Looking back at the Blizzard of '78, 47 years later
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- Опубліковано 10 лют 2025
- WBZ-TV's David Wade and Eric Fisher take a look back at the Blizzard of 1978, which began this day 47 years ago. More than 27 inches of snow fell in Boston, by the time the storm was over.
I remember it well, I was just 20 and living in Westboro, a buddy of mine took his SkiDoo and was rescuing people stranded on 495.
Wow! What a great first person account! ❤
I was ten and living in JP. We lived on a dead end street, it was a blast for the kids and the parents all came together to help each other. We shared food and clothes. All the dad's shoveled out the entire street because the plows were only clearing critical streets.
In '78 I was a graduate student at MIT living in Somerville. My wife was a nurse at one of the hospitals in Brookline. I remember the National Guard coming to the house during the storm in a military vehicle to get her and take her to work, that was extraordinary.
wow,,, yes,, They Needed Staff!,,,
This was my 13th birthday. My mother forever after called me the Snow Queen.
It was my senior year. They canceled the rest of the school day in the middle of the day. The snow was coming down so hard by the time I got home, I could barely make out the outline of my hand when I held it up in front of my face. People forget that we had a big snowstorm the week before, so there was ready a lot of snow in the ground. School was canceled for a week. Our street did not get plowed for days. People just abandoned their cars at the bottom of the hill. The wind was almost hurricane force by the time the sun went down. We didn't lose power, but the food supply got pretty low. My mother always did panic shopping any time snow was expected after that. You couldn't see over the snow banks on the side of the road. It was an epic event. I feel bad for anyone who had a flat roof on their house.
I commuted from NH to Waltham and punched out at noon before the major snow hit. My colleagues who stayed were stuck on I495 and never made it home for a few days living in a town hall or church until the mess was cleaned up.
Great story. I was in grad school at WPI during the storm and have my own wild memories. One thing you didn't mention is that there was a significant storm, over a foot, just one week before the famous blizzard, and crews hadn't really finished clearing from that storm. That combined with the incorrect forecast is what made it such a disaster inland. Also, snow totals were measured differently back then, by measuring the total snow depth after the storm is over. Nowadays each inch is measured as it falls. If the '78 storm were measured by the new method, I'm betting it would be #1 by far.
Luv it! It's a great look back.
I was 8 months pregnant when the storm hit age 19. It was something else. IT was very hard walking in the snow, never mind being that pregnant
I bet. At 8 months I would go off balance A lot
Miss that time SO much...... everyone should throw their phones under the Snowplow the next time one drives by. 🙂
Great video. David and Eric are great at what they do
We actually moved from Derry to Sandown NH that week! We couldn't go to work in Massachusetts because the state was closed. Roads here were clear, so we had an entire week to move and didn't have to take a single day of vacation! We almost sent a thank you note to Governor Dukakis! We were lucky.
OMG I have almost the same story. I was 3, but I still remember looking out of our 2nd story bedroom window and seeing the snow right below. That was in Newburyport, who got over 30 inches, I think. When the storm hit, there was already a lot of snow on the ground from a prior megastorm.
yep,,, but the Snow Drifts were Seriously 10 to 15 Feet!!,,, The Storm was a Blizzard And Hurricane (Hurricane Force Winds),,,,,,,, the white-out Flying Snow was bad,,,, the whole thing. SO much snow had to be put in trucks and driven to a dumping spot for like 2 weeks.... There was no place to put it,,driving was hard since piles of snow were on every corner,,,
@@JustMe-gs9xi That's so cool, no pun intended. LOL! I think the winds were as high as 100 mph. Of course, I was inside. I also remember our backyard swing set just poking out a little bit from under the snow.
I was born 2 days after that blizzard. My mother said there was so much snow against the house in Methuen, her and Dad couldn't get to the hospital, so at home I was born.
wow,,i hadn't heard that one before
Hey, just like they would have done years ago. "Little House on the Prairie" was a popular show in '78.
@jason-hy8ci I guess so lol
@@JustMe-gs9xi yeah she told me it took the family doctor a few days to come visit. I was number 9 of 12, so my parents had plenty of practice
@@BeerReviewForYourFace That's good news!!!
Was a newlywed, drive from Boston to southern RI in the storm,was home for a week!
I was 18 years old growing up in Athol MA... There the storm was just a big storm... Not crazy. But points East were bad news. Days before that storm my aunt had free tickets to a Bruins game... Boston had just received 19 inches of snow. I remember seeing super narrow streets in Boston and parked cars still buried. Then the blizzard hit! 😳
If I remember right, the weathermen predicted 1-2” so no plows were out. By the time they tried it was too late. We had the national guard in roslindale trying to plow our street with cars completely covered
That's RIGHT,,, They didn't Predict it and it was Total Chaos in one day. I was in Quincy,, no national guard,,, so there was just white snow and a few bubbles that were the tops of the cars....
AND...... it hit at the Worst Time possible, the middle of the day.
If you do a throwback forecast, Eric better be sporting a thick mustache, sideburns and the proper hairstyle.
