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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 11 ก.ย. 2024
- An excellent WCVB look at The Blizzard of 1978 -- produced in 2003 to commemorate the 25th Anniversary -- features forecasters Harvey Leonard and the late Dick Albert taking a close look at the immortal southern New England snowstorm. Includes great archival footage with a more contemporary examination of the storm from a meteorological angle.
Check out my other southern New England weather videos:
-Hurricane Gloria - WJAR Special
• Blizzard of '78 -"Stor...
-Hurricane Bob - WJAR Special
• Hurricane Bob - WJAR P...
-Wake of '38 - WSBE Special
• Wake of '38 - WSBE Pro...
-Blizzard of '78 - Six Snowbound Days - WJAR Special
• Blizzard of '78 -"Six ...
-Blizzard of '78 - 25th Anniversary - WJAR Special
• Blizzard of '78 -"Stor...
I was 12 years old and it was fantastic for us. School was canceled for a week and we went sledding every day on the hill in our back yard. We would come in with soaking wet mittens, put them on the radiator, grab dried mittens and go back out.
Such a great comment! I love it! I can picture a kid just not concerned at all about the economic/physical impact this had on most people and just happy to not have to go to school!😆
I was 7 and got lost in my backyard the snow made everything so different!
Same here, 11 at the time and man that was one wild storm. Sustained winds of 70mph the chill factor was -20 !
I was 15 & had strep throat and my beloved doctor actually came to our house just in time before the storm was was out of control! When doctors would still make house calls... Thank you, Dr. George Mansour!!
17 that year, we lived that on the seawall and got 4 feet of ocean slush in the living room, we had to trudge through the slush up to our waists, mom dad, little brother 5 yrs old, then through snowdrifts 5/6 feet high, I carried him and led mom dad for a path 1/2 mile away to grandparents house, all the time it's blowing snow sideways, hard, but at grandmas house, good and a real fireplace, never felt so good. I did good, I'm really good under bad situations but reg life not so good.
I was 17 that year too but north of Pittsburgh.
Your last statement really hit hard. Hope you are well. That is a great story. Thanks.
great story
Wow!!
Yeah sure ya did buddy
I remeber that storm, we had a house party and drank some Boonsfarm Strawberry Hill and listened to Fleetwood Mac on the record player. Good times back in the day.
Hahaha This comment takes me back to summers in Maine! Boones Farm Tickled Pink and Strawberry Hill was what we could get at the liquor store at 15! Fleetwood Mac along with Neil Young, Pink Floyd and The Boss on my record player! Those 45 years flew by! 😂’
No mad dog 2020. lol
I remember that boonesfarm. It would sneak up on you. lol
I became stuck under a bridge in my Cadillac Hearse when the transmission failed. The owner of a service station towed my huge, heavy vehicle and even took me home. The next morning, I shoveled enough snow, lots of snow, so my father could get the snow blower out of the garage. I was 28 years old at the time. That was an amazing storm. My cars which were parked at the end of our big wide steep driveway were covered with snow. Snow blew into their engines threw the front grates. My parents were kind to help remove the snow. Governor Ella Grasso flew home from vacation, closed the state and engaged the National Guard to clear roads. We lived in Connecticut. Those of us who were old enough to recall the Blizzard of 1978 will not forget.
When this blizzard hit my dad was working for Mass electric. It was an all hands on deck situation but my dad was snowed in pretty good and we had a 20 ft snow drift up over the top of our house. Mass Electric sent one of their big big trucks out to get him. We didn't see him again for 3 and a half days
Our house, built in 1935, was groaning and creaking overnight. Never did that before or since. We'll never forget that storm! Remember when Dick Albert was a brand new meteorologist. He was so enthusiastic and a breath of fresh air with his personality.
OMG I havent seen either of them in years. Growing up in the 80s I remember them well on TV
Sadly, Dick Albert passed away a few years ago.
It may have been, "the storm of the century," to you, but it will always be a week's vacation (from school) to me. 😁😄😃
10th grade. It was great being a kid in that storm.
I was a senior that yr. Good luck.🙏🇺🇸
@@johnshields6852, yeah I was a senior that year too. We got an unexpected week off of school. 😀
And don't forget we had just recovered from a weekend ice storm. Tiny flakes just after 11AM indicated this was gonna be a heavy hitter. NOTHING since has ever come close. A hundred year storm. Wicked awesome.
