February 6, 1978

[meegbear]

Arguably the Commonwealth's "Storm of the Century," the Blizzard of '78 dumped 27.1 inches of snow on Boston on February 6 and 7, paralyzing the city and surrounding suburbs for a week. Although snow was less of an issue along the immediate coast, the tides were devastating. At its peak, the ocean rose 15.2 feet above mean low water (measured at the Boston Tide Station). Given that major tidal flooding begins at Boston and along the east facing coast of Massachusetts at 13.6 feet, these tides, topped with crashing waves, wreaked havoc on coastal homes, roads, and infrastructure. All tolled, 99 people were killed and thousands of houses and businesses were destroyed or severely damaged, with damage estimates exceeding $2.3 billion (in 1998 dollars).

http://www.mass.gov/czm/blizzard78.htm

I was a pudgy (Ok, FAT) tyke amazed at all the snow from that storm. My father and I walked to the supermarket, about a mile and a half away, with my sled to get staple items. A variety store down the street from us TRIPLED the prices on everything. He closed up due to lack of business 9 months later.

Who else remembered this bugger of a storm?

[MissMillie]

1. what those pictures don't show

the abandoned cars in 2+ feet of snow on Rte 128....

more pictures here

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/blizzard78/index.html

[meegbear]

3. Those are better pix ...

The pics in my link are from the Coastal Zone Management site.

[flvegan]

2. I sure as hell do. I lived in MA, right on the coast.

I mean literally, our house overlooked Cape Cod Bay. We got something like 4 feet of snow.

[meegbear]

9. I grew up in Lynn ...

should have said that in my OP, and away from the water, but did see the results. The next time I saw the beach look like that was the 'No Name' Storm of 1991.

[skygazer]

4. I do

I was 7 and we lived in Vermont. We got hit but Boston and points south got hit harder. That was a big year for snow - I have a photo somewhere of our 2-story garage with snow up to its eaves. It was taken in early April.

[Pacifist Patriot]

5. Not a glimmer, but I was in Atlanta and 9 years old at the time.

[meow2u3]

6. I had a blast during that blizzard in NYC

I was in 12th grade, and we had no school! We spent the entire day playing with our dogs in the snow, playing hide and seek with them. Of course, the dog found us!

[MissMillie]

7. my dad drove about 2 miles to pick up my grandmother

before the power went out. We lost power for about 1.5 days

We used our camp stove to cook the food that was in the fridge before it went bad. Needless to say, we ate pretty well.

My grandmother was a hoot. Legally blind, she played games w/ us, and told us stories about what her life was like as a young girl, meeting my grandfather, raising her kids during the depression.

Probably one of my favorite memories of my childhood.

[MANative]

8. I was a senior in High School. living in New Bedford, MA

Vividly remember going to school that morning, and around 10am - sitting in History class - looking outside and all of a sudden, it was snowing harder than I'd ever seen before. Within minutes, the Principal announced an early dismissal. IIRC, we didn't even go back to homeroom, as would have been the usual practice - just went to lockers and out to the buses. Took over 90 minutes to get home from one side of the city to the other. My now-husband and I had just started dating a few months before (yes, we've been together for over 30 years!) and that's when I knew he really loved me... He walked from his house to mine - over 3 miles - in hip-deep snow to see me. A very memorable event for me!

[Midlodemocrat]

10. I remember that like it was yesterday. I was in college.

The entire state of CT was shut down. Unreal.

My dad drove a Ford LTD - the FBI car - and it took him over 3 hours to pick up my brothers from school. It was maybe at most 6 miles away.

It was an amazing storm.

[meegbear]

11. I was in the 7th grade ...

a week off from school was the icing on the cake.

[nutsnberries]

12. 5 or 6 days out of school !!!

i remember the daily sweaters of Michael Dukakis.

i remember the icy glaze on top of the snow after a few days. we walked on top of the snow at window level. it was cool.

[graywarrior]

13. OMG, I got the last bus out of Boston to Lynn the night it started

I lived on Minot Street

[meegbear]

17. I lived on Jackson Street ...

went to Eastern, about a 7 minute walk from my house.

[graywarrior]

19. Classical girl.

Forever in fights after school.

[meegbear]

21. w00t!

English was peaceful - I was buzzcut with 3.85 GPA, so I was left alone.

[graywarrior]

36. I was a freak

Freak was cool back then

[Kat45]

14. Yeah, I remember it.

I was home sick that day so I didn't have to go anywhere. My friend's father died shoveling snow. In a few days, I had to drag myself to his wake, but fortunately the buses were running by then.

It sucked but one thing that was kind of cool is that the pace slowed down considerably. The state pretty much shut everything down; nobody was even allowed to drive, not that they could get their cars out anyway. Even when things started opening up some, the pace remained slow. People walked everywhere; people smiled at each other and were friendly (not a common occurrence in New England). There was something peaceful about it. I had just graduated from college the previous year and had not yet found a job, which made dealing with the blizzard a bit easier for me; I don't know what happened to folks with jobs regarding days off from work and such.

[krispos42]

15. Don't forget January 15, 1919...

And the Great Boston Molassas Disaster!!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Molasses_Disaster

At 529 Commercial Street, a huge molasses tank 50 ft (15 m) tall, 90 ft (27 m) in diameter and containing as much as 2,300,000 US gal (8,700,000 L) collapsed. Witnesses stated that as it collapsed there was a loud rumbling sound like a machine gun as the rivets shot out of the tank, and that the ground shook as if a train were passing by.<2>

The collapse unleashed an immense wave of molasses between 8 and 15 ft (2.5 to 4.5 m) high, moving at 35 mph (56 km/h) and exerting a pressure of 2 ton/ft² (200 kPa).<3> The molasses wave was of sufficient force to break the girders of the adjacent Boston Elevated Railway's Atlantic Avenue structure and lift a train off the tracks. Nearby, buildings were swept off their foundations and crushed. Several blocks were flooded to a depth of 2 to 3 feet.