I was 9 I can't remember anything else about being 9 i can remember everything about playing in the snow from that storm
The convenience store in the neighborhood where I was living in '78 ran out of bread, milk, eggs, beer & wine.
You guys compare snowfall totals in this video, and actually come across as saying that the Blizzard of 78 totals were pretty much the same as several other storms since. However, let me remind you that the coastal damage was the absolute worst than any. Yes we can predict 10 days out for a major storm, however, predicting 10 days out or 1 day out has no bearing on the damage result that can happen such as the blizzard of 78. 2013, 2015, and several others, did not have the damage that 78 had. Until we go through something worse, I would say the 78 storm will remain the top dog.
Definitely!,,, People were freezing in cars,, and you could not get in Touch with them.. It was Very worrisome. we lived right off the Furnace Brook Parkway Exit in QUINCY,, one of worst pile ups,,,, It was news all day,,,?How many hours people had been stuck and then we got the news people were running out of gas/heat.. It was WAY Worse than people realize. Yes, Top Dog,,,,,, we got NO warning. it piled up like i never seen,,, And 13 people died, No offense Mr Newsmen,,, but people Died, don't be so trivial.
That Snow Total IS DECEPTIVE,,,, They Need to ADD there were WINDS that made 10-15 foot SNOW DRIFTS!! Those were Hurrricane Force winds, White Out conditions,,,,
That was the day I moved from Houlton to Portland. Sun was shining when I left, boy was I surprised when I got to Portland, moving into an apartment. OMG laughing! I was in my 20's.
The old cars too
@ you can’t really see much. They were so buried.
I KNOW!! love it,,,,,, I had a Buick SKylark TANK,,, :) Luckily i didn't go to work that day. People still had big cars then,,
Ooo please do the old school board weather map forecast! That would be soo cool!
Today’s meteorologist couldn’t do that. They have the technology.
@youtubeconnollyfamily HA! they wouldn't know how to do it....... it would be like asking a "Gamer" today to figure out "Parchessi"!!!!!!
I was lucky to make it home. Central RI had much more, much more snow.
17 years old back the, we lived right next to the seawall, we got 4 feet of frozen ocean water in our living room, time to go, I helped my Mom and 5 year old brother, Dad and I, all of us trudged through waistdeep ocean slush, then a 1/2 mile up the hill to grandparents house where they had a real fireplace, I think we didn't move from that ire for weeks, only when I took the sled to get food, no cars, just sleds,lol.
The morning of the Blizzard of 78 it was predicted as 6-12 inches starting around 6 PM. Everyone went to work as usual. My office in Boston closed at 1 PM before the snow started. By the time I got home in Malden at 2 PM the wind was hurricane force and snow was already drifting.
I love how they pretend that storms since have dumped more snow than the Blizzard. Trust me they did not. The measurements you see for snow in 78 are wrong. Anyone who lived through it knows that and just laughs when they see a list of 5 or 6 more recent storms ranked above it.
Iots of drifts in 78. Impossible to visually determine snow totals.
It was the wind & drifts
Manville (Woonsocket/Lincoln) R.I. is a hilly, little village in Northern R.I. they reported 55", I believe it. That little nook always gets more snow largely due to its topographical layout/nature. GO MOUNTIES!
@@stephenlan5450 YES! Exactly,,, some drifts were up to 15 Feet!
I’m 38 so I’m just glad I wasn’t alive when it happened lol but my dad tells me how he had to put chains on his dump truck to drive into the city to pick up my mom from work because she was stranded
I thought for a moment that the anchor men were brothers.... They look like twins😊
I was 15 stuck at private school, we did have PB&J and were very happy.
I was so sick with the flu i just lay in a dorm bed.
Friends cross country skied back to Cambridge.
Anyone else HAVE THE FLU too???
No just you
nope,, no flu. / dorms'll do that though
I lived in oxford at that time
da blizzzahd of '78
?? are you trying to do a Boston accent,,?? Fail,, man we're not DUMB,,
@@JustMe-gs9xi NO IM S,,,,,PEAKING PIRATE YOU LOOON
My birth year
First and Last time we were able to sled the steep embankment/hills on 95.
This is such a joke, we had more snow in MA in 2011. In 1978 they just were crappy at plowing roads and highways compared to today where they over salt if the wind blows too hard and over salt dry roads with brine and 40 degrees now.. so cars rot more now.
Wouldn't have helped many of us though
cell phones now
Unfortunately.
Blizzard of 78 is why I moved out of Ma.
👜🩰👯
Wow!
A was born two months after.
I would've been 4 at the time, so I don't remember it much (only pictures and stories from my parents).
But I do remember the one of 2013, on the 35th anniversary (almost to the day). That was the one where they levied severe penalties for bein' out drivin': a $500 fine &/or a year in jail. 2015 was no picnic, either!
2013,,,thanks, i'll check it,,, i was living in another state then i was in Cali,,,, don't remember that one.
Just about this same time, in 2013, a huge blizzard. I lived in Quincy, and had no power for about 18 hours (and no heat).
40 inches of snow is nefarious work by Mother Nature