It was a rather warm, sunny afternoon here in central Indiana so I got off work and went home. I didn't go to the grocery store because I didn't think I needed to - wow, what a mistake that was. I lived in an apartment building right across the street from a big Kroger's grocery store but back in 1978 you had to have cash to shop there - they didn't accept credit cards and debit cards did NOT exist yet. And since there was very little warning of this storm most of us were NOT prepared. I was pretty much trapped in my top floor apartment for 3 solid days listening to the wind howling outside my windows and the snow went sideways for those 3 days. All traffic was banned on the street out front of my apartment and N. Shadeland Ave. only had snow mobiles whizzing up and down the highway. Most people did NOT have front wheel drive vehicles or 4 wheel drive. I had a 1972 Camaro with no traction in the rear. Terrifying. And the drifts got to be at least 5 to 6 feet high and then we got horrible wind chills of 30 below zero. And to make matters worse they did NOT plow or salt the roads. That frozen snow which turned into tire tracks would gossel your car back and forth if you managed to get out and because of the frozen ruts you could not turn. That ice lasted for weeks - it was a nightmare. So anytime we've got snow and cold in the forecast I go straight to the grocery store and stock up on stuff - it's pretty much scarred me for life and I am not kidding.
I was 17 at that time and lived in Hull. Fortunately we lived on a hill (Hampton circle) . I remember using rowboats to get around the Kenberma area. It was crazy for quite some time after the storm.
I wasn’t around yet.. but my mom and Dad had moved from Hull to Kingston on the 30th of November’77.
Thank goodness, the house they had been in, in Hull was completely destroyed.
I was 8 and lived in Ct. we had school that day and our bus broke down trying to bring us home. My stepdad walked and got me and neighbor kids. It was so deep. Now they cancel or delay school over the slightest things. I just laugh and say “back in my day etc”. So great that people were so helpful to each other. Those were the good old days.
I remember this storm, I was in Western Ma. We lived maybe 4 miles from Smith and Wesson where my dad worked 2nd shift. My dad got stuck on the highway and had to walk home. He had people on his way home bringing others to our home. When he got home he got warmer clothes and went out with neighbors to help get people off the highway and roads into our homes. They dug out cars for like 3 days.
We live in western ,Massachusetts too. Berkshire County.We were teenagers. And we spent that great week skiing.😂
@thaismatsumoto I was 15 in Northampton. We spent the entire night sledding down the steep road we lived on. The next day we snowshoed and XC-skied all over town and on the Mill river. It was magical.
@@cherylboucher4491😅🎉
I remember that, my brother went with a bunch of other kids taking winter gear to jump the guardrails and get people from their cars on 128. Bring them back to the closest neighbors hoods off the highway. From Wakefield to Arlington. Safe residents were doing that.
Meanwhile our pizza shop had us younger kids delivering free pizzas for three days on 4 feet of snow on main street, we used sleds, skis, snowmobiles , even cardboard boxes covered in trash bags.
All out saving the world! I was 13
No school in Brockton for 3 weeks.
My parents who loved to cross country ski were in their element.
Our little corner store.. M&M market.. was actually open the next day and my parents skied there and brought supplies for the neighbors. We slept on the floor in front of the fireplace for 5 days. When the roads were clear enough we went to my grandmothers house in Avon because she had 2 wood stoves and her own well. As
a child I loved the whole thing.
This event was so massive. I remember so many details of it so well. I was 12 and had started my paper route a week prior. The storm event was so incredible but the societal impact afterwards were incredible. Typical of this was my dad and another group of dad’s in the neighborhood taking sleds to walk 2 miles to the grocery store after it was over. It took a few days or a week until we were plowed out. No wonder people swamp the grocery stores when any winter storm is predicted.
I was 12 also and the dads in our neighborhood did the same thing. It was a wild time…I still have great memories of those days.
People should swamp the grocery stores in November to stock up on emergency supplies for the winter, instead of waiting til the last minute.
@@sean2015 - that wouldn’t be a terrible idea but as I recall the stuff we needed or ran short of was things like bread and milk that can go bad or run out after a few days.
@@michaelohare6555 okay, that goes without saying and that's why I didn't mention it in my original post. Yes, perishable items like bread and milk can't be stored for too long so In understand why those have to be purchased last minute.
BUT, when I see people trying to snatch up items like: batteries, candles, flashlights, bottled water, generators, canned goods, instant noodles....I'm sorry but that just shows a complete lack of responsibility.
One other thing I would mention: powdered or evaporated milk is probably better than the bottled stuff. What if you're in a storm and you have a power outage?
Crackers are an acceptable alternative to bread if stores are sold out.
Every home in places like South Florida or Louisiana or South Texas should have a hurricane preparedness kit with enough food and water for at least 3 days.
