Hey Bob...I know this is an old thread now but of course today is the 12th anniversary of Snowmageddon (hard to believe that long now!!).
I wasn't here for PD-I but do recall hearing about it in the news even in Ohio. So mostly I'm responding to agree that there are those sort of "life changing" storms that just stick with you and become the benchmark. Even if other storms since have been snowier, etc. For me, it was the Ohio blizzard of 1978 (Jan. 26-27). Yeah, we didn't get a ton of snow, though hard to measure with winds. KCLE officially put down like 7" in their records (on top of a fair bit of existing old snow). But it was so incredibly severe, in a winter that was severe. Sustained winds over 40MPH, reported gusts of 80-100MPH. Complete whiteout. The center of the storm went right through northeast Ohio with a pressure recorded at KCLE of 28.28 inches (~957 mb). Temperatures dropped 30 degrees within two hours from the mid-40s at 4AM, and it hovered in the single digits the remainder of the day. The Ohio Turnpike was closed from gate to gate for the first and only time ever, from what I read. The storm itself, as I recall, bombed out by over 40 mb in a 24 hour period as it moved north...all over land. A pretty unique occurrence.