Blizzard of '78

[kg4jbj1]

It remains my record snowstorm, though the mid-Atlantic storms gave it a run for its money, in my mind.

[N. OF PIKE]

It remains my record snowstorm, though the mid-Atlantic storms gave it a run for its money, in my mind.

were due for another

Jack pot N. Rhode island i believe

too bad i wasn't born yet.

[HoarfrostHubb]

It was way better than the Cape Blizzard of 2005

Prove me wrong

[N. OF PIKE]

It was way better than the Cape Blizzard of 2005

Prove me wrong

well if i lived on the cape ....i think i would have preferred 2005...more snow and stayed snow on cape.

[CoastalWx]

It was way better than the Cape Blizzard of 2005

Prove me wrong

That's debatable. It depends where you live. For the Boston area, yeah bliz of '78 was king.

[HoarfrostHubb]

No no no no !

All Blizz of 78! Waaaaass

I wish I could have seen the Cape in 2005 firsthand. That must have been La Epic

Was that the last true blizzard in SNE?

[OKpowdah]

March 2001 beats all

[OKpowdah]

Actually, Blizzard of 1888 FTW

For those that haven't read this before, nice summary by Kocin:

http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/pdf/10.1175/1520-0477%281983%29064%3C1258%3AAAOTO%3E2.0.CO%3B2

[HoarfrostHubb]

March 2001 beats all

Zzzzzzzzzzzz

Were you in Keene then? How did you do?

Good here, but not 1978 Wheel of Destruction. At the gtg, I was given amazed looks by a certain met from ORH when I said I barely remember it (2001)

From 1978, I still remember the taste of the hot chocolate I had at Bliss Bros after hiking 2 miles with a sled in tow to get to an open store in Sharon for food.

In 2001, I was driving around after 2 days...

[HoarfrostHubb]

Actually, Blizzard of 1888 FTW

For those that haven't read this before, nice summary by Kocin:

http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/pdf/10.1175/1520-0477%281983%29064%3C1258%3AAAOTO%3E2.0.CO%3B2

Hogwash... Who is this Kocin fella anyhow... Boston only saw a foot.

I like that 58" total in upstate NY

At the NoHo gtg, I was looking at the Northhampton tunnel pic with someone, maybe Cpick?

Oh, for that to happen again...

[OKpowdah]

Zzzzzzzzzzzz

Were you in Keene then? How did you do?

Good here, but not 1978 Wheel of Destruction. At the gtg, I was given amazed looks by a certain met from ORH when I said I barely remember it (2001)

From 1978, I still remember the taste of the hot chocolate I had at Bliss Bros after hiking 2 miles with a sled in tow to get to an open store in Sharon for food.

In 2001, I was driving around after 2 days...

Yep! I did fantastic! 30" IMBY ~600ft, and easily 33-34" where we were clearing new land at 1000ft. My dad and I went to dig out a path to our stack of firewood. When we got there, we couldn't find the wood. Turns out we were standing on it!!

I remember school closed in anticipation of the storm on Monday, but nothing really started up until 3-4pm. I remember being wicked impatient haha. When it started though, we went from nothing to white out really quick. I wish the storm happened when I was a little older. All I know is I went to bed, and then woke up to some light snow falling and 30" of new powder on the ground.

[OKpowdah]

Hogwash... Who is this Kocin fella anyhow... Boston only saw a foot.

I like that 58" total in upstate NY

At the NoHo gtg, I was looking at the Northhampton tunnel pic with someone, maybe Cpick?

Oh, for that to happen again...

I got the book my Jim Murphy for my birthday many years ago, and read it like 40 times haha. Good read, and factually not too bad from other stuff I've read. The tunnel pic is classic!

It did happen again -- February 25, 2010 -- just was a variation that wasn't quite to our benefit lol

[Cyclonicjunkie]

It doesn't compare

[HoarfrostHubb]

Superstorm for New England was pretty meh

Other regions were crushed by an incredible event

The flawed by servicable NESIS not withstanding

[Go Kart Mozart]

A little know fact about the Feb 78 storm: The storm's circulation was so big that it kicked Chicago's winds into the NNE....they got 9" of lake effect!

