If you didn’t receive your copy of the Jan. 10 issue of Gun Week on or about the usual delivery day, there’s at least one big reason: snow.
During Christmas week you couldn’t watch the Weather Channel or any television news program without being aware that the Buffalo area where Gun Week is published was hit with the kind of major snowstorm that can occur every 20 years or so. Many readers phoned, faxed, or e-mailed—when they could get through—to see just how bad the situation was. Most—especially those from more southerly states—just couldn’t imagine what such a storm was like.
Actually, in spite of Buffalo’s long-standing snow reputation, there had been no snow at all during the entire month of November in 2001, much to the displeasure of deer hunters in the western half of the state—sometimes referred to as the “Southern Zone” by the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). The big game gun season in our half of the state started on Nov. 19 and ended on Dec. 11 with no snow at all. In fact, as Christmas neared, the local weathermen were worried about whether we would have a white Christmas. Between the 15th and the 20th of December, we had several “snowfalls” that produced a total of one inch at the Buffalo Airport.
Holiday Schedule
The Gun Week production schedule is usually set months in advance, taking into account holidays, special annual events such as the SHOT and NRA shows and the Gun Rights Policy Conference. We usually plan to get all issues to press on specific Mondays, Tuesdays or Wednesdays so that the issues can be mailed two days later, but always before a weekend.
Because Christmas day fell on a Tuesday for 2001 and we usually have a short day on Christmas Eve we had scheduled to close on Dec. 24 and 25, with the Jan. 10 issue scheduled to go to press on Dec. 26.
Then the snow started on Monday, Dec. 24, falling on dry, snow-free pavement. There was no surprise; the weathermen predicted heavy lake effect snow (LES) to begin in Niagara County to the north, moving later into Buffalo and Erie County.
Some reports said there was as much as 24 inches of snow that fell during the first 24 hours, but only about a foot fell where the Gun Week office is located. Another 15-20 inches fell on Christmas day, varying according to different areas.
Everyone on the Gun Week staff reported for work on Dec. 26, and while I didn’t feel we had gotten as much snow as reported, John Krull, our production manager, claimed he had gotten the full dose of snow, having spend the two days off repeatedly exercising his snowblower.
Everyone worked on Dec. 26 as the snow continued to fall. Our printer picked up the Jan. 10 issue as scheduled, fully expecting to deliver finished papers to our office and the mail distribution house the next day.
Airport Trip
In spite of more snow during the night, everyone reported for work on Thursday morning, Dec. 27. After dropping off the mail, I drove to the airport, which was reported to be open, so my family could see off my daughter who was visiting from Connecticut. Believe it or not, the snow was falling at several inches per hour.
When we got to the airport, we were met by a sea of frustrated humanity trying to board flights, some of which were still listed as departing on schedule. However, a USAirways representative announced that the airport would be closed for all flights in and out until at least 5 p.m. While waiting near the end of a long line, we discovered—by using a cell phone—that my daughter would not be able to board a flight later in the day even if any departed.
Attempting to drive back home and to the office in the worsening snow and wind, I managed to run my car up onto a snowbank at an expressway exit during a totally blinding whiteout. Even with the help of two men with snow shovels and lots of bodies pushing, we could not free the car from its lofty perch on the snowbank.
Once again the cell phone resolved the matter, since neither AAA (at least two hour to help) or Saturn roadside assistance (at least six hours to help) was likely to get us out of the blizzard. We called the office, where Krull was already sending everyone home, and he came to rescue us with his 4x4 Explorer.
Meanwhile, the snow kept falling through the day and night. Friday, Dec. 28—the day Gun Week should have been mailed—every business was closed down and the city of Buffalo and many surrounding suburbs banned all unnecessary travel and issued a state of emergency.
Winter in a Week
By Saturday the snow had slowed. From Monday afternoon to Friday night, 82.7 inches of snow had fallen, a usual winter’s worth in a week. On Sunday morning, Dec. 30, the snow emergency was still on, but we managed to get my daughter, Bridget, on USAirways in late morning. The day before, we had uncovered my daughter Peggy’s car and moved it to a store’s cleared parking lot about two blocks away.
So, despite the ban on travel, we hiked Bridget’s luggage to the car, drove to the airport, and saw her off. On the way back, we got a look at the mountain of snow, surrounded with 5-foot banks that reached out for six or seven feet, that was my abandoned car. The battery and hazard lights had long since packed it in. The street nearest the wagon still had not been plowed. When it was finally plowed on the morning of Jan. 2, I called Saturn roadside again and they got the vehicle to the dealer’s service department that night. A week after running it up on the bank, I got it back from the dealer. By then most of the streets had been plowed, the driving ban had been lifted, and the Olympic Torch had been run through the city on its way to Salt Lake City.
Also by then, the Gun Week issue of Jan. 10 was already in the mail. Unable to get through to our regular distributor, the printer—who also happened to have the subscriber labels—put them on the issues he was holding, sorted them and took it to the main Post Office in the morning.
Meanwhile, on Monday, Dec. 31, we had driven to our regular post office—seen in the accompanying photo—picked up the office mail—which included John M. Snyder’s traditional pro-gun Christmas card that had been mailed in Washington, DC, on Dec. 13—and began putting together this issue of Gun Week.
How does it feel to get that much snow and produce newspapers? Pretty bad! We didn’t get the seven feet of snow near the office and where I live, only about five feet. But for those of our readers who seem to get more than their share of hurricanes, tornadoes and earthquakes, all I can say is that we shovel our weather—even if it takes the city $30 million to plow the snow.
