Blizzard of 78'.....Where Were You?

[BigFish]

Do you remember the big nor'easter? Lets hear your tale of the biggest blizzard in New England history!

I was 13 years old.....it was quite amazing and something I will never forget! Hard to believe its been 29 years since! So much snow so fast! The storm as I remember just came barreling in like a freight train and paralyzed the area in just a few short hours and continued to snow for like 30 hours non-stop! The conditions with the high winds were the worst I have ever seen.....white out conditions and I don't mean like the sissy white out conditions we see most of the time.......we were unable to see the fence 10 feet in front of my house for hours on end! The streetlight in front of my house was a dim blur all night long!! No school for 2 weeks and no cars for 1 week....heck they didn't even get the main street plowed for 8 days!! People pulling sleds full of groceries and the stores running out of most everything! That is why when there is a storm now....everyone stocks up just in case! That was a monster storm for sure! Its the one all other storms are compared to and I doubt we will see a storm like that again in our lifetime!

Lets hear your stories of the Great Blizzard of 1978!!

[justplugit]

ah BF, i can't remember what i did yesterday,let alone "78".

[vineyardblues]

I was driving a tow truck for AAA, it was hell.
VB

[PNG]

A good read on one sad incident from the Blizzard of 78 (Gloucester)is a book titled "Ten hours till dawn"

[Karl F]

I worked as a truck driver for an excavating contractor way back then.. I plowed and sanded for 76 hours straight through, we didn't get it as bad as Boston and the south shore did.. my boss took off for Boston with his 10 wheeler and the D8 on the flatbed.. he got confiscated by the National Gaurd on Rt. 3, and spent the next 11 days in Hull!
He made some serious money on that one...

[chris L]

I was working on a sanitation vehicle since 4am that morning . By 9am was stuck in a large snow drift trying to pick up one of my last dumpsters for the day . lots of snow for sure .

Its one of my only memories in life , then there was the GI that got squished by an M60 tank in May 78 . the rest of 78 is a blank

[Sluggoslinger]

In my mothers womb kicking while they were driving home on 128 and almost didn't make it....

[MakoMike]

I was stuck in a luxury hotel at a business conference. Boy it sucked

[Swimmer]

Worked my ass off. My wife was stuck at the hospital and slept on the blood donor table every night for five days.

[Backbeach Jake]

At the Pub across from the Town Beach in Wellfleet Center watching the storm and the Harbor. Boss was buying, we got plowed...

[wader-dad]

I am sorry I missed it- I was in school in St Louis.

I do remember the February 8-10 storm of 1969 which was known as the NY Mayor John Lindsay storm. No plows on Long Island for 5 days. A woman on my street went into labor and everyone came out of their houses and shoveled the streets to get her out. That was the big one of my childhood.

[vanstaal]

working in a kitchen @ a state hospital cooking 15.000 meals a day for 6 days straight.and only making 1.65 a hour a long time ago..

[bloocrab]

Before WWF - "Super Fly, Jimmy Snooker" came along....I was perfecting his jump off the top ropes from the top rail of the porch in my yard diving into the great white abyss - and that wasn't even the best part....the best part was finding my way back to the porch steps in snow over my head

[spinncognito]

I was 11 years old, which made the snow that much deeper. I doubt we could get a storm big enough to close school for two weeks these days. I do remember the National Guard jeeps/trucks that came to shovel out the town. What I remember most was the amazing height of the drifts, opening my front door to a Wall of White and the poor dog was just hopeless tryiing to move through it. Has some of the highest totals here on the North Shore and the heftiest winds as well. Thinking about it now, I am glad I was eleven when it happened...

[luds]

I was a fetus.

[JohnR]

Originally Posted by luds48

I was a fetus.

Young Whippersnapper....


I was in Balt'more

[Uncle Matt]

I was eight. Probably out in front of my house in a snow fort throwing snowballs at passing vehicles.

[nightfighter]

Junior year at UMass Amherst.... Was in a fatal car accident on Feb. 11. Driver, who died, was a frat brother. Booze and road conditions...
Like it was yesterday....

[Raven]

i was in the mountains in Cali
thinking i'm in the right place at the right time....

[Skitterpop]

Twenty five and in Ma. shoveling, helping people with stuck cars, partying it up

[stripersnipr]

Me and BigPete cruising and taking pictures of the destruction of Scituate in his Land Rover. Buying off the National Guard with coffee and cigarettes to get up close for the really good shots.

[Slipknot]

I was a senior in high school, I stupidly put the trash out that night and it wasn't seen for quite a while
My brother had no hot water in his dorm at Northeastern so he hitchhiked home on the expressway to Rockland and walked the rest to Abington. I worked at the supermarket bagging and since it was right down the street, I ended up with so many hours the manager kinda freaked when he saw I was almost over 40 hours. It was a riot seeing everyone parking their toboggans and sleds outside instead of cars. Streets were a mess, no school for a long time, atleast a week. That storm paralyzed the area, 128 was awful. I remember it being very hard to open the door and the dog bumming out.
We had a bad storm around 69 also where we made some awesome snow caves.

[boot man]

I was 11. My memory may be wrong but I seem to remember watching a hockey game on my 9" white&black TV (channel 38 thru the UHF antenna). The snow went right over the 4" fence between my parents yard and ours. 2 staright weeks with no school. My father was the skipper on a state senator's dragger. Senator used his connections to get the staties to allow the engineer to drive down from Watertown so they could go fishing.

[tattoobob]

I was 16 we walked around and 4 of us shoveled 4 driveways for 20 bucks apiece we scored 2 ounces of weed and drove around getting high for a few days/nights we were stopped a couple of times and they told us to get off the roads.

[RIROCKHOUND]

Originally Posted by luds48

I was a fetus.

I was just turning into an itch.. wasn't a fetus for a few more months..

I wonder how many births happened 9months AFTER the storm?

[Raider Ronnie]

I was 14,
Don't remember all the details other than we had no school for 2 - 3 weeks!
I think we are due for another storm like that, at this point I'll settle for any amount of snow!
My plow trucks have worked 00000 hrs this winter

[BigFish]

Remember the Bean Pot was snowed in at the Garden?!?!?!

Slip....you grow up in Abington?

[gf2020]

I moved to MA from Minnesota the week after the Bliizard when I was 11. I remember getting here and thinking, "they call this snow?"

Schools were closed that week and then again the following week for the school vacation. We lived at the Yankee Drummer Inn in Auburn for a those 2 weeks because our house in Westborough wasn't ready yet.

[luds]

Originally Posted by BigFish

Remember the Bean Pot was snowed in at the Garden?!?!?!

Slip....you grow up in Abington?

My dad caught the last train out of boston. He was talking about it this past Christmas.

[riverrat55]

I was 28 and remember getting out of work and flooring my camaro to make it up a hill to get home!!!
Made it and was home with the wife and kids for the next 5 days!!!
Never saw a storm like that, and hope I never see one like that ever again!!!