Now, this looks just like what I remember of the winter of 1950 east of Cleveland, Ohio.My father had to cut through the screen door of the kitchen to hollow out the snow that had banked six feet high and prevented the door from being opened.
We (the neighborhood kids in Euclid) made snow igloos and tunnels that lasted until spring. Snowball fights? Are you kidding? Sledding? You betcha.
Nothing moved on the road for days. No school. Food ran low and neighbors shared. The milkman finally appeared and we were able to buy milk and bread.
My father dropped his glasses next to the car in the snow and didn't find them until spring. There was no way to get to work.
My mother said it was time to head back south of the Mason-Dixon line. We left that summer.
According to one history of Cleveland,
The 5-day 1950 Thanksgiving blizzard began when an arctic air mass lowered temperatures to 7 degrees. The next day, 24 Nov., low pressure from Virginia moved into Ohio, causing a blizzard with high winds and heavy snow which closed the airport. Mayor Thomas Burke called for the National Guard and mobilized snow removal equipment to clear the 22.1" of snow brought by the storm; however, snow drifts and over 10,000 abandoned cars blocked the effort.
Burke declared a state of emergency, banned unnecessary travel, and later asked downtown businesses to stagger hours to reduce transit burdens. Nonessential cars were banned downtown. The storm weakened on Monday, but most area schools closed. The storm ended, and all guardsmen were dismissed by Wednesday, but Cleveland schools remained closed all week to keep children off transit lines. The auto ban lasted until the last CTS line reopened on Saturday; while parking problems remained, police no longer monitored traffic. Normal conditions returned as the temperature hit 53 degrees. The storm had paralyzed the area for a week and cost over $1 million and 23 lives.
