Happy 35th Anny. Blizz of 78 upcoming

[Cold Miser]

4 feet was possible in that for several areas, including Foxboro

I would also imagine that modern measurements would inflate amounts

Again, our entire driveway and front yard had snow as high as a VW Microbus. Some drifting to be sure but man oh man

Did your parents get high in that bus when you were a kid?

[HoarfrostHubb]

Did your parents get high in that bus when you were a kid?

8 kids, dad was a teacher, no $ to get high

[Johnno]

Bob cox from WTIC posted a cool recording of the NWS broadcast on facebook from the day before.... pretty cool

[jamesnichols1989]

The Blizzard of 2005 was much stronger then the Blizzard of 1978.  Surface maps suggest that the Blizzard of 1978 was 984mb, while the Blizzard of 2005 was 978mb at the benchmark and then deepened to 960s near Nova Scotia.  The Blizzard of 2005 was worse in terms of snowfall for the coastline, but the flooding wasn't as bad given that the duration was a lot shorter then the Blizzard of 1978.  Both had snowfall amounts of 38"+, both had hurricane force wind gusts, and both lasted more than 24 hours.

[ORH_wxman]

The Blizzard of 2005 was much stronger then the Blizzard of 1978.  Surface maps suggest that the Blizzard of 1978 was 984mb, while the Blizzard of 2005 was 978mb at the benchmark and then deepened to 960s near Nova Scotia.  The Blizzard of 2005 was worse in terms of snowfall for the coastline, but the flooding wasn't as bad given that the duration was a lot shorter then the Blizzard of 1978.  Both had snowfall amounts of 38"+, both had hurricane force wind gusts, and both lasted more than 24 hours.

 

 

1978 had a much stronger pressure gradient than 2005...because it formed in an antecedent airmass of higher pressure. There was a 1052mb high north of the great lakes during 1978.

[tamarack]

As with most storms that pound SNE, we were fringed in Ft. Kent with only 2".  However, that came on a 25-mph north wind that was eerily constant, like some wind tunnel with the fan on fixed setting - no gusts at all.  Even as the worst missed us, we could tell that something very unusual was going on.

[HoarfrostHubb]

The wind was def one of the more memorable aspects. Like a jetliner overhead for >24 hours

Lots of lightning too

[codfishsnowman]

so after reading relentlessly it seems 35 to 40 inch totals legit but it seems like there was six to twelve glacier in most interior areas.....so couldnt that explain the 50 inch totals in n ri and interior se mass or do we know for sure that those areas were all melted ?? i feel like these details are important

[codfishsnowman]

narr bay shoreline had mostly rain??

[HoarfrostHubb]

so after reading relentlessly it seems 35 to 40 inch totals legit but it seems like there was six to twelve glacier in most interior areas.....so couldnt that explain the 50 inch totals in n ri and interior se mass or do we know for sure that those areas were all melted ?? i feel like these details are important

I do remember most of the Jan storm having melted away but not all

We prob had 3-4" left and that was a glacier. I remember it because at recess if my school we were sledding down it (sliding on cardboard or something) when the first flakes came

I believe the 40-50" amounts

[Ginx snewx]

Had to live it to believe it

[codfishsnowman]

i was only 5 and it was no more than 20 inches in bristol ct.....but how the old timers would talk about the wind in that one

[ORH_wxman]

ORH had a 10" snow depth before the storm. The Walpole coop in SE MA where some of the jackpot totals occurred had 7" on the gorund before the storm.

 

 

I am skeptical of amounts of 50" in that storm, but there were likely some legit totals over 40".

[Ginx snewx]

ORH had a 10" snow depth before the storm. The Walpole coop in SE MA where some of the jackpot totals occurred had 7" on the gorund before the storm.

 

 

I am skeptical of amounts of 50" in that storm, but there were likely some legit totals over 40".

Concur although with todays 6 hours it would have been, talk about wind compaction, wow. Heavy sand.

[NorthShoreWx]

78 had quite a coastal front meandering around, which explains the warmer temps /wetter snows at times in ENE.  That same front was over part of LI at times also.

 

Checkout the change in the obs at ISP around 11PM:

 

http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KISP/1978/2/6/DailyHistory.html?req_city=NA&req_state=NA&req_statename=NA

 

Where I lived at the time on LI stayed on the NW side of the CF and that time period was nuts.  I still remember getting about 100 yards in a jebwalk and chickening out.

 

http://www.northshorewx.com/19780207.asp

 

From my town:

 

[Ginx snewx]

78 had quite a coastal front meandering around, which explains the warmer temps /wetter snows at times in ENE.  That same front was over part of LI at times also.

 

Checkout the change in the obs at ISP around 11PM:

 

http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KISP/1978/2/6/DailyHistory.html?req_city=NA&req_state=NA&req_statename=NA

 

Where I lived at the time on LI stayed on the NW side of the CF and that time period was nuts.  I still remember getting about 100 yards in a jebwalk and chickening out.

