Dressed for School in Record November 1972 and 77 Rainstorms

[joe]

November 8th is an epic day to recall two record rainstorms that occurred in the New York/New Jersey Metropolitan Area in 1972 and 1977. The 1972 rainstorm came on a Wednesday, the day after the Presidential election that year. The 1977 storm came on a Tuesday, Election Day, thoroughly soaking voters, students, and commuters all in their raincoats. I was in the 4th grade for the 1972 storm which poured down 4.50 inches of rain nearest my hometown. Five years later in 1977 during my 9th grade year 6.73 inches of rain was measured at Newark Airport. In New York City the final rainfall totals were even heavier! Both days found the students and teachers dressed in every possible combination of raincoats, boots, hoods, ponchos, and slickers. Both storms were absolute slicker soaking deluges and I remember walking to school in the morning with the rains starting to come down more heavily with no letup. We arrived at school during each of these historic rainstorms with our raincoats and slickers streaming wet, but fortunately not yet soaked. Yet! Some of the teachers who were wearing trenchcoats that were less protective were already soaked through just coming into school from the parking lot as the rains built up to their predicted day-long drenching.

Specifically, the day of the November 1972 storm was forecast to be one with wind-driven heavy rain and somewhat mild temperatures. Although my long yellow rubber Weather Rite raincoat was past outgrown by this point, there was no doubt that I would be wearing a raincoat that day, it would be the tan zip-lined dress all-weather raincoat that I typically wore to church. The weather had been pretty balmy all through that fall and there were not many opportunities to wear my raincoat thus far in fourth grade. My mother saw no need to zip the winter liner in my raincoat which in fact had been removed since the previous winter. (Rainstorms when they were happened during the previous spring in the 3rd grade and now in the fall of 4th grade were generally heavy and almost tropical. This particular storm would remain true to form.) And, in fact, my raincoat covered me more fully without the liner. My mother turned her attention to getting a raincoat and boots out for my younger brother who had just started school. He was to wear a reversible hooded rubberized canvas bench warmer raincoat which was a popular style at the time. And my mother immediately took notice that my younger brother had the added protection of a hood. Obviously, she must have started to think about what to provide me with to keep my head and shoulders dry. Umbrellas were not a good option for younger students in wind-driven rainstorms.

I don't know at time whether mothers either dreaded or enjoyed the prospect of a terrible rainstorm on a school day. Unlike now, there was never a question as to whether or not schools would open for a flooding rainstorm. Consequently, there was basically never a question about what you were going to wear when the rain was forecast to be heavy or just steady. Older children and teenagers were told to wear their boots or rubbers, their raincoat - in short – to wear everything! Dress school clothes for young men and skirts and pantyhose for young ladies were covered in full raingear. On rainy days, whether you walked the whole way to school or took a bus (which was likely going to involve extended waiting out in the weather) you knew that you were going to be relying on a raincoat for protection.

Younger students in elementary and junior high school required more strategizing outfitting them into their raingear. Some of our raingear was outgrown; some of it we were just growing into. Bad weather on a school day brought out the best in the ability of mothers to prepare, to adapt, and to improvise. The forecast of an expected record soaking rain sent mothers right away to the telephone, consulting with one another and exchanging ideas as to how to dress their young charges for school. In the 1970's, suburban towns were street after street of neighboring school children, most of them needing to take a half-mile and up to a full mile walk to school. Raincoats had to be worn often enough in New Jersey so that mothers over time became familiar with the wet weather wardrobe of every kid in the neighborhood. The start of a day with either continuing or predicted heavy rain sent mothers to closets pulling out boots, raincoats, ponchos, long rubber rain slickers and helmet hoods - even lending their own women's dress raincoats to junior girls or boys - putting wet weather clothing in any and all workable combinations in the hope of keeping their kids dry for an all day downpour! A neighbor probably suggested that my mother pull out the yellow rubber helmet hood from the pocket of my old slicker to give my head full covering and some degree of protection over the shoulders of my tan all-weather coat. You could surmise the mothers' thinking about me: "his raincoat might soak through if the rain gets really heavy later on, but with his rain boots and rain hood we'll give him some protection for the long walk home in the afternoon." Dress pants and a warm jersey provided a further protective and a possible quick-drying layer if the rains really broke through my raincoat.