I was an eighteen year old new wife and mom. I was happy to have everyone home. I lived in Lawrence at the time.
Freshman in HS during the Blizzard of 1978. We got 3 weeks off from school in the City of Boston !!!
I was in Boston escorting my Mom to her Doctors Appointment. The Doc was running way behind. I remember looking out the waiting room window, and having no idea about the weather prediction, no snow in Boston yet. I had this feeling come over me, and told my Mom we have to go home right now. She looked at me, and saw the look on my face, and just said, okay.
We were on the last bus to make all the way back to Nashua. When the Bus pulled off the Rt 3 exit I spotted someone I knew plowing their gas station so I asked the bus Driver to please let us off there explaining our opportunity to get a ride. We got in the plowing pickup w chains on the wheels, and I got my Mother home safe. An Angel was watching over us that day.
dick albert and harvey leonard are such iconic boston weathermen.
💯💯💯💯
What was that station they also had a iconic
radio broadcasting the Celtics if they where on tv
all the neighbors would turn the sound down on tv and listen to the broadcast on radio even at the VFW IN Wesyminster
@@jimafton5659 🤣🤣 I'm not sure but I remember my Dad listening to WTAG & WEEI I believe but he passed in 2018 so I can't even ask him
I was 14 back then. We used to have a good bit of snow and cold in winter back in the 70's. Skiing, sledding, and ice skiing were winter activities. Fast forward to today, we simply don't have that much cold in the midAtlantic any longer. The last few years the pond hasn't even frozen over.
It's true. I wasnt around in 78, but I was a kid in the 80's and 90's. I remember much more snow here in VT. Now it seems like we get a few storms, and that's about it. Just much more ice, and freezing temps. No snow though. Not compared to what it was 30-35 years ago. Could be I was just young and everything seemed bigger? I swear though...we don't get as much snow as we used to.
@@vermontvermont9292 According to the NOAA climate map from 1959 to present, the U.S. is getting less snowfall during winters. I'm nearly 70 and remember more as a kid. I didn't play Pickleball back then, but today we often play during winter months outdoors on warmer days. I don't think that would have been nearly as often when I grew up. Looking more closely the NOAA predictions, on who will see more and less snow, is very interesting. It is based on an El Nino pattern which has effect on the jet stream, which can shift south. The prediction is kind of flip flopped. From Alaska, Canada, and through about the top half of the U.S. there will be less snow, but draw a line across northern California across to the bottom of Pennsylvania and below, those states could actually see more snow. Vermont could again be in a dry zone.
@@alfredeneuman6966 I certainly don't mind less snow as I've gotten older. I can no longer snowboard due to a serious back injury. I just know snow fall is important for several reasons. Including the frog spawning population in spring. They lay their eggs in snow melt pools, which are now drying up before the eggs have a chance to become tadpoles let alone baby frogs. It also means less ground water. Less tourist dollars for the state. As much as flat landers drive me crazy, and all the city folk from New England cities, I realize they're important to our economy here. You're right though, these days it seems like Massachusetts gets more snow than Vermont.
@@vermontvermont9292 We have a very similar situation in the area where I live in Pennsylvania, there is a vernal pond nearby that is on the edge of a state park. Usually winter snowmelt and spring rains fill the pond during the early spring and the spring peepers will fill the air with the euphony of sound, quite pleasing actually. I have noticed in recent years however that it has been much less, and in some years, not enough precipitation has fallen, or snow melt, so that you do not hear the frogs at all! Of late western PA has received more rainfall, and central PA a shortfall. Eastern PA is little drier, but not as much as the center of the state. For whatever reason this pattern has repeated the past few years. We are currently 8.8" below normal year to date.
Exactly… And winter seems to start much later nowadays.
I was there.
This gave me chills.
I was 7 years old. I spent all my week in the front yard tunneling into the 5 foot of snow making the most incredible subterranean snow forts a 7 year old could imagine. Mom never checked on me as I was Gen-X and we could take care of ourselves (we always did.)
Pun intended?
@@paulcolburn3855 my brother and his friend dug a tunnel along the front of the house. My mom sat at the front windows in yhe fining room keeping watch in case it collapsed.
me too...in Kentucky Ohio region....I was in 4th grade
I was 5 1/2. I remember sitting by the front window, watching the snow and listening to the wind for what seemed to be days. My mother was stuck at work at Long Island Hospital in the harbor for almost a week.
My uncle owned a house on the Atlantic side of Hull. He sold it in November of ‘77. When my father drove down in the spring to see it, the seawall it was built in front of was gone. Along with the cottage and more than half the road.
