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Official total for my city by the NWS was 14 inches which was within the 12 to 18 predicted. I went out this morning and encounter a couple of 3 foot plus drifts.
 
bideau said:
The Blizzard of '78 is the storm that all winter storms are measured against. It was truly a once in a century storm. It's the reason why everyone runs to the grocery store at the slightest hint of a storm.

I was a senior in high school. My wife was a freshman at Harvard. She said it was the first time in over 100 years that classes were cancelled due to snow.

The big issue was the primitive forecasting. We complain these days about the forecasting but in those days, anything beyond a couple of days was pure guessing. The weather men (no women in those days) used markers to draw maps and lines on boards. Not a single one had a clue how big that storm would become. Everyone went off to work and school thinking it would be just a small storm. By late morning, it was clear that something much bigger was happening. Schools were let out early. My dad worked in Cambridge, we lived in Fitchburg. He was sent home before noon and it took him several hours to make the trip. If they had kept him just a bit longer, he would have either slept at the office or been stuck on Rte 2. My sister worked in a hospital and was considered a vital worker. She was picked up by a large DPW plow and driven to work. Schools were closed for a week. The snow piles were measure in yards, not feet.

The beanpot was still played that night and people who attended ended up sleeping the night in the Garden.

Of course, people died in their cars, most not aware that they needed to keep their tailpipes clear and dying from carbon monoxide poisoning.

It's really hard to describe the enormity. It was something you just had to live through to appreciate.
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I was 11 years old and it’s the only storm that truly terrified me. The winds were just incredible. I actually dove underneath the bed many times do the tree snapping and falling over in my backyard. A 1 foot diameter branch hit the roof of my house. These trees were massive. We’re not taking twigs. We had 3 feet of snow, but it was that wind. It was relentless and terrifying.
 
Super storm 93 was a serious storm in the Berkshires. We had a 7 foot high snow drifts in my driveway. I remember being stranded for three days trying to dig out. We had 3 1/2 feet of snow on the driveway and it was a wet snow. I had a 1983K5 blazer With 33 inch tires. I blew the transmission and motor trying to get out. Finally we got a neighbor of ours that came over with a massive snowblower and it took us all day using shovels in feeding the snow into it. My driveway at the time was about 200 feet long.
 
D2maine said:
not that bad winds or snow totals. just another storm.
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Gotcha. You come from the real snow and unbelievable wind and for you northern mainiacs toughies, that's just normal. We wussies won't really ever be able to understand, but thanks for trying.
 
Hawg73 said:
We got two feet here, which is close to the peak total.

I went out around 6PM to do another round of snowblowing and got a tarp wrapped around
my auger and that'll wait until tomorrow morning when I can see what I'm doing to get it free.

What pisses me off is that it was perfect snow. Light snow that glistened like diamonds and I haven't seen
that kind of stuff in the last 3 years here in the land of heavy and wet slush. It would have been perfect to spray
that stuff a long way and play the wind, but noooooo. I had to fuck it up by being careless.

You pull shit like this in Alaska and they find your corpse when the snow melts in May.
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Last winter I got one of those jute welcome mats wound up in the auger of my snow thrower, what a pain in the ass to get that out. Ended up cutting it our with tin snips and a heavy duty razor knife.
 
Undertaker #59* said:
Here is a picture in my driveway from 1978. The basketball hoop was regulation height.
View attachment 9270
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if I remember correctly, before the Blizzard we had pretty good snow storm like 2 weeks before that, so there was already a good pile of snowbanks for which the blizzard was then put on top of. thus things like UT's pic that is almost to the rim. if the ground had been bare when the blizzard fell (27" according google), it wouldn't be that high (unless you put all your snow just in that one spot UT :)

That's my recollection anyway, I'll have to look that up.
 
Patriots44 said:
if I remember correctly, before the Blizzard we had pretty good snow storm like 2 weeks before that, so there was already a good pile of snowbanks for which the blizzard was then put on top of. thus things like UT's pic that is almost to the rim. if the ground had been bare when the blizzard fell (27" according google), it wouldn't be that high (unless you put all your snow just in that one spot UT :)

That's my recollection anyway, I'll have to look that up.
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That Pic was also taken after snowblowing and drifts.

A week later they plowed the street with a giant tractor with chains on the wheels.
 
Undertaker #59* said:
That Pic was also taken after snowblowing and drifts.

A week later they plowed the street with a giant tractor with chains on the wheels.
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Same thing happened over at our neighborhood. They didn’t use snow plows for a storm like that. They brought in giant earth movers to clear our streets…
 
imapig said:
Same thing happened over at our neighborhood. They didn’t use snow plows for a storm like that. They brought in giant earth movers to clear our streets…
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i remember those as well. plows did what they could but no place to put all that snow.

found a mention of the earlier "big" storm and good short article on why folks also didn't pay heed to those that were calling for a blizzard

"The storm formed during an era when weather forecasting was less reliable. Meteorologists saw this blizzard coming, but a bunch of inaccurate forecasts earlier that winter had made people skeptical. Plus, Boston had already experienced a storm that the Globe called the “worst snow in years.” We’d paid our dues already, right?"

www.bostonmagazine.com

Throwback Thursday: When No One Saw the Blizzard Coming - Boston Magazine

On February 5, the Blizzard of '78 formed off the coast of the Carolinas.
www.bostonmagazine.com www.bostonmagazine.com
 
Just cold here now. Now on Tuesday, we could get snow, ice or just rain. Where I live is the "area of uncertainty" which means they have no idea what will happen. I actually respect the chief meteorologist here at my work. He started mentioning the storm last Wednesday but didn't mention specifics and still didn't on Friday. By Monday night I expect they will know more details of what will happen. Probably starting as rain, but what it ends up as is unknown. Some online weather forecasters are putting out numbers and I just laugh. I will just prepare for ice by taking extra clothes, snow clothes for clearing dishes here at work and extra food just in case I have to stay if we get a major amount of snow for our area (anything over 6" people freak out, I don't worry until we get more then 12" as I don't have a jeep now).
 
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