1978—Winter of the Big Snow
The snow is beautiful and yet, treacherous.
Ice is a common sight for most of the winter.
It is a little difficult for those of us in Appalachia to emphasize the extent of the snow we have received. Daily we see on the television and read in the newspapers accounts of such cities as Buffalo, Boston, New York, etc., that have had as much as twenty-four inches of snow at one time. Certainly, here in the Southern Appala chians we cannot claim that amount of snow. We fully sympathize and pray for the people in the areas that are normally our beneficiaries. The conditions have been so un usual here, however, I think it worthwhile to devote an entire issue of the Soundings to the consequences of the greatest snow in the history of our area. For people in Minnesota and the northlands, snow on the ground all winter long is a normal event; in Appalachia it is an event without precedent. Since the
eighth day of January, snow has been on the ground constantly and most of the time, several inches deep. Our schools in many counties have been closed for seven weeks. The children have not been able to attend one day of school. Driving conditions have been hazardous. The people have been prevented from getting to medical facilities. The old have been stranded at home, frequently without much assistance. These and many more conditions we will describe in the various articles which appear in this issue of Soundings. The winter of 1977 was the coldest we’ve had on record. Although this winter has not been as intensely cold as last year at any one time, low temperatures overall have resulted in rivers being frozen and back roads being closed for longer periods of time than last year.
The people in Appalachia are not used to so much snow.
In addition, the toll on human patience is much greater this year. Every where you go, people complain about being cooped up. Cabin fever is every where. There hasn’t been a week in the last six or seven where we haven’t re ceived at least two fresh snows a week. It seems that there is no end to it. It is our hope that this issue of Soundings may give you at least some insight into the misery that such profound cold and such great amounts of snow cause in an area unaccustomed to it.