Fun fact: Dennis Lehane based his novel Shutter Island on the Long Island Hospital.
Was driving a school bus in New Hampshire seacoast area! Got the kids home safely!
Don Kent, warned us, even though he was retired from being a weatherman on TV, but nobody listened😮
😮I remember this well.We lived in Hingham.Snow banks taller than the street signs.36" of snow in 24hrs.
I was a senior in high school at the time in central Massachusetts. Definitely a storm l will never forget!
I remember that one I went into labor and had the worse conditions getting to the hospital. Took a long time. Had my second son during that storm. Thankfully we did make it to the hospital.
I was 8 in western Mass. no school for a week! The best snow drifts to make snow forts in! We stayed at my grandparents because they had a fireplace
For heat! Power was out
For days!
I remember this well, I was working 2nd shift at Raytheon in Andover while I was on intercession from UMass Amherst. My father (who spent 42 years at Raytheon), got word to me that the storm was looking bad and he was coming to bring me home while he still could. I was 20 years old. Our area had power lines underground. I do not think we lost power that week.
I was in eighth grade in 78 and this was the worst storm I’ve ever experienced. We didn’t have school for two weeks and it took a week before the front end loaders came by to clean the streets in Tiverton RI.
I was in college at UMASS Lowell, fortunately I was in a dorm across the street from the main class room campus. There were underground tunnels from my dorm to my classroom. The cafeteria was in the basement of my dorm and the library was also attached to my dorm. I could spend the whole winter without ever going out doors. Never had to wear a jacket - the tunnels were lined with steam heating pipes that broug t steam heat to all the buidlings. There were other dorms across the Merrimac River. Some nights we had massive snowball fights - about 500 on each side, we'd fight over the bridge, trying to get one side to retreat to their side of the bridge.
WOW GREAT STORY YOU HAD IT GREAT....
South campus, my boys are currently on the North Campus so they would have to do some trudging through the snow to cross the river to get to class.
We were in drydock at the old Boston Naval Shipyard.....snow and drifting snow completely filled the drydock and we were out in it shoveling the decks to keep them clear to maintain the center of gravity to keep the ship from rolling off the blocks....what a brutal adventure that was!!!!
Sounds like one of those experiences that's miserable in the moment but you look back on it and glad it happened.
HELLO MY DAD WORKED FOR THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE....HE WAS VERY FRIENDLY AND VERY TALKATIVE.
DID YOU KNOW HIM
BRUCE CHAMBERS.
BY THE WAY THANK YOU HE SAID YOU GUYS ALL WORKED HARD.
GONE IN HEAVEN.
BOY 78 WAS HARD BUT NEVER FORGOTTEN I WAS IN MY LATE TEENS.
WE LIVED IN ATTLEBORO MASS
FOR 2 WEEKS NO CARS MOVED.
THE ROADS PEOPLE WALKED ON SLEDS SKIS. WE TOOK A SLEDS TO GET GROCERIES.
MY MOM QUIT SMOKING THAT YR COULDN'T FIND THEM.
SHE SAID 2 WEEKS OK.I AM DONE.
MY DAD TOOK THE TRAIN TO WORK TO BOSTON.
THE RAILWAY HAD TO PLOWED BY SPECIAL TRAIN. EVEN THAT COULDN'T MOVE THE SNOW.
MY DAD WAS GONE FOR A FEW DAYS.
I LOVED THE MEMORIES BECAUSE OF HOW EVERYONE WAS ON THE ROADS AND NO CARS.
BUT NOBODY FOUGHT IN THE STORES OVER THE BIT OF FOOD EITHER.
EVERYBODY WAS NICE TO EACH OTHER.
EVEN THE LONG LINE IN THE STORE.
THEN THE ARMY TRUCKS WERE EVERYWHERE GIVING OUT BAGS OF FOOD DOOR TO DOOR.
Go NAVY!!!!@ burcold burrrrcold colr northeasternno imogyno imogy.
I’m out there quite often now, being an Uber driver. Seen some very interesting ships in that drydock. High tech navy ship in there now, 3/08/24. I was 18 in Beverly during that blizzard. I still tell people in my Uber about it.
