Oh for a good, old-fashioned snow storm

For The Madera Tribune

Madera’s 1962 snowstorm.

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Now, I am not trying to pick a quarrel with the Almighty, but I am remembering a time when the weatherman smiled more favorably on Maderans. It was 63 years ago.

The headlines of The Madera Tribune on Jan. 22, 1962, told the story: “Snowstorm Strikes Madera Area; Cold, Slippery Roads force Schools to Close.”

To be sure, this was not the first snow to stay on the ground in Madera. On Jan. 26, 1957, enough fell to make possible the packing together of a few snowballs by parents and children. And before that, enough snow fell to spread a blanket of white over local lawns on Jan. 12, 1930. For all of their uniqueness, however, neither of these two earlier storms matched the “blizzard of ‘62.” The unexpected sample of eastern weather produced snowmen in almost every yard, sledding in the streets, and tobogganing on the slopes around Lake Millerton.