In the middle of Winter 1981-82, Sahintepe was hit by a snowstorm which lasted seven days and seven nights.  A snowstorm coming southwest out of Europe stalled over the Sea of Marmara, which lay at the foot of the range of mountains where Sahintepe was located.  This storm developed an circular orbit, coming ashore, dumping snow and then returning to sea where it gained power and came ashore again.  At one point, snow was falling, the wind was blowing and a fog-like mist was in the air.

Even the Turkish nationals who worked on site were scared of this storm, so badly frightened we made provisions for them to sleep in our lounge rather than travel up and down the site road.  The next few pictures will give you some idea of how powerful the storm was and how much snow it left behind.

On Day 2, I stepped out of the back door of our dormitory building and snapped this picture.  The pole appearing at the left middle of the photograph is the right support pole for our volleyball court's net.

Here I am after the storm, standing in front of those trees and the volleyball net, all buried below in the snow!

Here's what it looked like on Day Three.  See the six foot fence with barbed wire standing through the snow?

Look at that same scene on Day 6 -- where's the fence?  Yes, I was pretty warm in my parka, gloves, "Russian hat" and hood!

And here's how it looked coming back from supper on Day 8 after we dug out a path to the dormitory.

Can you spell C-O-L-D???

At one point, we went sleigh riding on Flexible Flyers and toboggans down the steep hill from the power plant to the dining hall!  (I kid you not; I was the front person in the toboggan!)

While we had plenty of C-rations in case food did not get through, on Day 8, we got into our Snowcat and followed the bulldozer down three miles to meet the commissary truck coming from Ankara Air Station to bring our weekly supplies.

As you can see, everyone got to get out and help move the food from the truck to the snowcat so we could go back up to the site.  At this point, the Snowcat is facing to the rear and Sahintepe is off behind the hill on the horizon, although a bright white light from the site's tallest antenna mast is showing through the mist above the hill line.