[CCPSUSuperstorm2010]

It was way better than the Cape Blizzard of 2005

Prove me wrong

Clearly the 2005 Blizzard was king for most of the North Shore and CC and Islands of MA. I ended up with 35" of snow, all snow and complete blizzard raged on Sunday morning. Complete whiteouts for 12 hours+. Amazing storm, best Cape Codders have seen since records began.

[CoastalWx]

No no no no !

All Blizz of 78! Waaaaass

I wish I could have seen the Cape in 2005 firsthand. That must have been La Epic

Was that the last true blizzard in SNE?

I saw it a couple of days after. It was La Epic.

The combo of snow, wind, and coastal destruction doesn't compare to the bliz of '78, but if that storm backed in 50 miles from where it was...eastern mass would have been crushed. Jan '05 have gusts exceeding 80mph on ACK.

[Damage In Tolland]

I saw it a couple of days after. It was La Epic.

The combo of snow, wind, and coastal destruction doesn't compare to the bliz of '78, but if that storm backed in 50 miles from where it was...eastern mass would have been crushed. Jan '05 have gusts exceeding 80mph on ACK.

[dryslot]

Blizz of 78 was not a big deal up this way, I ended up with just over a foot of snow here, What i do remember most about that winter was the cold outbreak we had around that storm, I saw temps in the -20's to low -30's on a few nights........

[Damage In Tolland]

Blizz of 78 was not a big deal up this way, I ended up with just over a foot of snow here, What i do remember most about that winter was the cold outbreak we had around that storm, I saw temps in the -20's to low -30's on a few nights........

I was still living in Jersey in 78. Came to Ct in Oct 79..so i missed one of the few storms to give my area here more than 14 inches

[ScituateWX]

A few thoughts about comparing the blizzard of 78 to other storms. First I don't think you can really compare the mid atlantic storms of last year or even the SNE blizzard of 2005 to 78. A few major differences are 1. duration of the storms 2. coastal flooding, while there may have been some in last years storm and the SNE 2005 blizzard I don't think it can hold a candle to what 78 brought to the table. In now way do I want to come across as down playing the storms of last year, the 2005 blizzard, 2003 Presidents Day event etc... If you get a blizzard that dumps 2 feet of snow or more then yes it is a big deal and chances are you will allways remember it, as you should it is really somthing special when it all comes together to produce a blockbuster. What made last year intresting was how those events went down so close to each other.

[dryslot]

I was still living in Jersey in 78. Came to Ct in Oct 79..so i missed one of the few storms to give my area here more than 14 inches

14" seems to be your number, I was working outside doing construction back then, There were quite a few days we did not work for a couple of weeks as we could not get the equipment started, We were building skirting around the equipment and using propane heaters to get the oil up to temp do we could get the equipment running.....

[tamarack]

Blizz of 78 was not a big deal up this way, I ended up with just over a foot of snow here, What i do remember most about that winter was the cold outbreak we had around that storm, I saw temps in the -20's to low -30's on a few nights........

Two inches in Ft. Kent, with relatively mild (max 24 on 2/7) temps, and it ushered in nearly 6 weeks of next to nothing precip. Feb, 1978 was cold, especially the first 5 days, but had only 5.5" snow. My 10-yr avg there was 23.3". For DJFM, 37 of 39 months (the other single-digit being 3/79) had over 10" snowfall, so 2/78 was a standout for the wrong reasons. Not uncommon that big SNE storms fail to make it to N.Maine, but plently of other ones do.

[dryslot]

Two inches in Ft. Kent, with relatively mild (max 24 on 2/7) temps, and it ushered in nearly 6 weeks of next to nothing precip. Feb, 1978 was cold, especially the first 5 days, but had only 5.5" snow. My 10-yr avg there was 23.3". For DJFM, 37 of 39 months (the other single-digit being 3/79) had over 10" snowfall, so 2/78 was a standout for the wrong reasons. Not uncommon that big SNE storms fail to make it to N.Maine, but plently of other ones do.

