Northeastern United States Blizzard of 1978
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The Blizzard of 1978 (more commonly known in New England as the "Blizzard of '78") was a severe Nor'easter that brought blizzard conditions to the New England area of the United States, and to a lesser but still significant extent the New York metropolitan area.
The Blizzard of 1978 formed on February 5, 1978, and broke up on February 8, 1978. The snowfall occurred primarily between the morning of 6th and the evening of 7th. Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts were particularly hard hit by this storm. In all, up to 55 inches of snow fell in some areas.
At the time, there was no comparable storm in the memory of the people of New England, though the Blizzard of 1888 and The Great Snow of 1717 were named as storms that were similar in their magnitude.
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[edit] Storm formation
The Blizzard of 1978 formed after three air masses merged into one. One air mass had formed over western Pennsylvania, another over northern Georgia, and the third over the Atlantic off the coast of North Carolina. They all then converged over New England.
The storm occurred at the same time a high pressure area was stationary over eastern Canada. Because of this high pressure area, the blizzard was effectively trapped south of the New England coast, causing the heaviest bands of snow to loop continuously across the area. This blizzard is said to be one of the worst blizzards in Rhode Island history and it most definitely caught Rhode Island and its state government off guard.
Satellite Image of 78 Blizzard
[edit] Storm strength
The storm's incredible strength was made apparent by the sustained near-hurricane level winds of approximately 65 mph (105 km/h) and the formation of an eyelike structure located in the middle of the storm. While a typical Nor'easter brings steady snow for six to twelve hours, this storm brought snow for a full 36 hours while it was blocked from the North Atlantic by the Canadian high pressure area.
An atypical vertical development of the storm clouds brought unusual thundersnow to southern New England and Long Island. These storms resulted in lightning and thunder accompanying the snowfall as it fell at a rate of 4 inches an hour at times.
[edit] Conditions
One of the major problems with the Blizzard of 1978 was the lack of knowledge about the storm's severity. Because weather forecasting in New England is difficult, meteorologists had developed a reputation as being inaccurate. In areas where the storm had been well reported in advance, some people chose to ignore the reports. Forecasting techniques and technology had improved dramatically in the 1970s, but the public was still quite skeptical. Because of this, people did not have enough time or will to prepare properly for the blizzard.
The state of Massachusetts had a system in place for notifying major employers to send employees home early in the event of heavy storms. Although thousands of employees were sent home starting in the early afternoon, thousands more were still caught by the storm. Some did not make it home for several days.
Many people were stranded in their cars along roads and highways throughout the New England region. Several people perished on Interstate 93/Route 128 in metropolitan Boston as snow piled high enough to prevent the exhaust from escaping from their idling vehicles (this section of highway is now officially I-93/US 1...the "Exit 64N" in the famous pictures of this incident is now signed as "Exit 2B"). Over 3,500 cars were found abandoned and buried in the middle of roads during the clean-up effort. This figure does not include the countless other vehicles buried in driveways, on the sides of streets, and in parking lots.
In Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts, automobile traffic was banned. Thousands of people walked around the quiet city streets and frozen Charles River, some on cross-country skis.
In New York City, it was one of the rare times that a snowstorm closed the schools; in fact, the New York City school district would not close again due to snow until the Blizzard of 1996, 18 years later. While most suburban districts in the area close for snow several times each winter, they rarely do in the city itself because of relatively easy access to underground subways whose ability to run is not appreciably affected by moderate snowstorms.
While many people had been caught in the storm while driving, many others were trapped in their homes or offices with snow drifts of up to 15 feet in some places blocking the exits. In many cases, those who had become ill or had been injured during the storm had to be taken to hospitals via snowmobile. Other people were able to leave their homes and travel for assistance via cross-country skis and sleds. One unofficial report stated that 4% of the students, staff, and faculty at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, incurred some sort of injury requiring medical attention as a result of the blizzard.[citation needed]
There was also the issue of flooding along coastal areas. The fierce northeast winds from the storm combined with astronomically high tides and storm surge resulting from the storm's low pressure to send water over low-lying land along the shores of Long Island Sound, Cape Cod Bay, and other bodies of water.
[edit] Aftermath and recovery
Many people were left without heat, water, food, and electricity for over a week after the storm finished. Approximately 10,000 people were forced to temporarily move into emergency shelters. Some 2,500 houses were reported seriously damaged or destroyed and 54 people were killed, many from fallen electric wires. Several people were found dead in downtown Providence, Rhode Island, particularly in the vicinity of the central police station, who may have died trying to seek shelter. A young child in Massachusetts disappeared in the snow just feet from his home's front door, but could not be found until the snow melted. The majority of the interstate system had to be shut down, with some stretches not reopening to traffic until the following week. Air and rail traffic also had to be shut down until the situation cleared up.
Because the snowfall rates were so high, plows could not keep up with removal as fresh amounts fell, causing it to pile up too high to be plowed easily. Plows were further hampered by the number of cars stuck on the roads because of the heavy snow. In Boston, much of the snow had to be hauled and dumped in the harbor.
A state of emergency was declared by governors in the affected states and the United States National Guard was called out to help clear the roads. Additional troops were flown into Boston to assist. It took six days to clear the roads as buried cars and trucks needed to be removed before the roads could be opened; some side streets, such as Dunster Road in Boston's Jamaica Plain neighborhood were so piled with snow plowed from bigger streets that they were not cleared until the snow melted months later.[citation needed] The blizzard brought out a feeling of camaraderie, as it affected everyone equally. Neighbors assisted each other, using sleds to transport elderly persons and helping to deliver groceries for those in need.
Extensive beach erosion occurred on the east coast of Massachusetts. Especially hard-hit were Cape Cod and Cape Ann, both located on the eastern shore of Massachusetts. On Cape Cod, the Pamet River broke through to the Atlantic Ocean for the first time during this storm, completely washing away the link between the North and South Pamet Roads. The town chose not to reconstruct the link, though the right-of-way is still open to pedestrians.
Many homes along the New England and Long Island coastlines were destroyed or washed into the ocean. Many roof collapses occurred across New England from the snow (although not that of the Hartford Civic Center, which had collapsed a few weeks earlier in the morning of January 18, 1978 during another snowstorm).
The Blizzard of '78 eventually gave birth to a tradition in Southern New England known as the "bread and milk runs". This was because when frantic people went to the supermarket, all the bread and milk that the markets had were gone in a flash. Thus, some of the injuries incurred because there was a shortage of bread and milk.[citation needed] In one situation, a plane had to carry supplies of milk to Providence College because all the roads to Providence College (which also services Rhode Island College and La Salle Academy, a Catholic high school in the vicinity) were blocked by the snowfall. After the Blizzard of '78, it became a custom in regions of Massachusetts and Rhode Island that whenever a severe storm approached, such as a hurricane or a blizzard, most Bay Staters and Rhode Islanders jammed supermarkets to buy bread and milk, while the markets tried to keep up with demand.