I was just a kid so it was so much fun. My Dad was a cop not as much fun for him. My brothers and I had to climb out the second story windows so we could start shoveling out the doorways of our multi family house. What a storm…🍻
As a child I remember that unforgettable storm. Equipment moved in that looked like it was made for moving snow in Alaska. I lived on a hill, when traffic was allowed to continue I witnessed cars just sliding down our hill into a major intersection. Walking in the snow that high was exhausting. Funny, you just dealt with it. Little did I know that was a preparation years later destroying my new home in Miami years later, Hurricane Andrew, instinctively I just knew how to protect myself and when to leave my destroyed home. The Blizzard was basic training for the preparation of the Hurricane years later. You just rebuild.
You went through this, moved to Miami just to get Andrew. I was young when Andrew hit (born in 81) but I remember the pictures. Living in Central Florida, I've been through many hurricanes. Funny enough, I'm writing this from Lowell Massachusetts.
@@Nothingtoya Did I mention that I knew, better then DeSantis, the legal tactics of Disney, they had built my home (that was reported in the media) was not up to code, the Insurance company refused to pay. We had to go after Disney, as DeSantis’s opponent, I warned him of the Legal power Disney had (and the effect on Florida’s economy).
I was a young mother with eight and two year old daughters. A friend who had lived in Alaska told me not to let the kids outside unless they had a rope tied around their waists. The back of my house was buried, but you could see the front yard grass through a dusting of snow. Such was the power of the wind. A young boy was found much later. He stepped off his porch and froze to death. I still say prayers for my friend.
Same thing at my house. You could see the grass on the side of the house. The snow drift in the backyard was 15' high !!
My brother was stranded on 128 and had to abandon his car - was able to get to his place of work, Mass General, in a truck. Picked up his car 5 days later
I was living in Lynn MA at the time and snow drifts buried cars and reached second story windows. The coastal flooding and freezing of the roads bascially shut everything.
To get out of the house, you dug a tunnel from the door to the car. But it didn't matter until the roads cleared. School was closed for days.
lynn lynn the city of sin. 20 years old, also born in Lynn.
@@rimshot9224 you never come the way you went in......hehehehehheheh
I was 7 and made the mistake of going out in the storm. I was only a couple of houses away but remember my breath being taken away by the wind in my face, struggling through shoulder deep snow to get back home. I was glad to be back inside!
I was in high school at the time, growing up northwest of Boston. We had no school for two weeks. We were without power for at least a few days, maybe more. Everything in my little town closed down. Finally, one store opened, and my dad and I walked miles pulling sled to get basic groceries for the family. It was probably a nightmare for my parents at the time (and for those who weren't so fortunate in dealing with it), but I look back on that blizzard sort of fondly now.
I remember it well as I was 13 and we had our field trip cancelled to go to DC. The snow was so high you could just barely see the roof of cars. We could only shovel the snow to one side of the driveway, we literally had to trudge through the snow to the other side of the pile to pull snow off the top. Most people were low on food and the only market was still miles away but my mom drove anyways and got groceries for us and the neighbors that needed something. It was crazy how deep the snow was, we could jump off our back porch railings into the snow with over 3ft of snow on the ground. Amazing time to be a kid.
the storm of storms. I was 14 yo then. I will always remember it.
I was 24 years old and was a respiratory therapist at Newport(RI)Hospital..the National Guard came out to get us into work..no snowday that day😂
Lived through this my senior year of High School
I remember that storm well. I was 8 months pregnant when the storm hit. I was so worried if I had gone into early labor , that I could never get an ambulance to the hospital. I remember it was tough walking in that amount of snow. It was brutal
Hi, I'm gregory, I was not in boston,gmail
I was 8 months pregnant to lived in Plymouth
My father made it all the say from Waltham to Brockton in that mess on Rt 128. He had tire chains that he kept in his truck "just in case". So he gets back to Brockton, is going down Oak St.(totally not the right way to our house) and comes across a car stuck in the snow ar the entrance to Field's Park. He stops to help the lady and slips getting out of the truck fracturing his ankle in 3 places. He got back into the truck, and instead of turning around to go to yhe hospital just up the street, he drove all the way across town to Brockton Hospital! Oh, by the way, the truck had a standard transmission. Try to handle that with a fractured ankle! He must have stayed in first gear all the way.
My sister lived in Brockton back then
He should have went to Cardinal Cushing, literally right up the street. For years I lived off Oak St.
I know, right? Could never figure out why he went to Brockton Hosputal. Except for the fact that his aunt was a nurse there.
Remember that winter well. Toronto was brutal, Buffalo got hammered with snow.
I lived in Kittery maine that year and my dad made the best snow cave!
now we dont even get hardly any snow you have to go to greenville to ride
I was 18. , first year at BU. Trying to get to stores walking in the streets in those snow drifts
Was hard. But being 18 ,the snow ball fights with neighbors was just as memorable.
