When December rolls around we all start to wonder what kind of winter we are going to have. Memories fade quickly when it comes to remembering specifics about bygone winters. Inevitably, you get lots of fiction and confusing facts when you stand around country stores and listen to people talk about historic weather. But, while I am not much good for anything else, I have kept accurate weather records since back in the 1960's. According to my records, there have been no winters in the current era that compare to the winter of 1976-77. I was living in the Troy District of Gilmer County at the time.

It started early that year. We had light frost on October 14,15, and 16 with the mercury hovering in the high 20's. Heavy frost blanketed the Troy District on October 17,18, and 19. On October 18, the mercury dropped to 20 above. Following that, we had a brief mild spell, but take a look at this. Every morning from November 2 through November 17 I recorded below freezing temperatures, many of them in the teens. I also noted that a thin sheet of ice covered the Leading Creek on November 16. We had a snow cover when deer season opened on November 22. (I killed a 7 point buck).

Nothing changed in December. We recorded our first zero morning on December 2 and another one on December 22. There was a very white Christmas that year. It was snowing Christmas Eve and was two below zero when we all went to bed. It was 16 above on Christmas morning and we had snow showers all day.

But winter hit with a vengeance on the 8th of January. It was twelve below that morning and you could walk on the ice on Leading Creek. There was almost daily snowfall in early and mid January and on January 13th we hit 18 below zero. I had to fly down to Atlanta that morning and it was 18 below zero when I left the Charleston Airport. When I got to Atlanta, it was four below and the water had frozen off in the motel where I was staying. The temperature did not get above the freezing mark, day or night, for the remainder of the month. The high for the day on January 29th was zero. My records on school closings are a little shaky, but it appears that schools were open only five days in January.

Early February still provided some below zero mornings, but by the middle of that short month, the big thaw set in. From then on, we had fairly typical weather for central West Virginia. The 1977-78 winter was also messy with lots of snow, but it did not get nearly as cold, nor stay cold for extended lengths of time, as did the 76-77 winter.

Four wheel drive vehicles were not all that common at that time so travel was fairly restricted. But I was the proud owner of a 1973 Jeep Commando so I was able to get out and observe the scene. I vividly recall a snow-covered, below zero drive down the Leading Creek Road that connects the outskirts of Troy with the Alice Road. There was so much frost in the air that it looked like a million fireflies fluttering in the January darkness.

Mack Samples is a regional writer who lives on 55 acres in Clay County. He is also a musician who tours with the Samples Brothers Band. Visit his website at www.macksamples.com.