Stepping out of the house, the rising balmy winds were billowing through the length of my raincoat and quickly traced many wet rivulets of rain over my raincoat as well. My raincoat was getting wet but was not soaking through. I was glad that my mother left the liner out of my coat as both my raincoat and the helmet hood off my old slicker were keeping me warm enough. (Rainstorms in New Jersey in early fall and later in the spring were often warm and sultry and students often detested the raincoats which could make you feel overheated.) Approaching the school, I happily noticed that everyone was coming up the sidewalk fully attired and covered in raingear. We absolutely needed to be in our raincoats as this rain was becoming more serious and the rubber slickers of the students walking near me grew shiny and were glistening wet. You could actually hear the rain pelting at our raincoats. The increasing rain was now definitely wetting our coats, but we were still secure and protected. Then at last, we were inside the school. We made it! A New Jersey school kid became used to sweeping off his or her raincoat and hanging it up on a coat hook as we managed to do it on enough class days during the school year.

The classrooms were warm and almost sweaty and dank as the outside temperatures were rising a bit more and the winds became more insistent. Between 9:00 and 10:00, now that we were ensconced in our classes, the rains began to drive down harder in unrelenting torrents. Our well-dressed fourth grade teacher had to go out to her car to get something for our next lesson. She covered herself in a pale yellow balmacaan raincoat and likewise fully covered and tied an attractive silk scarf around her head and face and ventured out. The rain was now hurricane-like: heavier than any school day we could remember and we watched her silky yellow raincoat soak through in a drenching that made her coat look like a policeman's rubber slicker. She came back into class with her scarf matted and her coat plastered down and soaked so as to glide along her form. The raincoat has just managed to protect this lady. Sliding off her wet raincoat, we could envision ourselves sliding fully into our raincoats for the lunch recess soon to come. The rain continued to drench our raincoats when we left school at 11:45 and became driving tropical showers during our lunch break. My mom now brought the pile winter liner from the closet and zipped it into my wet raincoat to add an extra layer of protection against this unrelenting downpour. As I put on my raincoat, boots, and the yellow rain slicker helmet hood to return to school, my mom helped turn my collar up against my rainhood. We drove back to school with the rain cascading down against the windshield. Pulling up to the long sidewalk where my mom had to drop me off she must have been thinking about her blue balmaccaan raincoat as well as my similar raincoat as she said: “Look at all this rain coming down. Damn rain! It’s going to soak right through our raincoats. Make sure you wear everything on the walk home this afternoon. Just rely on your raincoat.”

I walked up the long sidewalk to the school with the rain beating a tattoo of expanding wet splotches quickly covering my raincoat. I noticed that some of my classmates who were wearing dressier lightweight raincoats in the morning, came back to school for the afternoon session in heavier rubber coats including some of the girls who switched into what must have been their brother’s hand-me-down rubber raincoats. These were generally rubberized canvas bench warmer raincoats that their brothers might have worn at one time. Seeing some of the raincoat adjustments on my classmates that had occurred during lunchtime was ample evidence that their mothers also heard an even worse forecast for even heavier rain in the afternoon and evening.The skies were indeed darkening as we went through the various subjects taken up in class the rest of the day. We must have been intensely focused on our schoolwork as we were not noticing the weather outside the classroom windows. The dark leaden skies were preparing to deliver a slicker soaking deluge designed to pour through and drench all of our assorted rainwear.

The rains then came in gust-driven soaking bursts of saturating misery intent on penetrating through and up into the folds of our flowing raincoats, soaking their outer surfaces and penetrating through to their linings. Dutifully, we ended class and with great display swept our raincoats on and got dressed for the deluge, which, would soak our raincoats in a matter of seconds after coming out of the school into the downpour. We hunkered down in this now sadistic autumn monsoon, resigned to rely as much as we could on our raincoats, as we each embarked on our various routes home. I was taking comfort in the protection of my yellow rubber helmet hood which formed a rain-caped barrier around the shoulders of my all-weather raincoat. I was going to arrive home very wet that day but able to stay composed, if not fully enjoying the pleasure of a soaking school day rainstorm: which I usually delighted in.

