January 1979

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Brutal Winter of 1978-1979

from NOAA

The winter of 1978-1979 will long be remembered for not only heavy snow, but bitterly cold temperatures.  A winter season record of 52.9 inches of snow fell over the area and the average temperature during the winter was a record low of 14.1F. 

January 1979 was a record breaking month in terms of both snowfall and arctic cold temperatures.  From January 12^th to the 14^th, a winter storm dumped an estimated 18.4 inches of snow.  This was a record amount for a single snowstorm.  A record 26.7 inches fell during the month of January, while the snow depth was a record 28 inches from January 14 through the 19^th. 

Besides being a month for record snow, January was also the coldest month ever in the Quad Cities.  The average temperature for the month was only 6.3°F.  The second coldest reading ever occurred on January 2^nd, when the temperature dropped to 27°F below zero.

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My baby girl was born on January 11, 1979.  We left the hospital on January 12th in the early afternoon after a rather heated discussion with the nursing staff.  It was snowing pretty bad and they were not sure we should leave even though the doctor had dismissed us.  We won.  After a short stop at Grandma and Granpa's  house to get her big brother and another quick stop at a grocery store (for bread and milk, I'm sure).  We started out on the 22 mile trip home.  In our new Jeep Cherokee.  With both our babies in the back seat in their car seats.  A few miles from our little town the road just disappeared.  There was nothing but a sheet of white snow for miles.  Our Jeep was going so slow we could have walked faster while M watched the poles and fencing to judge where the road was.  At least the one of us who had not had a baby the day before could have walked faster.  I could actually see the grain elevators in the distance when the Jeep took a very slow and gentle slide into the ditch.   My ever prepared for anything husband climbed out, got the snow shovel and a bucket of sand from the back of the Jeep and went to work.  About 40 hours later, in my hormonal ridden mind  10 minutes later he calmly got back in the Jeep, pulled out of the ditch and drove home without any further problem.  Just very slowly.  I mean turtle could beat us slow. 

My beautiful baby girl never even woke up.

Happy Birthday beautiful baby girl!