Someone posted yesterday about Chesapeake Bay freeze up in 1977. Here’s an
interesting article from a pilot boat captain regarding the freeze.
The anchor couldn’t break the ice.
My senior year in high school. I do not remember that cold at all.
** Edited by Stork at 1/22/2025, 7:10:14 AM
Link:
Frozen Bay
23 Replies
L
LaneRat
1y
It was said for the 1st time ever. Word was they couldn't get the boys out to plow the commuter lot because they wanted to watch the game instead. 1/9/77
(In response to this post by Stork)
1y
...for about 2 weeks. Froze to about 11 inches. Residents from northern regions broke out their ice skates.
(In response to this post by Stork)
1y
blocked for several days in both directions. The back roads were no go also.
(In response to this post by Stork)
N
No Clue
1y
One of my favorite things back in the day was to sit in the warmth of the Duck Inn having bloody marys while watching the pilot boats leaving Lynnhaven inlet on some of those nasty days. Hard to believe they would transfer guys to and from ships in those conditions.
(In response to this post by Stork)
1y
Colder than a gut shot ***** wolf dog with 9 sucking pups pulling a number 10 trap up a hill in the middle of a blizzard with a mouth full of porcupine quills.
(In response to this post by Stork)
1y
(In response to this post by freemason)
Here's a couple of personal shots from that time
These might have been from the winter of '79-'80 instead, but those were some cold years. The first pic is me in front of my house in Diamond Springs, the second is my grandmother standing on the frozen Bay.
(In response to this post by Stork)
1y
across from the VT Hampton Roads Agricultural Center.
(In response to this post by HokieMacDaddy)
Yup - always a beautiful place to drive by (pic inside)
My grandmother under a gargantuan gingko tree there
(In response to this post by Stork)
E
EDGEMAN
1y
It really is a beautiful place to visit.
(In response to this post by HokieMacDaddy)
H
HokieDG
1y
We went ice skating on the James River by the Huguenot Bridge. I remember looking down at the ice and you could see the current flowing about a foot below. Good times.
(In response to this post by Stork)
E
EDGEMAN
1y
(In response to this post by HokieDG)
E
EDGEMAN
1y
(In response to this post by Tuckahokie)
1y
Lake Champlain freezes over enough each winter to drive tractor trailers from Plattsburgh, NY to Burlington, VT
"We don't need no stinkin' ferry!!"
But I won't go anywhere near frozen rivers
(In response to this post by EDGEMAN)
M
MikeVT85
1y
from December to spring. The Ohio River froze over in Dec/Jan until spring and so were the barges with road salt.
(In response to this post by Stork)
1y
Biggest memory is that we had a decent snow cover, maybe 6" when it got real cold. The snow pack iced over and became so hard that we were able to sled on those old runner sleds and stay on top of the ice without breaking through it. I lived on the backside of a golf course and we found a fairway that was a long (like 500 yds) downhill slope. Didn't seem like much of a slope until you got on a sled sliding over ice and picked up speed for that long.
(In response to this post by Stork)
1y
From the back about 400 yards to the main lake. We used a chainsaw to cut the ice from around the pilings because the lake was rising and lifting part of our dock. Ice was 12 inches thick.
(In response to this post by Stork)
1y
wrote me a letter describing both the bay and our high school basketball team as both having been frigid.
(In response to this post by Stork)
