Buffalo, a magical city of indomitable spirit.

                       Buffalo, a magical city with an indomitable spirit

The Christmas Blizzard of ’22 will go down in Buffalo’s history  as one of the worst storms ever to hit the region. Given Buffalo’s Winter snow-fall legacy, that is saying something.

The icy winds, with 75 mile an hour gusts,  swept across Lake Erie and slammed into Buffalo with the force of a frozen hurricane. Snow totals, though impressive in the 50-inch range, were not indicative of how bad the effect of the virtually lateral barrage of ice and snow that assaulted the region.

        Whole towns and villages vanished in a curtain of icy white frost. Any cars left on the roads soon found themselves mired in snow drifts and abandoned. Unfortunately, a few dozen people were left behind with them, to pass on in icy surcease. The valiant first responders, themselves snow bound, could only rescue so many, with frozen equipment and impassible roads.

      It was a Christmas that everyone in the region will long remember. For some, it will be the heartwarming rescue of loved ones by courageous first responders. For others, it will be the heart break of  loved ones lost to the elements. For everyone in Western New York, it will be a meteorological assault the likes of the Blizzard of 1977, something that will stand out in everyone’s memory for a generation.

    The national media played up the monster storm with plenty of coverage. Outlanders watched with fascination as a City and a region battled the mighty storm. What they didn’t see was Buffalonians whining about their condition or hard luck. What they did see in the aftermath is an indominable band of  Buffalonians  and Western New Yorkers pick up their shovels, fire up their snow blowers and get to work, digging out  not only themselves, but as many neighbors and friends as they could reach.

     Though appreciative of the mutual aid that they did receive from other municipalities and the New York state government, no one in Western New York sat complaining that they were not getting enough help. They were too busy helping others to dig out from the mighty storm. The American pioneer spirit is alive and well,  in the snow-bound and wind-swept patch of good hearted and caring people.

               God, they make me proud to be one of them. Rock on Buffalo. There are few cities as resilient of spirit and as generous of manner as those hearty individuals in that magical City on Lake Erie.

                                         -30-

                                    (405 words)

                              Joseph Xavier Martin