The weather was crazy in 1970, the winter was freezing cold, the summer stormy.
There was a lot of snow at the beginning of 1970.
It was wintry everywhere in North Rhine-Westphalia.
The whole state was white, a blanket of snow from the Lower Rhine to East Westphalia.
Why do we need the Alps, thought the people of North Rhine-Westphalia.
We can ski at home too.
The Sauerland became a skiing paradise.
In Mönchengladbach, a soccer fairytale began that would shape the entire decade.
The Fohlenelf became champions for the first time, Berti Vogts remembers the most important year of his career.
And Heide Ecker-Rosendahl will also never forget 1970.
After all, she jumped a world record - and also had a lot of fun with her home town of Radevormwald at the TV spectacle "Spiel ohne Grenzen".
The winter dream quickly turned into a nightmare.
Because it just wouldn't stop snowing.
And then there was this: smallpox alert in Meschede, four deaths shocked the country.
25 people had contracted smallpox and 260 patients had to be quarantined.
Magdalena Drinhaus was one of them.
In "When the weather went crazy - 1970", she tells of her dramatic fight for survival; and the very special role that the snowfall played for her.
1970 was an eventful year.
In some parts of the country, the snow lasted well into May - and was replaced by summer storms and thunderstorms.
The citizens of the state elected a new state parliament and confirmed Minister President Heinz Kühn in office.
Cologne Airport, the Düsseldorf Schauspielhaus theater and the Ruhrschnelltunnel were opened, and the first Manta was built in Bochum.
The beginning of a success story.
In Dortmund, thousands took to the streets: mini or maxi, the length of their skirts drove women up the wall.
The television event of the year was produced by WDR: the Millionenspiel, a fictional story about a deadly show that many viewers took seriously.
It is the big stories and small anecdotes that Esther Schweins tells and that bring the year 1970, when not only the weather was crazy, back to life in the series "Unser Land - Die 70er".
First broadcast: Friday, August 11, 2017, at 8:15 p.m. on WDR