History: 19 January 1978 Blizzard

Aberdeen was hit with 16 inches of snow on Thursday 19 January 1978, according to The Independent's edition the following week. The storm was the township's worst in nine years.

William Smith, Jr was acting foreman of township snow removal due to the illness of George White. Only one of the township's snow removal vehicles was operational when the storm began. When its crew drove the only vehicle into a snowdrift and became stranded for twelve hours on Friday, no plowing took place in the township. Two township vehicles were made operational by Monday, while the two remaining vehicles remained out of service throughout the crisis.

Cleanup took almost a week, angering residents. Two letters to the editor suggested that residents shouldn't complain; instead they should applaud the snow removal crews for clearing the roads despite the circumstances. I imagine there was plenty of blame to go around: insufficient funding of Public Works, insufficient maintenance of vehicles, and insufficient management of the town. Hopefully things are running smoother after over twenty years and we're better prepared for today's storm.