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Happy 35th Anny. Blizz of 78 upcoming


Damage In Tolland

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

 

 

Yeah the N Foster L.E. is probably the best piece of evidence I know of that suggests some totals in the low 40s....their official total was 36.0" so that is like 8 to 1...which is probably a bit low.  The stuff was like compacted dry cement with those winds probably...so I wouldn't expect ratios to be good either.  

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Yeah the N Foster L.E. is probably the best piece of evidence I know of that suggests some totals in the low 40s....their official total was 36.0" so that is like 8 to 1...which is probably a bit low.  The stuff was like compacted dry cement with those winds probably...so I wouldn't expect ratios to be good either.  

I looked once and asked Eck if anyone did core samples as you know much like a tropical storm the standard buckets miss a lot.

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How was there a 10 inch snowstorm.a turn to ice..and then another 15.5 inch snowstorm the following day at BDL preceding the Blizz? I find that almost hard to believe..there were 2 seperate storms like that on successive days

 

Nope, they happened...2 days apart.

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When were the ones Kevin is talking about? Was one of them the January big one?

 

 

Jan 17-18, 1978 and Jan 20-21, 1978....the 2nd one was the big one. The first one though was pretty decent...about 8-10" of snow and then icing. ORH had a 30" snow depth after the 2nd one...only to be cut down to 11" after the Cleveland Superbomb on Jan 26th. That 11" must have been a complete bulletproof glacier though because there was 3 inches of rain in the cutter.

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Jan 17-18, 1978 and Jan 20-21, 1978....the 2nd one was the big one. The first one though was pretty decent...about 8-10" of snow and then icing. ORH had a 30" snow depth after the 2nd one...only to be cut down to 11" after the Cleveland Superbomb on Jan 26th. That 11" must have been a complete bulletproof glacier though because there was 3 inches of rain in the cutter.

The civic center collapse was cool.

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I don't recall the earlier Jan storm. I also don't remember the super bomb although I have read about it quite a bit

 

 

There was another substantial winter storm on Jan 13-14 as well...it was a lot of freezing rain but had about 7 inches of snow before that. So there were 3 pretty major winter storms in an 8-9 day period. Before that there had been another massive torching cutter on Jan 8-9, 1978.

 

That month was pretty wild for storminess. Two torching cutters and a whole lot of snow and ice in between them.

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Arthur Cadoret just tweeted these out, Obs from Woonsocket RI1391828803406.jpg1391828814746.jpg

 

 

The notable thing about these obs is how fast the snow came in...I mean we have all heard itbefore a million times anyway, but these obs support it too. Over 7 inches in the first 4 hours. That is what got everyone in serious trouble for the early dismissal afternoon commute.

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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

People were very aware of this storm prior to its arrival.  I remember being at work in Needham and listening to Don Kent at about 11 AM actually say that he was concerned that if the snow didn't begin within the next hour or two, there was a chance that there would be no phase and that the low would slip out to sea.  Needless to say the snow began shortly after noon and came in like a wall, with winds picking up almost immediately.  I left work at 1 PM, and instead of going route 128 home to Randolph, I took the back roads.  It took me 3 hours to navigate a half hour trip, but had I gone route 128, I likely would have been one of those rescued by snowmobile after that tractor-trailer jackknifed.  When I got home we had about 8 inches with drifts already over a foot. 

 

We have had some really decent storms before and since, but that storm sets the standard for winter storms and stands alone as the greatest snowstorm in my lifetime.

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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.

 

If you haven't seen the video of Harvey Leonard back in '78 (he had just started at Channel 7 in Boston), find it.  He forecasted it!  I do recall Don Kent saying there would be snow.  Forecasts that winter were very poor, EXCEPT for the Blizzard!  

 

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.

 

The LFM was the first try at computer forecast modelling, and it had a lot left to be desired.  During Jan-Feb of 1978, there were THREE huge storms.  The first storm, Jan 19-21, was forecasted RAIN in SNE...only to dump a lot of snow.  As a matter of fast RECORD snows!  

 

Then, on January 26-27, another monster storm formed and moved across the Great Lakes.  This storm is the Great Blizzard of '78 in the Lakes region, also known as the "Cleveland Superbomb," as record low atmospheric pressure records were set.  Here's the account from the NWS Detroit office... http://www.crh.noaa.gov/dtx/stories/blizzard1978.php .  BTW, this storm was forecasted to be SNOW in SNE...got rain and flooding due to all the snow on the ground!

 

Finally, the LFM DID see the development of this storm 2-3 days ahead, which as excellent considering its limited physics and grid spacing.  NWS Boston did a good job forecasting this storm, issuing a WInter storm watch Sunday morning (about 30 hours in advance), and warnings early Monday morning.  This may not sound like a lot, but this was amazing back in '78. 

 

There was a LOT of skepticism that winter due to forecasts of snow that did not materialize.  That's what made this so bad on that Monday morning in 1978.  The forecasts said that the snow would begin during the predawn hours and, when people saw that it hadn't, they headed to work and school.  Then, the "wall" of snow (as mentioned before) arrived during the mid to late morning hours. It was too late then.  They either stayed put or tried to head home, only to get stuck on roadways.  

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I was 8 years old living in New York on State Route 4. I lived in the town of Fort Edward. Our house was basically in between Fort Edward and Schuylerville. I do not remember this storm and it's bumming me out. I agree, we need another one! I could never imagine it happening in my lifetime, but I can hope!

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I was in western CT at the time. My mother remembers more about it than I do, but we had 20" max. The megalopolis storm in 83 produced more where i was, albeit with far less wind. Your area in upstate did surprisingly well...I think ALB had near a foot in 78.

I was 8 years old living in New York on State Route 4. I lived in the town of Fort Edward. Our house was basically in between Fort Edward and Schuylerville. I do not remember this storm and it's bumming me out. I agree, we need another one! I could never imagine it happening in my lifetime, but I can hope!

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I live in Cranston RI

I was in my last year of high school and didn't go in that day. My dad was working at Electric boat in quonset. He made it almost all the way home but got stuck in front of the house next door because the neighbor parked his car in the street to clear his driveway. He was pushing up a small mound of snow. Had a few choice words for the neighbor. Wind rocked the house a few times. A bit scary. I’ll never forget going to bed thinking the storm was just about over. When I woke up and saw all the cars were covered I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. There was at least 4 feet of snow in the street here in Cranston. The neighbors house across the street had a snow drift about 25 feet high going from the top to the the lower level roof down to the foundation of the house next door. Looked like a giant igloo. 4 days later a 5 yard payloader came down the street. The one that steers from the rear. Pushed up a mound about 20 feet high till the tires started spinning. Backed up and floored it, slammed the pile and dumped it on lawns along the street. Nothing has come close to the blizzard of 78. Even the blizzrad from last winter. Cars in last years blizzard 30" were half covered with some spots where the snow blew around the cars. The 78 blizzard it was packed into the engine compartment and over the roof of all the cars on the street. Whether or not the 4 feet was from qpf or blew in from the next town it was real. I’m a snow lover and wouldn’t mind living through it one more time. The snow piles in the big parking lots were there till almost April. That year there was an 18" storm. Then a very warm strong rain storm that washed it all away. A bad ice storm that caused 5 days without power and daytime temps in the 20's with falling branches that sounded like glass breaking and then the blizzard. All started about the 2nd week a January.

Vinny in little Rhode Island

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