Otherwise miserable weather always manages to leave you wishing for something, especially extreme rainstorms such as this one. I was thankful for my boots as I was walking home through freely running streams of rainwater on the sidewalk. My soaked tan raincoat was aided greatly by the addition of the mismatched helmet hood. My raincoat truly needed its zip-in liner - not for greater warmth on this 60 degree day - but as an effective barrier to further shield my school clothes from the downpour. That said, drenched as I was, I really wanted a big flowing Weather-Rite yellow slicker to go with the helmet hood. The wisdom of our mothers in dressing us that morning proved a further truth - that raincoats and rain clothes put on us in the best combinations to try to keep us dry remembering remided me that “best” is never perfect - raincoats are worn as much to expose us fully to weather as well as to shield us from it. When it’s a "slicker soaker," raincoats in a sense are meant to be soaked! My raincoat was soaked thoroughly and considering the four trips to and from school in heavy drenching rain with no let up, the winter liner was an effective barrier again the pouring rain. My raincoat and those of my classmates certainly proved their worth as they glistened their wetness in the driving downpour.

The 1977 storm was preceded by 1.52 inches of rain on the day before which was Monday November 7th. It was a cold November autumnal day-long steady rain and I was happily snuggled into my black single breasted balmacaan all-weather raincoat that was a hand-me-down from my older brother who wore it to high school. In this kind of steady, but not penetrating and drenching rain, the reliable dress raincoat with its zip-liner did well. Walking home from school that rainy Monday, my raincoat was quite wet but not soaked through. At home, I settled in to do homework, very satisfied that I had just completed two long rainy walks to and from school that day and felt so snug and secure in my raincoat. Then, turning on the radio later that evening, I learned that the best was yet to come.

Meteorologists were already forecasting that the next day would bring a nonstop wind-driven soaking rainstorm with over three inches of rain expected with widespread significantly higher amounts. Usually on a forecast the words "rain, heavy at times" riveted my attention: this was forecast to be something much more. I went to bed that night continually listening to the next day's forecast and feeling both jumpy and nervous as I always did before a major rainstorm. I was a bit reassured - it certainly would not be a question of whether or not I was wearing a raincoat - I certainly would be. The question was whether I would just be wearing my black zip lined dress raincoat or wearing my voluminous rain poncho over everything along with my pile-lined black rubber boots rather than my leather shoes in such a rainstorm.

Unlike 1972, November 8, 1977 was a colder day with the temps around 50. The wind had the continuing autumnal chill from the day before which would penetrate and make you miserable if you were not dressed properly. The rain was falling steadily and bordering on heavy at 7:00 in the morning. My black raincoat and its liner - then my favorite - had dried out from the previous day's rain and my mother - knowing that I would assuredly want to wear it again had put it in the furnace closet to get it toasty warm before I put it on. My Mom rather gently - knowing how much I loved wearing my raincoat - suggested that I at least take my poncho and keep it folded in my school bag in preparation for when we were to get heavy rain later in the day when I was walking the mile home from school. All indications in the forecast had made heavy rain a guarantee. So accepting her maternal wisdom I folded and put my long flowing fully double-sided and substantial rain poncho into my school bag and sunk my arms into my warm zip-lined balmacaan raincoat. My mother then put on her own balmacaan raincoat and drove me the mile to junior high school through what was now heavy rain. Snuggling into our warmly lined raincoats, we arrived at school and getting out of the car I turned my raincoat collar up against what was now a full autumnal downpour. My mother seemed glad that I was appropriately raincoated as I waited to cross the busy main street to access the school. As the shoulders of my dress raincoat got the saturated look of being exposed to a downpour, we were probably both glad that I had my serious rain poncho reserved in my school bag. I knew that I would both be in need of it and wearing it for the long walk home that afternoon.