Yeah, It was really to cold for snow up here, Like i have said in the past, We don't seem to get a lot of the Miller "A" types to make it here but we have had some very good Miller "B"s and late blooming clippers that we have done well with.....

[tamarack]

Yeah, It was really to cold for snow up here, Like i have said in the past, We don't seem to get a lot of the Miller "A" types to make it here but we have had some very good Miller "B"s and late blooming clippers that we have done well with.....

I suspect there have been Miller "A"s since 3/93 that have given NNE a good dumping, but I'm having trouble recalling them. And even the superstorm was good-not-great up here (other than its very low barometer.) For long-track storms dumping on multiple regions, I'd put 4/82 right near the top - record snows CHI (5th), NYC (6th), CAR (7/8th), and I'm pretty sure it was a B.

[CoastalWx]

A few thoughts about comparing the blizzard of 78 to other storms. First I don't think you can really compare the mid atlantic storms of last year or even the SNE blizzard of 2005 to 78. A few major differences are 1. duration of the storms 2. coastal flooding, while there may have been some in last years storm and the SNE 2005 blizzard I don't think it can hold a candle to what 78 brought to the table. In now way do I want to come across as down playing the storms of last year, the 2005 blizzard, 2003 Presidents Day event etc... If you get a blizzard that dumps 2 feet of snow or more then yes it is a big deal and chances are you will allways remember it, as you should it is really somthing special when it all comes together to produce a blockbuster. What made last year intresting was how those events went down so close to each other.

Yeah if you include all the metrics to measure the power of a nor'easter, the blizzard of '78 is king. However, although it didn't have the duration, I'm sure Cape Codders had some of the most intense blizzard conditions sne has seen in a long time. Don't forget temps were plummeting as winds gusted to over 70mph down there with 2-4" per hour snows on Sunday. Phil can back me up, but I saw drifts to second story windows of homes, and cars just left and completely buried. It really looked like Labrador down there. It was much more of an impact there, then you and I had....and we had one hell of a storm.

[ScituateWX]

Yeah if you include all the metrics to measure the power of a nor'easter, the blizzard of '78 is king. However, although it didn't have the duration, I'm sure Cape Codders had some of the most intense blizzard conditions sne has seen in a long time. Don't forget temps were plummeting as winds gusted to over 70mph down there with 2-4" per hour snows on Sunday. Phil can back me up, but I saw drifts to second story windows of homes, and cars just left and completely buried. It really looked like Labrador down there. It was much more of an impact there, then you and I had....and we had one hell of a storm.

Yeah that was a special one for sure. I remember plowing in that storm just rough rough stuff LOL, I don't think the temp ever went above 13 here during the whole storm. Then Sunday morning even though we did not have the heavy heavy snow still falling what was falling with the wind created one of hell of a ground blizzard thats for sure!

[CoastalWx]

Yeah that was a special one for sure. I remember plowing in that storm just rough rough stuff LOL, I don't think the temp ever went above 13 here during the whole storm. Then Sunday morning even though we did not have the heavy heavy snow still falling what was falling with the wind created one of hell of a ground blizzard thats for sure!

It actually got to near 30 at my house, and then gradually cooled off towards predawn. When that last megaband came through late morning and early afternoon, it was absolutely brutal to be out in. I literally had every ounce of skin covered because it dropped into the low teens with 50-60+mph winds.

[NorthShoreWx]

I just found these observations from ISP on 2/6-7/78 tonight. They speak for themselves:

[NorthShoreWx]

Its very interessting to see the temp spike, reduced wind speeds and raised visibility at ISP (albeit with a thunderstorm) between about 10:30PM and 2:00AM. I was on the other side of that boudary wnw of ISP and the wind howled the worst around that time.