Harvey Lenard you are a hero! Your knowledge saved a lot of people that day for sure. I f remember right there were no school for 2 almost 2 weeks 🙂 I was 16 so exciting 🙂
It was the week before February vacation. It took days for the snow crews to push back snow at all of the intersections.
I'm so inspired by the communities helping eachother to get through a massive undertaking. 😊
LIVED IN RI. GREAT SNOW STORM.
This was our age group's Pandemic. I was in upper elementary when this happened..we missed so much school many of the skills I was never taught (through no fault of anyone)I had to learn as late as high school and even junior college... But I did graduate from HS, college and graduate school. Now I teach public school children post pandemic. They have my compassion and empathy. Just give the children grace and show them you care...they will catch up.
Being born in Salem MA in 1981, and being a life long 3rd generation New Englander as well, and a weather geek and history lover to boot, I wish I could have experienced this in person! Documentaries such as this on YT is the next best thing to a Time Machine. Not to mention the countless stories I’ve heard over the years from my parents, family, and friends. It’s because of this storm thag every nor Easter we get now I feel the spirit of this storm in the lead up to them…hard to put into words the magic of a New England nor Easter but I tried my best🤣!
I was in 5th grade in Peabody MA. It was awesome
I was born in 1980, and every big storm got people talking about it. My grandfather lost a car down at Nantasket Beach. The storms of January and February of 2015 definitely rivaled 78 in terms of snowfall, but the storm surge, and lack of preparedness (or Bostonian hubris) made this one of a kind, I think.
My parents were 18 in 1978 living in Nahant, MA, my dad told me the causeway flooded over so everyone was stuck on the now naturally created island for a week, the national guard had to come in
That April Fools Day storm of 1997 was huge too !!
@@ventues9751 for sure, I remember how angry my parents were because my brother fiends and I being the brat teens we were, trashed the house🤣🤣🤣🤣!
I was in Milford ,NH. Three feet of snow on the top of the hood of my Chevy MONZA !
IT SNOWED FOR OVER THREE DAYS AND BLEW WIND BAD !!!
I was attending college in Vermont around that time-That blizzard was brutal!
As an 8 year old it was so much fun!!!!!
I lived it too. Love weathermen Dick and Harvey.
I drove from South Jersey to Boston to "enjoy" the storm. It only had flurries while I was there. The 3' of snow was packed down on the roads. If your car got stuck in the icy potholes, you had problems. Saw the army in their APCs go across sidealks and grass because traffic wasn't moving.
I was in the video. I was a 4 yr old kid. I was on top of a school bus in Easton rt 138. We were using my little snowmobile with sledge ,moving kids to local donut shop. Police gave me a dollar for each kid I dropped off there. Loved this video
Was 26 and living with my girlfriend in a rented home in Dorchester. I had never lived thru such snow accumulation in my life, and I had lived most of my life in Northeast, Ohio, where nasty snow fall is a common occurrence. The whole area shut down for like a week it seems. The local store at the end of our street jacked up the food prices probably 600 to 700 %...T- shirts were made a week or so later "I survived the Blizzard of '78"....45 years later still haven't been in anything as bad as that was!!!
I was ten years old when this happened, as a kid looking at it, it was AWESOME lol😂, in ky we had 3 to 5 ft snow drifts,outta school for two weeks, we put tire chains on my dads rambler and it went like a tank,we were taking everyone to the store in it and we tied our sleds about ten ft behind it and dad pulled all us kids around town behind the rambler. At one point we had about twenty kids all tied end to end on sleds as dad pulled us back and forth through town and taking people to the grocery store,it was awesome, the fumes from the six cylinder, the tire chains seemed to be playing Christmas carols lol. As we went down the streets,we built a 16 ft snowman and i still have the picture our local newspaper took and put on the front page with us in front of it
Very good show, and the 1940s era Disney--type "howling wind" sound effect is pretty funny.
Crazy to think we've had bigger storms in Boston over the years, but nothing has topped our collective memory like the Blizzard of 78
Have we had bigger storms? You have to look at the technology back then in forecasting. Also, maybe 8 TV stations with no internet. I’ve never seen cars trapped on 128/95 since
@@mikepthekangaroo7596 I didn't actually double check, but I seem to recall there were some bigger storms as far as snowfall went. According to google, in Boston, there was one in 2003. But it's possible my memory is tainted by Snowmaggedon in 2015 and mushed all of those storms together.
And yeah, with modern communications tech, it's very unlikely that we'll see cars stranded on 128 again, although it did just happen out in CA at Donner Pass a few days ago. I guess people will ignore forecasts.
