In my lifetime we survived several major weather events, the Great Snow of 1950, the Doddridge County flash flood of 1950, causing over 30 deaths (As a 10-year-old my parents drove over to survey the scene), the record Calhoun Flood of 1967, WV Blizzard of 1978, the Thousand Year Flood of 1985 and the Great Ice Storm of 2003, plus a few others almost measuring up.

Living in Preston County for several years, we got use to the snow, sometimes drifting 15 feet over the highway and no school for 30 day stretches.

On January 20, 1978, the biggest snow storm to ever hit West Virginia shut down the state for days. This incredible storm is still referred to as "The Great Blizzard of 1978."

I owned a funeral home in Weston, West Virginia and the record storm hit Lewis County and West Virginia, with lightening and thunder, the winter temperature had risen to about 70 degrees, melting the snow and creating severe flooding, water over three feet deep on our nearby streets.

Dianne and I were watching local cable TV, with a TV camera scanning across weather instruments. The barometer scanned by and the needle on the barometer suddenly moved against the pin, bending and fluttering, the temperature then plunging to about 15 degrees.

We had a discussion about what could be wrong. Our question was shortly answered as high winds swept across the town, suddenly blowing the door down to our residence.

The flood waters, backwater from the main West Fork River started freezing, ice about four inches thick.

The two story funeral home had a hot water steam heating system, submerged and knocked out by water that filled the basement, later water pipes freezing and breaking.

I was a member of the Weston Volunteer Fire Department, which was behind the funeral home. I responded with them for several days. Dianne and I huddled under piles of blankets with our dog Sabrina, no heat in the building.

At least two houses caught on fire and the pumper truck lodged itself in a nearby alley, to be frozen into the ice. Another house down the street caught on fire and burned. We reached the house in a paddle boat with some hose and somehow managed to attach the hose to a hydrant. How I don't know. I have photos of the event.

Volunteers worked around the clock for several days, the disaster slowly calming itself as things returned to normal.