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Blizzard of '78


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11 minutes ago, Ginx snewx said:

My story.

Attending URI as a sophomore.  Taking a met class. The difax was indicating a major storm. My met professor Dr James Haven insisted it was going to be the biggest blizzard of our lives. He suggested any one who could go home should. At 11 am the winds were already gusting in the 30s on the open quad when It snow started.  I immediately headed to find my girlfriend in class at Edwards Auditorium. We headed towards Westerly a 20 minute trip. I chose the 138 to 95 route because I knew it would be easier, proved to be a very wise choice as Rt 1 closed almost immediately and people were stranded. The snow immediately became very very heavy and dense. Can't describe it as I have yet to witness it again but the consistency was like cement right before it cures,  not wet but dense. I believe that was the reason everyone got stuck. Anyways the trip home normally 20 mins took over an hour. By the time I got home it was full on blizzard and remained that way for the next 36 hrs. The night was as fierce as it gets complete with a 5 he period of basically a severe Tstorm. Sleet mixed in but it could have been hail. My girlfriend stayed the night and well 9 months later our blizzard baby son was born. I left school to get a full time job and benefits. The blizzard of 78 completely changed my life. No complaints just a fact. After it was over we were able to get back to URI, school was closed for 8 days  I jumped out if a 3rd floor dorm into a massive drift. The Pub on campus stayed open 24 hrs a day and it was the most insane party ever. Judging by the photos I had which were lost in a flood at my parents in 83 I would say on level 36 inches would be a very good estimate. In the open farm areas like URI drifts easily reached 2 stories and in some places at the Kingston Turf Farms there were 30 ft drifts against the woodland of their miles long fields.

 

so you figured 3 feet at URI?

 

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4 hours ago, Baroclinic Zone said:

Absolutely.   I have zero doubts.   Very difficult to measure. Drifts for sure, but not like there were places where it got lower than 2 feet.  

I wish I could go back in time with a cell phone and tape measure

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I had 20" in the January storm and the Feb blizzard amounts dwarfed it, I know their was intense drifting but there was just so much snow everywhere with huge drifts. I think officially they said 27" but it was heavy snow like Ginxy describes for hours and hours and then after a lull in the morning the bands of heavy snow as the storm finally started moving dumped quite a bit more. I still think it was over 3 feet.

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On 1/27/2018 at 4:30 PM, Ginx snewx said:

My story.

Attending URI as a sophomore.  Taking a met class. The difax was indicating a major storm. My met professor Dr James Haven insisted it was going to be the biggest blizzard of our lives. He suggested any one who could go home should. At 11 am the winds were already gusting in the 30s on the open quad when It snow started.  I immediately headed to find my girlfriend in class at Edwards Auditorium. We headed towards Westerly a 20 minute trip. I chose the 138 to 95 route because I knew it would be easier, proved to be a very wise choice as Rt 1 closed almost immediately and people were stranded. The snow immediately became very very heavy and dense. Can't describe it as I have yet to witness it again but the consistency was like cement right before it cures,  not wet but dense. I believe that was the reason everyone got stuck. Anyways the trip home normally 20 mins took over an hour. By the time I got home it was full on blizzard and remained that way for the next 36 hrs. The night was as fierce as it gets complete with a 5 hr period of basically a severe Tstorm. Sleet mixed in but it could have been hail. My girlfriend stayed the night and well 9 months later our blizzard baby son was born. I left school to get a full time job and benefits. The blizzard of 78 completely changed my life. No complaints just a fact. After it was over we were able to get back to URI, school was closed for 8 days  I jumped out of a 3rd floor dorm into a massive drift. The Pub on campus stayed open 24 hrs a day and it was the most insane party ever. Judging by the photos I had, which were lost in a flood at my parents in 83  I would say on level 36 inches would be a very good estimate. In the open farm areas like URI drifts easily reached 2 stories and in some places at the Kingston Turf Farms there were 30 ft drifts against the woodland of their miles long fields.