And heck, the way the winters have been for the past few years, we may be more likely to see palm trees start growing than getting nailed with a big blizzard.
Drove Taxi cab in Watertown when it hit. The stories I could tell. My car was on the last street dugout in town. Great memories
That is usually how it is. During a bad winter, if you get a big snow storm, most likely a bigger one will come. It all comes at once.
Wasn’t it Harvey Leonard that was the only meteorologist that predicted this?
YES !
Yup!
22 then and lived in the volunteer fire house for 4 days using my snowmobile for rescue and recovery in Eastern CT. Quite a storm!
We loved it live in the country had a wood stove canned all summer freezer was full of chickens turkey corn 2 tins of cherries we had a blast best time
NEK Vermonter born and raised
I was 7 yrs old. My three big brothers
Brian, Jeffery, and Michael were there
I was twenty-eight at the time, and remember all the orange storiform balls sticking out of the snow a top car antennas.
I survived I live in southern NH and was at work that morning my boss called off the rest of the day at 11:00 am there was a handicaped man i had to pick up in the morning and take him home after work he lived at the other end of townso after i dropped him off it took me an hour too get to my parents mobile home they lived on a big hill and 3 times to get to the top finally made it into the driveway stayed there all night and helped dad dig out the driveway and roof I had just got out of the Navy and said to myself I gave up the southeren Pacific for this crap i must have been nuts but you can take the boy out of New England but you can't take N E out of the boy and last year the town of dublin where i live was hit with 30 plus inches it reminded me of the blizzard of 78
Round the clock shoveling. Walked three miles with sled to grocery store while neighbors husky jumped off twenty foot snowbanks. Holbrook age 13
I was living in Connecticut. My daughter was 2 years old. I now live in South Carolina. When I sometimes miss New England, it’s videos like this that will make me NEVER move back!
At 38:40, now looting is common and there are no arrests. Back then it was a big deal.
I worked in an Army Recruiting Station in Hyannis and we left when the first snowflakes fell, on the normally 30 minute trip to Otis Air Base where we lived, but it took 3 1/2 hours to make the drive. Snow covered the 2nd story windows and we couldn’t get out of our homes for almost 2 weeks.
Ooo i love all these stories. I live in Mass but was born in 90 so i totally missed it. People still mention the blizzard, i kinda wished i was there.
I remember going to school on Monday. It was next Monday before I went back to school. Living in Wrentham,I was told we got 44 inches. We did have a D8 plow our street. I was 11 1/2.
Loved it.
I was 17… lived on top of a mountain in N.H. With my boyfriend…we skied, or snowshoed a mile in,& out… I remember this storm very clearly !
I was 11 and lived in the city by the sea.Newport,R.I. luckily for my neighborhood the city of Newport had all there city equipment at the end of our road so we were the first to get our road plowed.All the kids in the neighborhood would make snow huts with the drifts from plowing and then the city plowed them down telling us we would die if the huts collapsed on us😢it was fun while it lasted.
Hahvey Lennid's blizzid in the wintah of '78. Gawd, it was unbelievable. I was 10 going on 11 and living in Maine when we got an unbelievable amount of snow, and it got so cold that the snow drifts formed a thick crust of ice that you could walk and slide on, the drifts made it impossible for us to open our front door for days, and our well froze. Our well. It was 40 below (Fahrenheit) with the wind chill for days.
And I was 17 years old I remember that winter storm I remember exactly where I was I'm 62 holy shit
The blizzard of 96 was my most memorable storm.. That was a monster.. I was working in an apartment building in Queens NY and I had to clear the grounds with a snow blower.. I just kept going around and around the property with the snow blower and by the time I would finish around the perimeters of the building and cleared the snow.. I would have to start all over again and there would already be another 3 inches of snow just 45 minutes later and then I just kept repeating this process for hours..
It was 12:00 PM when my Uncle and I left a job recruitment office on Tremont St in Boston. The very first flakes were falling. The ride home to Haverhill was a 40 minute drive on a normal day. It took over TWO hours and THAT was at the very beginning of that storm. The next morning the snow was up to my belt buckle. I was 25.
As bad as that storm was the people in New England, as a whole showed what it is to be Human....what is to jump in and help each other.
I was 25, living downtown near Copley Square, my boyfriend skied over, and we hunkered down. So honestly, it was fun. Until it was boring. When it finally stopped snowing, we busted out into the fresh air and the Hari Krishnas were dancing in the square and serving soup. Restaurants around the square were serving sandwiches and things that were safe in spite of the electricity loss. I looked down at the ground and wondered what I was seeing: it was the antenna from a car that was buried there. That is my most vivid memory.
