Buffalo, NY Can’t Compete With Idaho Winters

I had an opportunity to spend Christmas with family in Western New York State.  I ended up passing because of the cost of the flights and now realize had I spent the weekend there, I would’ve been at my sister’s house where there was no hot water most of the weekend.  I would’ve had to postpone a flight out of the Buffalo/Niagara Falls airport until Wednesday.

As you know, the city of Buffalo received almost 50 inches of snow and suffered several days of below-zero temperatures.  It was called a once-in-a-generation storm.  In November, parts of the same region had a once-in-a-century storm.

I lived through one winter in Buffalo when I was a young man.  Parts of the city got blanketed by 100 inches of snow in the month of December alone.

As bad as these stories are, there are places in Idaho where things have been worse.  I came across a piece about the winter of 1948-49 and am happy to say I missed the event.  A guy who worked as a reporter in Pocatello told me stories about winters that were so cold that his tires would be flat most mornings.  Friends have told me stories about cattle freezing to death near DuBois.  The winter of 2016-17 was sheer misery.

I remember visiting Blaine County a few years ago in February.  The roof of an art barn collapsed in Ketchum.  Hailey had a combined 14 feet of snow that month.  The streets were almost impassable.  The plows would through the snow to the side and then it would drift or roll back into the middle.

Did we get much national coverage?  No.  Johnny Carson once remarked Buffalo gets attention because of the name.  The city carries the name of a big shaggy beast.  One that currently starts at quarterback for the local football team.

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