 

The dense snow you mentioned also occurred on Jan 4th on Long Island. It was a very fine cross between sleet and snow. Tiny little round crystals. My take is that moisture was being pumped in so rapidly and low in the atmosphere traditional snow flakes couldn’t form. It had the exact desinity you describe. Great staying power as well. I had snow left on my property until last week. 

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1 hour ago, LongBeachSurfFreak said:

The dense snow you mentioned also occurred on Jan 4th on Long Island. It was a very fine cross between sleet and snow. Tiny little round crystals. My take is that moisture was being pumped in so rapidly and low in the atmosphere traditional snow flakes couldn’t form. It had the exact desinity you describe. Great staying power as well. I had snow left on my property until last week. 

Look at all the pics, you see people walking on the snow and not sinking thigh deep, you walked on it and only went down about 6 inches it was that dense. Snowmobiles rode easily on top. That factor is underplayed when they compare to other storms, not blue cement like April 97 but not semi fluff like 13 or 15, its alone in my mind for that type of snow. 

Now for the could it happen again? Probably not to that degree, but as we have seen all across the country 1 TT jack knife can cause a whole lot of issues very quickly, a flash freeze of road surfaces  to dumping snow like Dec 13 2007 caused 9 hr delays on local roads. Yes our technology to inform is light years ahead, our snow removal abilities far exceed 78 but one thing we are still dealing with is, basically the same infrastructure road wise with a million more people out there

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Fort Kent was too far north, only got 2", though my current location had 10X that much.  On Feb. 7 we were marking timber about 15 miles south of FK, near the south shore of Eagle Lake.  There was SN- on an eerily steady 25 mph wind - think: wind tunnel.  Knowing what was going on to our south, we asked ourselves whether even the snow-moving iron in the St. John Valley could've coped with such a storm.  (We got one perhaps 75% as fierce in April 1982, plows did fine.) 

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4 minutes ago, HimoorWx said:

I am. Not sure what the set up will be, but we can all try to meet up at lunch.

Sent from my LG-M322 using Tapatalk
 

There is a ball room (which is where I think you guys will be) and then downstairs is the bar/restaurant.  The views are incredible. It's about 300' up on a weenie hill with spectacular views of Boston and the ocean to the east.

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There is a ball room (which is where I think you guys will be) and then downstairs is the bar/restaurant.  The views are incredible. It's about 300' up on a weenie hill with spectacular views of Boston and the ocean to the east.
Yeah, great location. Been there for dinner before, but never for a function. Quincy quarries on the way in are pretty interesting.

Sent from my LG-M322 using Tapatalk

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1 hour ago, phishn said:

Conference was good. It was nice to meet you Ray.

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Likewise...Ucenelli is very personable...great talking snow with him. Got his and Kocin's sigs on the book now.

Shweogler is a very unique cat....shared a story with him on how he sent me an autographed pic when I was a kid in grade school, and he physically patted himself on the back :lol:

Rosenthal....strange bird, but very personable. When on a rant about how many mets today are only there because they are pretty to look at, and don't know anything, then did  aid drop....no  one was quite sure how to react. lmao

Got Harvey to sign my Blizzard of '78 book!

Bob Copeland signed his hand crafted surface map from the morning of the '78 blizz that I purchased.

Mish Michaels seemed cool....no longer in the weather biz, just raising kids.

They are all shorter than you imagine them...except maybe Rosethal.

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Damn I miss being able to participate in the festivities (gtg) present day.

Back in '78 I was just beginning my duty to this Country, DMAF in Tuscon AZ. Never more homesick "only" 20 years old wanting to go AWOL. Thankfully I did not. Missed the whole thing but remember taking a trip home in late March. Took a drive down to Scituate with some buddies vividly remembering the total destruction, roads gone, boulders the size of houses still strewn hither and thither, foundations void of dwellings.

Forever the Benchmark in my lifetime....    

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