warnings anywhere in Northwest, The Western States, The Great Lakes Region and New England areas. So for The New England areas had been affected with 1 to 4ft of snow. New York City was having a hard time digging out. Millions of New Yorkers were trapped like New York Rats in their homes and apts. Michigan will be next in La Nina Blizzard path. I will be surprised that Detroit and the suburbs will get over 5 to 7ft of snow.

Be prepared for a long 13 week winter.

**hubbardfarmer** · January-05-11, 06:57 PM

My ex and I were renting a place in Hubbard Farms. After several days of shoveling ourselves out the best we could, we and our neighbors were roused out of bed at about 3 a.m. by police and snow plow drivers ordering us to move our cars so they could plow Bagley. We were told that, during a snow emergency, we weren't allowed to park on the street. But for many of us there was nowhere else to park. I also remember seeing dump trucks full of snow heading toward the river to dump their loads.