Having endured and most likely having been soaked by the first waves of rain on Monday, junior high students were absolutely made to wear their raincoats, ponchos, and slickers to school on Tuesday November 8th in protection for the day's relentless driving downpour. Even if they had to fit into slightly outgrown rain gear and grade school slickers - once inside the building, I discovered that we were all similarly attired for this unforgettable drenching deluge. It was fun to watch school athletes wearing their grade school Weather Rite yellow rubber rain slickers complete with helmet hoods and brass clasp closures once again as 9th grade freshmen. Others wore big flowing team rain ponchos for the first time in two years since an extended weeklong period of heavy rain in September 1975 back in the 7th grade. Best of all, were the freshman girls wearing their dress Sunday shower-resistant Easter coats - now wardrobe relics of their childhood - barely fitting over their emerging adolescent maturity. Obviously it was the best rainwear they had available for this day of heavy rain: short of borrowing their mother's own raincoat or her zip-lined trenchcoat. Those who could do this from their mothers or older sisters were fortunate. I wonder what amount of negotiation went on between mothers and teenage daughters, this day of already heavy soaking downpours. Was there a choice between wearing the rubberized nylon raincoats of grade school or stepping up into an adult Misty Harbor trenchcoat or their mother’s London Fog raincoat?

By 11:00AM, the rainstorm which would deliver almost seven inches of rain for the rest of the day – falling at a rate of .75 of an inch per hour - materialized in full force. All through the last two periods of classes, we would be looking out the classroom windows on the cascading driving rain and lamenting that no amount of rainwear was going to protect us on our walk home. Soon we were at our lockers pulling on our raincoats and venturing out into the buckets of monsoon rain which pounded down on my poncho and raincoat combination and kept everybody huddled under the barrier of whatever wet weather gear they were wearing, soaking both raincoats as well as adolescent decorum thoroughly. Sage and well-chosen adolescent words for the occasion of a monsoon rainstorm were pointed at cursing the streaming wet raincoats which the teenagers were forced to wear that morning. Eventually everyone arrived after their mile walk home, this time even more thoroughly drenched then in the typical November heavy rains earlier in the day. The rains cascaded, buffeted and drilled at my big and flowing rubber rain poncho worn over my black raincoat with its sleeves gleaming and thoroughly wet as my walk ended near 4:30 in the afternoon.

[Jjai]

Hi Joe,
That is a wonderful account you wrote of the heavy rainstorms that you remember from your schooldays.

It must have been so good to see so many dressed for the wet weather in sensible good quality raingear. It would have been in the seventies when I was similarly at primary school in the UK when the Rukka style PVC raincoats were very popular for both males and females.

One of the few real heavy rainstorms I can remember must have taken place around 1977 here in South Wales. Not the violent torrential storm you wrote of but more than four days when it rained heavily without let-up, our school cloakrooms and classes were full of soaking wet rubber and vinyl raincoats and mackintoshes. The windows were steamed up constantly with condensation through the single glazed windows having to put up with the schools heating trying to dry out everyone and everything.

On the second day, teachers and pupils gave up umbrellas as they were soaked through and useless, so everyone wore Rubber Souwesters or rainhoods instead.

This was before there were so many cars and parents taking their kids to school, so they all had to have real good rainwear then. Now the majority of students get given lifts most of the time and climb out of their parents cars or SUV's dressed in only a sweater or polo shirt into the pouring rain and straight into the school building.

I can't help thinking that times were rather better then in the 70's.

Thanks for the reminder.

[merv]

no idea if it is Joe's story or not to be honest. That same story has been posted here before, maybe by Joe, maybe by someone else. No matter anyway as there will always be new members who will not have seen it before so no harm in a repost

[joe]

It is definitely mine. This is an edited and revised version so that it reads more clearly with some details captured more fully. I apologize for the confusion. Before this past weekend, I have never written about these two storms from my school years. Accounts of other storms during my school years are forthcoming.