St. Patrick’s Day 1973

As has been stated if anyone wants to become a spotter and wants some information there is spotter training today at Luella Collins Community Center. 419 126^th Avenue. It is back in the woods on the north side of the road. I will try to make it if I do I will have on a yellow West Michigan hat so I should be easy to find.

 

Over the years there have been some big snowstorms on or near St Patrick’s day. In 2014 parts of the mid-Atlantic got walloped. Washington, D.C., received 7.2 inches of snow and for Washington. As the 10th-largest March storm in Washington, D.C., it knocked the historic blizzard of 1993 off the list of 10 most prolific March snowfalls. Snow amounts from West Virginia to Maryland ranged from a few inches to more than a foot, with the heaviest amounts spanning West Virginia and northwestern Virginia.
Another big St Patrick’s day snow storm was in1965 when portions of the Chicago area received over a foot of snow and with winds of up to 52 MPH knocked power out to thousands. Grand Rapids also got into the act with a reported 5.7” on the 17th and another 5.7” on the 18th and 2” more on the 19th for a 3-day total of 13.4”
Every now and then there is a storm that stays burned into your mind and you can remember the day and events for the rest of your life. For many here in the NW area of Grand Rapids it might be the May 1998 derecho (its one of mine) some of my other life time weather events are September 1st 1960 derecho in Bay City. The blizzards of 1967 and 1978 the 1976 ice storm and.
THE BLIZZARD AND FLOOD OF 1973. The March 17th storm started in the pre-dawn hours of March of 17th That March saw March have some very nice and mild late winter early spring weather with days in the 50’s and 60’s So when the storm started there was no snow on the ground and the water in Saginaw Bay was ice free.
My wife who I was dating at the time lived on Killarney Beach Road and I lived in the city of Bay City at that time. We went out of the night of the 16th and I took her home around 1 AM and it was not snowing at that time but it was windy with a strong NE wind. I went home and went to bed. It was just getting light out when I was awoken by the sound of thunder and lightning (a lot of thunder and lightning) and the sound of the wind. I look out the window and all you could see was snow. During that thunder snow, thunderstorm visibilities were less than two hundred feet at best. Around 9 am my current wife called me and said that they were evacuating people down the road closer to the bay. (Killarney Beach Road runs right along the bay and there are beach front houses out there) and that there was water coming in from the bay and the waves where crashing into the houses there. My wife lived in from the Bay about a half mile and closer to the Bay City State Park. And was told by the sheriff department that their house should be ok. She asked me if I thought I could make it over to her house at the time I did not know. I turned on the TV and the radio. And to my surprise the water was not only hitting the houses by the bay but the water was being pushed up the Saginaw river and there was flooding going on right in the city of Bay City. The water did not get to where I lived but the snow sure did. In fact Bay City had over 22” of snow and drifts up to 4 feet. Here is a short story on the events and the front page of the Bay City Times.

http://www.mybaycity.com/scripts/p3_v2/P3V3-0200.cfm?P3_ArticleID=8917
The water did not get to where my wife was living at that time and while I was not able to get to her house that day the next day (Sunday) I was able to get close enough to walk to her house. There was snow and water evey where! It was the only time in my life time when I seen a blizzard and flood at the same time. That storm was a big east side of the state storm with Saginaw getting 21.3” Jackson getting 19” Flint getting 13.7” Here in Grand Rapids that storm in 1973 only dropped 8.5” so while a big late season storm not the event places on the east side of the state got.
Here is a more on the storm in Jackson
http://www.mlive.com/news/jackson/index.ssf/2015/03/peek_through_time_who_remember.html

Here are the maximum March temperature guesses from last week Rocky 49.4, Indy 57, Mark 59, MV 62, Mookie 62, Andy 65, Sandy 69, SS 70, Barry 71, Sarah 72 and my guess is 64. The warmest so far this March at Grand Rapids is 59° At Lansing it is 62 and at Muskegon it is 61.

Slim