By Neal Wooten
I lived in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for ten years, and the winters there were certainly different than they are in North Alabama. Mainly, they last a little longer, and you get more snow. I guess that’s why we tend to remember specific winters here in the south and reference them forever.
When I was a kid growing up on the mountain, I remember so many trees were bent over permanently. When I asked Mom and Dad what happened, they said, “The ice storm of 1960.” That was five years before I was born, but you could still see the effects of the ice being so heavy that it bent the trees over.
People who were alive then remember that storm vividly. It happened on March 2, 1960, and many people were without electricity for three weeks. People still talk about using gas heaters or wood stoves to get by. Some described hearing noises throughout the night that sounded like a rifle but were trees snapping from the weight of the ice.
The winter that stands out for me happened on December 24, 1983. It was below zero, but with the wind chill, it was 40 below. I was working at the Shell Car Wash in town that day. The wash was frozen shut, but me and another guy were huddled in that little building by the pumps with every heater we could find and wearing every coat we could find.
I remember a woman buying two quarts of this recycled motor oil we sold called Dixie Penn. When I tried to pour it into her car, however, it just layered on top of the hole like caramel. We had to set the cans in front of a heater for a while to get it thin enough to pour.
And I’m sure everyone remembers the blizzard that hit March 12, 1993. Everyone has their own stories to share about that day. For me, it was trying to get my two young nephews out to my grandmother’s house because she had gas heat. I had never tried to walk through snow that deep before, and it almost killed me.
My favorite story from then was when so many people were stranded on the interstate that a state trooper broke into the truck stop at Sulfur Springs so travelers could take refuge. Some manned the grills, some donned waitress aprons, and one even acted as a cashier and took money for everything bought.
So, if you’re new to this area and want to talk about how rough this winter has been or how rough winters are where you’re from, don’t be surprised if someone says, “Well, let me tell you about…”