 

http://www.northshorewx.com/19780207.asp

 

From my town:

 

Awesome pic, yea I was right on that CF with what was probably severe Tstorm conditions for hours, right on the coast with the most intense conditions possible. I distinctly remember the half hour of sleet propelled by gust to hurricane force,sounded like buckshot. That pic was typical of drifted areas.

[Walpole Joe]

narr bay shoreline had mostly rain??

No, I lived by the bay in Cranston and we most assuredly had snow

[NorthShoreWx]

Nightly news archive 2/78

 

http://www.nbcnews.com/video/nightly-news/50745752#54296929

 

I like this better than the documentaries that have been around the past few years.

[codfishsnowman]

No, I lived by the bay in Cranston and we most assuredly had snow

but some areas had very little over by jamestown and newport

[codfishsnowman]

i reread alot of the personal stories but there just werent enough that spoke of a chronology of conditions......in narragansett at work a few years ago i spoke to a commercial fisherman who said the day before on sunday was a bluebird day on the water, he said so calm it was eerie and mostly sunny too. he said the snow came in like a wall and down in galilee he said they had a foot to foot and a half of cement type snow whipped into huge drifts from hurricane force gusts.....truth be told this was one of the more informative accounts i have heard outside from this forum.

[TauntonBlizzard2013]

Have heard many stories from my parents. My dad said he remembers forecasts for a little snow. He was at work, and he said the snow was weirdly heavy, he decided to leave work. He said he had to drive on sidewalks to pass people and get home.

People at his work were stuck there overnight possibly 2 nights.

Always interesting to hear personal accounts. Probably something we will never see again, maybe not the storm itself, but definitely the impacts.

With the advancement of technology, and how easy it is to access information, there will probably never be an event where people are as clueless as that again.

Schools closed for over a week, people stranded, 3-4 feet of snow. Something I really wish I could have lived through

[HoarfrostHubb]

Dec 2007 says lol

[Baroclinic Zone]

I see the spot QPF reports but do we have a gradient graphic showing it over the entire New England area?

[Hailstoned]

Have heard many stories from my parents. My dad said he remembers forecasts for a little snow.

Schools closed for over a week, people stranded, 3-4 feet of snow. Something I really wish I could have lived through

It is a mistaken notion of many that this storm was not well forecasted. Walt Drag, for instance, informed me days ahead to get prepared. Like many of the great ones the Blizzard of 78  advertised its presence on the models many days ahead, even on the relatively primitive output of the day led by the LFM if I remember correctly.   I think people have the post partem impression of not having been adequately warned because events such as this are so earthshakingly big.   No amount of  warning  can  adequately prepare.  Then again, especally when comes to weather, people are poor listeners and participants, and only really pay attention when Ma Nature gives them the full frontal. As for me, I toted my X-X skis to my work driving cabs that morning. I knew I wasn't driving home.

[Juliancolton]

I see the spot QPF reports but do we have a gradient graphic showing it over the entire New England area?

 

Like this?

 

[Baroclinic Zone]

Like this?

 

 

 

Yes like that but that one looks grossly underestimated.

[ORH_wxman]

Yes like that but that one looks grossly underestimated.

 

 

Its because of the start date...Feb 6th is not included on that map.

[Ginx snewx]

i reread alot of the personal stories but there just werent enough that spoke of a chronology of conditions......in narragansett at work a few years ago i spoke to a commercial fisherman who said the day before on sunday was a bluebird day on the water, he said so calm it was eerie and mostly sunny too. he said the snow came in like a wall and down in galilee he said they had a foot to foot and a half of cement type snow whipped into huge drifts from hurricane force gusts.....truth be told this was one of the more informative accounts i have heard outside from this forum.

I was at school at URI about 10 mins from Narry, i had chrono pictures from the first flurries that were later destroyed in a flood but here is my story. 

 

The Met class I was taking had a Difax sat  and charts  come in as the clasw was halfway finished, the prof stopped , took one look at it and said, anyone that can get home leave now this is probably the biggest storm of your life. He dismissed us. I hunted down my girlfriend, later to be my first wife, found her at the union and snapped my first picture of wind whipped flurries coating the ground. We immediately left school headed to my parents in westerly. The 20 minute normal ride took 1.5 hrs. There was 6 inches of snow in that time with winds gusting near 50. We passed many stuck cars on RT 95, a stuck school bus in Westerly too. We spent the next two days in Westerly under intense blizzard conditions. We then drove back to URI to spend a crazy week at school. Nobody there except students, with a pub, drinking age 18, no need to explain further. what I got out of the blizzard. is priceless, a son born 9 months to the day, lol. The drifts in Ashaway RI at the cornfields were at the top of telephone poles with whole fields blown clear. some roads were just tunnels . Yea you had to live it to believe it. 

[Baroclinic Zone]

Its because of the start date...Feb 6th is not included on that map.

 

Yeah, that would have helped.  LOL.  Wonder why they did not include that day.  As Ginx said the Foster COOP was over 4" LE.

[Juliancolton]

Its because of the start date...Feb 6th is not included on that map.

Shoddy plot from the PSD dataset site for Feb 6th. Pretty confusing site but I'm sure there are ways to make pretty pictures for the whole event... I just couldn't immediately figure out how.