One of the major reasons so many cars got stuck on the road is because many of them were rear-wheel drive which is useless in the snow.
In 1977 we had a horrible flood in Mingo, and, Logan county West Virginia because of a crazy winter that year, and it turned around had another crazy winter in 1978 and it flooded again! Wild weather back then!
I can see it happening again this winter because of the crazy weather pattern! Blizzards and than flooding.
The next time it happens it will be worse, sure people will have more warning as the weather predictions are better, but people in general are less prepared for this kind of stuff now. Much of New England still uses home heating oil which needs to be delivered, there are fewer neighborhood grocery stores, fewer people can cook from scratch and the roads are generally more crowded now than they were then.
I was 5 years old I remember my father telling my brothers to start up all of are vehicles, and my mother coming home with a ton of groceries, I knew she didn't usually go through the week, I live in Indiana and we don't know how to deal with 9 inches let alone a blizzard, I can't imagine being stuck on the highway, what a way to go out,
I worked 20 days straight, lab test kits, production and quality control. First priority to airport. Comm Ave had piles of snow over 30 feet high.
1:54 "over two feet of snow..."
2:11 "snow depths ranged from 27 inches to more than 50 inches..."
How about a little consistency, here? I was in college in Providence, RI, at the time, and can attest that the snow depths were closer to *4 feet,* there. (Two feet would've been a lot but, c'mon, it wouldn't have ranked as _The Storm of the Century.)_
I was stationed at Ft. Devens and remember this storm very well. Cars were buried in the parting lots.
I was working in EMS at the time , as clint said in one of His movies adapt and improvise We did both and much more.
No one ever talks about this blizzard in a list of the worst. I was living in Boston and the National Guard took over the city with tanks rolling down the streets - no cars, no subways, no busses, nothing else moved for a whole month. Cars were buried so deep on the side of the road, people dug them out weeks later but there was no place to put the snow. Some people didn't retrieve their cars until months later. My sister was trapped on a roof of a house that literally washed out into the Essex River off Little Neck, Ipswich. She was rescued by the Coast Guard. I was about 21 and rode on one of the tanks one day. At that age, it seemed remarkable, but I didn't take much seriously . . . thank God.
My father was stuck in a hotel room near work because they closed the roads. He was going crazy and decided to take his chances and come home anyway at like 2 AM. He must have scared my mother coming in at that hour. I was 12. It was also the winter that the Hartford Civic Center roof collapsed from snow. Nobody was hurt, but there had been a basketball game only 5 or 6 hours earlier with a large crowd.
I remember that storm well. I lived in Montgomery Village section of Montgomery County Maryland I was a radiochemist for the National Institute of Health, which also had a hospital facility. I lived in an apartment and my car was buried under 5 feet of snow and the parking lot was 5 feet of snow. There was no way I could get out to get to work but my boss docked me one day pay. I found out later that nurses and doctors got picked up by U.S. Army Reserve Hummevees but they didn't come and get me.
I was 18 and a senior at Claude H Pattern trade school in Beverly. I was on Co-op and coming back on the train from Rockport. When I got on the train, nothing. When I got off at Beverly Depot, blowing like a stink with 2” on the ground. My father picked me up and we went straight to the packy on lower Cabot street, fosters corner.
In the morning all we could see of my father’s station wagon, was his antenna. lol
I remember going to Richdales across from Super Sub trying to get milk. The milk truck had pulled up and the owner of the store wouldn’t sell any milk until we all formed a line from the street to the store. We passed the milk from one to another until the truck was unloaded. The parking lot had not been plowed out yet. lol
I could go on for hours. Never forget.
I was 17 and living in Maine, I remember the snow. My parents came looking for me in their Jeep, they weren’t happy with me. lol. Cars were lined up and stranded on I-95.
now we dont even hardly get any snow up here
Nothing like we used to!!
@@sherrikinney6633 yep sold my sled years ago cant even ride in the sebago area and the lake hasent froze completly over in years
It’s crazy!! I remember in the 60’s there being a lot of snow.
I was 7 that year in Strafford VT we had snow over the windows and doors of our home grabbing buckets of snow to dig out and up to get fresh air in the house melting it on the wood stove that was burning throughout the storm then the dig out continued till we could help our elderly neighbors. Small town and farming community came together.
My dad was out hiking in the blue hills at the time. He bunkered down with a buddy in the tower and started a fire. Crazy