Last week, I mentioned the Knox Mine Disaster and the victims of the tragedy in the column. A day or so afterwards, I felt badly I didn’t make a bigger effort on talking about that awful day in Jan. 1959.
I think as each generation passes, the Knox becomes more and more a footnote in the Greater Pittston history books.
We really shouldn’t do that, after all, it was one of the biggest, not only mining disasters, but the region took such a huge economic turn. Yes, as the saying goes, “Coal is King,” and it certainly was back then.
Anthracite coal primarily burns cleaner and hotter, and with a high carbon content, it burns efficiently. The largest Anthracite coal region in the United States is right here in NEPA.
On that fateful day, coal mining underground in Greater Pittston ended.
It is really one of the most historical events that happened in our area. The film reels of the mighty Susquehanna River with a whirlpool along the banks, not far from the former Pittston Hospital, where ironically the survivors of the flood were taken, was one of the scariest things I had ever seen that wasn’t science fiction.
To watch full-size rail cars being dumped into the hole only to get swallowed up like Matchbox toys was an incredible sight.
I hope some history teacher in either the Wyoming Area or Pittston Area School Districts set aside one day this past week to educate their students on the disaster. The story really needs to be told year after year so it is never forgotten.
Now we turn our attention to the news of the day, the blizzard of 2026, and let me tell you, that does not roll off my tongue too easily.
As many readers of this column know, I do mention the weather on many occasions. Why? Because a great deal of our week depends on or responds to the weather, plus I feel like I’m a weather junkie, and it’s an important part of anyone’s day.
Sometimes, the weather sets the mood of the day as well as plans for the day that would include outdoor events — picnics, ball games, golf, tennis, lawn work, shopping, you name it, and the weather dictates many of our days.
So, this blizzard has been termed as possibly catastrophic by many weather officials on just about every channel. YouTube weather speculators, and there are plenty out there, have been calling this storm for about a week now.
The storm began off the coast near Los Angeles, California, over a week ago, and it always amazes me how science can predict when and where the track of the storm will go.
Essentially, all the commotion began seven days ago with the shock and awe of the storm being a bad one.
I think what bothers me the most about this storm is the extreme cold, not only this weekend, but it appears it will be way below average temperatures all week long, so you know the snow won’t be melting anytime too soon.
We’ve been spoiled the last several years with occasional storms dumping a few inches here and there, then warming up to melt the snow with repeat patterns, so the snow would never accumulate as I remember it as a child. It seemed back then, once winter reared its ugly head at the beginning of the season, snow would be around for a long time.
I hated that back then. It really made winter drag on so long that three months seemed like six, and spring was never going to arrive.
If we get as much as the experts are saying in accumulation, if another storm pops up within the next week, it will only add to the totals.
At the beginning of this winter season, weather predictions for our area were calling for an active snow pattern with more than normal amounts of snow. I immediately got depressed, and that doesn’t happen to me until January.
Also, be alert to the fact that if you are not in the best of shape or have cardiac issues, please be smart. Call a neighbor, a friend, or a plowing service to help you.
The heart works overtime when shoveling as is, and a doctor recently reported on TV that your blood vessels constrict with cold weather, making your heart work twice as much.
When I heard that, I wanted to immediately book a flight on one of those discount airlines at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport for Florida.
Let’s hope this storm is over sooner than they predict.
I also wanted to mention the loss of two friends this past week, Bill Rowe and Louis Degnan, both products of Wyoming Area High School.
I’ve known both men for decades, and their loss will be felt for a long time.
They passed away on the same day this past Monday and were buried yesterday afternoon.
Each traveled different paths, and both had great families, but Billy, at 73, and Louie, at 70, are gone way too soon.
It was only a week ago that I sat at the counter at Agolino’s talking to Billy. Time is fleeting, my friends.
Quote of the Week
“In the grip of a fierce winter storm, we are reminded how thin the line truly is between comfort and catastrophe, and how quickly the familiar world can be transformed into something unrecognizable and unforgiving.” – Barry Lopez
Thought of the Week
“The great storms of winter strip life down to its most basic truths: warmth is precious, shelter is sacred, and kindness becomes a necessity, not a luxury.” – Kent Nerburn
Bumper Sticker
“A snowstorm is the closest thing we have to magic in nature.” – Richard Paul Evans