:party:

[Westegg]

30. A mere lad of 19, but I remember...

...trying to trudge with my dad down Commercial Street through shoulder-high waves of molasses. We'd been on our way to pick up our pet parrot from his Italian lessons when the blast hit. I recall yelling out to Father, "It's like wading through molasses!" and his smirking, contemptuous response: "Duh!" And then another wave swept over him, and he was gone. In later years, whenever we poured molasses onto our flapjacks or flannel cakes, it was customary in my family to ask, facetiously, "Ya see 'im? Ya see 'im?"

I was 108 years young last month, but I remember it as if it were yesterday. Oh, the parrot? He's a tour guide in Venice now. He outlived us all.

[Maine-ah]

16. I was only 4 but I remember it

[BarenakedLady]

18. Of course I remember!

I was in Rhode Island.

My dad's friend got stranded in our house for several days. He took over my bedroom, which was ok because I had a huge crush on him. That crush lasted until just recently when I found out he was a hard core rethug. :cry:

Most fun memory of the blizzard was having to walk over the cars in the driveway to get to the plowed road.

[bigwillq]

20. My mom was pregnant with me

and said it was awful (because of the snow and not b/c of me! :)).

[trof]

22. We were snowed in in southern NH for a couple of days.

Merrimack.
I was a pilot for TWA.
Had a trip going out of NY the day after.
I called crew schedule to tell them I couldn't get out of my driveway yet.
He said "Don't worry about it. Logan and JFK are still closed. Let me know when you can make it back to work."
It took a couple of weeks to get the schedule back to 'normal'.

[Raven]

23. I was Deputy Mayor in Newton, MA and had fired the Public Works

Commissioner a few weeks before the storm. I was at Disney World with Will when I got an emergency call from the Chief of Police telling me I had to come back, that Newton was a mess. Since most airports were closed and there was a driving ban, the Chief told me to fly into Bradlet Field in Ct. (it was open) and that the cops would meet me and get me back to Newton. The Ct. State Police met us and drove us to the Mass line where the Mass State police took over. I will never forget coming to the Rt. 128 overpass and seeing abandoned cars strewn all over the highway. I dropped Will off with friends, grabbed some warm clothes and was on the road for a solid seven days. It was a nightmare!

[meegbear]

24. Wow! What a nightmare for you indeed!

[Raven]

25. It was! What people don't realize is that there was another storm

about a week later that dumped an additional foot of snow. We simply had no place to put the stuff. Folks just didn't even notice the second storm...it was a flurry!

[meegbear]

26. I don't recall it either actually ...

but Newton's still on the map, so you must've done something right. :hi:

[Raven]

27. I hope I did. I loved that job! Moved from Newton to NH 5 years ago

and now I'm back working for a NH Town as the Town Planner...a little deja vu! But, they take care of snow much better up here!

[Useless in FL]

28. Boy, do I remember

I was living along the CT shoreline then and working in New Haven. It started snowing but my employer wouldn't let us go home early. By the time I got on the CT turnpike (I-95) that evening, cars were being abandoned along the side of the road in both directions. I got behind a tractor trailer that plowed a path, and by not stopping at the toll booths - just tossing a quarter on the go - and by keeping my hand out of the window to slam the snow off the windshield wipers so I could see the semi's lights - I was able to make it all the way to my exit. Then, by some sort of miracle I was able to make it up the steep hill to my house and into the driveway - but not into the garage! That trip was usually a 30 minute ride and it took almost three hours to get home. I moved to FL at the end of the year!

[meegbear]

29. I don't blame you for moving after that!

:party: WELCOME TO DU!! :party:

[Bombero1956]

31. it was my first official day

as a firefighter. We were in drill school. We had our lunch break at 12:00 and by 1:00 PM it was snowing like gamgbusters. The next day we were sent out to shovel hydrants.

[Redstone]

32. I was in Louisiana. I called all my friends in Pennsylvania and New England and gloated.

Redstone

[LynneSin]

33. You may have been 'pudgy' but probably had adorable cheeks to pinch

:D

[meegbear]

34. No I was FAT ...

when I sat around the house, I SAT AROUND THE HOUSE.

[skater314159]

35. I remember that!!!

I was at home with my babysitter, and she was worried, cause my dad was out in it... I remember him walking through the door though, and I was soooo happy to see him. I was only like three at the time... so it's a sorta fuzzy memory, but it's there.

I remember all the snow too, cause it was awesome... and we got this HUGE icecicle that was as big as my head when we walked down the block to buy soup and stuff from the neighborhood store; my dad wrapped that sucker up in foil and put it in the freezer for me so I could keep it for a while.

That's all I remember of it.

[Canuckistanian]

37. I remember the storm in Toronto

I just got a new job (my first job) and I went there on the bus (it took forever). When I got to work, there were only 5 people there and they applauded me when I walked in the door.

[meegbear]

39. Toronto got it too?

:wow:

[peacefreak]

38. I was living near UCONN at the time.

We stacked as much wood as we could before the storm hit. Went to the A&P, stocked up on goodies. Our friends hiked over from their place & stayed for a few days. It was afternoons of smoke & wine. I remember it being really cozy. When the storm ended we went to the top of Mt Hope & did some serious sledding.