Boston was buried under 21 inches of snow on January 21, 1978. The storm came a couple of weeks before the February 6 storm, which made things worse. The heavy Snowfall clogged the narrow streets of Boston. The city was buried under mounds of snow for a few days after the storm. Boston Firefighters had to dig out hundreds of fireplugs throughout the city as part of their duties. It was one of the worst storms in the city’s history.
The storm surge rose 15.2 feet above normal low tide during the blizzard. Many homes in coastal communities in Massachusetts Bay were destroyed. Many low-lying towns experienced severe flooding. During the afternoon rush hour, the storm intensified, and people were trapped in their cars on Boston’s highways. Ninety-nine people tragically lost their lives during the storm. About $1.3 billion (at that time) worth of property was destroyed. A state of martial law was declared, and vehicular traffic was banned for several days. The National Guard used boats to rescue people from the highways in flooded areas. For days, heavy machinery, dump trucks, and tow trucks were used to dig out streets and remove abandoned cars.
Boston saw another storm in which 27.1 inches of Snowfall over 32 hours from Monday morning, February 6, to the evening of Tuesday, February 7. The storm killed about 100 people, injured 4,500 others, and caused more than $500 million in damage in the Northeast.
Below are some photos that document both blizzards.
I used to joke along the lines of never being able to forget the blizzard because they (newscasters) brought it up EVERY TIME we had blizzard/like conditions
I wish I loved anything as much as people who were alive for this love bringing it up at every fucking opportunity possible.
The problem with 78 was that we had 12-inches dumped on us only 5 days before, and they were still cleaning up. I worked as a coop student for a company on the Natick/Wellesley line owned a Honda Civic with 12-inch tires. I remember everyone was talking about leaving at noon due to the amount of snow coming down. The president of the company got on the intercom stating that anyone who left early would be fired. At that time, the Natick police entered the building and said the industrial park was closing down and everyone go home. The president started to argue with the cop, I remember the cop putting his finger squarely into the presidents chest and saying we can work this two ways, either everyone goes home or you can be my guest in the Natick jail while all the others go home. I lived behind the state police in Framingham and drove that Honda on sidewalks, through parking lots, ect to get home. 2 hours later, I slid into my mother’s garage where the car remained.
Thats what I remember also. It had been a bad storm just a week prior.
Those Hondas had small wheels! And I can hear the cop with his Boston accent explaining in no uncertain terms what needs to happen. Laughing.
That was like 2015 but 2015 was worse.
Four weekends in a row, a foot, then two feet, then 14”, then another two feet…
I worked 30 miles away from home and felt like a gerbil in a Habitrail due to the high snow banks.
It didn’t end. I think some weeks were closer to 3 feet.
I found the day by day play by play – https://www.boston25news.com/news/see-the-daily-snow-totals-from-last-years-historic-winter/29565182/
Some of the big storms were only 4 days apart, so yeah definitely 3 feet in the span of a week. Wild.
That photo looks like nothing compared to the amount of snow we got in what was it 2013?
The biggest thing was that they didn’t get days off warning that a storm was coming back then, and they were nowhere near as good at predicting the amount of snow. Not to mention the pre-treatment of roads wasn’t even a thing.
2015 And 93
I was conceived during this storm.
I really thought we’d stop hearing so much about 1978 after 2015. I thought wrong.