Weather Features

WBZ Weather Team Remembers Blizzard Of '78

BOSTON (WBZ) ― Anybody living in the Boston region in the late 70s remembers the Blizzard of '78. The WBZ Weather Team shares their memories of this remarkable storm.


Barry Burbank

I had just completed two years as the evening and only meteorologist at WCSH-TV6 in Portland, Maine. Without any equipment to access important weather data at the station, I spent most of my working hours at the National Weather Service Forecast Office located down a steep hill about a mile away.

Beyond my college education, I was very fortunate and privileged to gain added valuable knowledge and experience from these professionals at the National Weather Service. I will never forget them as I will never forget the Blizzard of 1978. Upon studying the prognostic charts on that Monday, February 6, we could not believe our eyes.

Back in those days, we had limited guidance but the two mathematical models that we did have were displaying an unthinkable scenario. It was mind boggling to ponder the potential impact of this beast. We wondered if a storm of this magnitude was possible. Were the meteorological models sophisticated and refined enough to project such a gargantuan event? Even the veteran government meteorologists had never witnessed such a volatile setup.

Big snowstorms were not unusual but what really made this one rare were the astronomically-linked high tides coincident with a storm of this magnitude. It was a recipe for massive devastation along the coast.  With a vicious northeasterly wind, it was mainly the southern Maine coast and the New Hampshire coast that was most threatened in my forecast area.

I focused on the tidal surge first and the snow was secondary. As a matter of fact, on the southern Maine coast, only 10 to 15 inches of snowfall occurred while Boston was buried in 27 inches! I remember calling some coastal residents and emergency preparedness folks to evacuate the coast.

The night of February 6 through the day and night of February 7 was a wild time. I was trekking back and forth to the National Weather Service Forecast Office. My car got stuck at a traffic light coming up the hill and I thought I would have to abandon my car and run up to the studio to do my weathercast but a couple guys came along and helped to push me out of a furrow of snow. On one of my trips, I remember hearing Bruce Schwoegler on WBZ Radio forecasting up to two feet of snow for the Boston area.

I recall the record-breaking high tide at Portland Harbor of 14.3 feet which was about 5 feet above normal. I remember the person who called to tell me that the Old Orchard Beach amusement pier had washed away. The unthinkable became an unprecedented, cataclysmic, paralyzing storm of historical proportions. It was the Storm Of The Century and a little over three weeks later on March 1, I started working here at WBZ-TV and now you know the rest of the story.


Mish Michaels

When the Blizzard of '78 blasted New England, I was a kid in elementary school. I remember seeing the images of snowbound Boston on TV--it looked amazing. Sadly, I was living 150 miles west of the city in Saratoga Springs, New York. I remember my dad shoveling out our driveway when the storm was done. We recorded 14 inches of snow during the Blizzard of '78--enough for a snow DAY, not a snow WEEK like local kids got! I was jealous. And I still am today. I wish I had experienced the intensity of the storm first hand--a winter blast that still stands as a benchmark--the extreme of what our atmosphere is capable of. 

Over the years, I have studied the Blizzard of '78 in great detail, compared it to the many that have come and gone since, and relived the experience with the people, including my husband, who were actually there digging through the two story snow piles. And every winter, I must admit, a part of me hopes that it will happen again and I wait and I watch. Obviously, I would never wish for a repeat of the destruction or loss, but like any true weather nut, I want to relive the insanity--horizontal snow, hurricane force winds, massive drifts, stunning waves and the social change that followed. Ask anyone who was there and they will tell you the week after the storm was so much FUN! A pause in modern day living. Everyone was so nice. Neighbor helped neighbor. Life slowed down. People shared laughs, a meal. People lived in harmony--a true benchmark. And so I wait and I watch. 

SOME BLIZZARD STATS: 
Total Snowfall: 27.1" (second to Presidents Day Storm in 2003: 27.5" at Logan)
Snowfall in 24 hours: 23.6" (Blizzard of '97: 25.4" is first)
Peak Wind Gust: 79mph (hurricane force 74mph) 

In 2000, several long time meteorologists in the area were asked to rank the top natural disasters to strike New England.

#1: Hurricane of 1938
#2: Worcester Tornado 1953
#3: Blizzard of '78


Ken Barlow

My family and I were on vacation in Virginia Beach, VA when we heard that a massive storm had started to hit the northeast.

Unfortunately, we had a family member pass away while we were there visiting my grandmother. We all got into the car and started back home to Newport, Rhode Island. We drove right into the teeth of the blizzard's second day with high winds and blinding snow for what seemed like forever.

Once we hit the Rhode Island border the snow was so high that it nearly topped the telephone poles! We were greeted by the Rhode Island National Guard who told us that it was unlawful to be out on any Rhode Island roads, streets or highways. The wind was still howling and we told them we were headed toward a family funeral and they let us pass with a paper placed on our windshield. Driving through western RI was surreal... it was if we were driving through a canyon... we were, only it was made of wind whipped snow!

Slowly the snow tapered off as we reached the Jamestown Bridge which was still swaying due to the hurricane force wind gusts and we all took a deep breath. We made it over that creaky old bridge and headed toward the Newport Bridge. The harrowing ride was almost over.

Once we reached Newport we couldn't get into our home due to the snowfall so we had to go stay with my aunt and uncle until we could dig out our own place. The Blizzard of '78 was one I will never forget.


Todd Gutner

While Barry was probably pulling his hair out trying to forecast that monster, I was a 2 year old still in diapers flying around the house chasing our chocolate lab named Eloise (named after the Eloise from the children's books that lived in the Plaza Hotel on 5th Avenue in New York City).

I obviously don't remember anything about that incredible blizzard but my Mom reminds me often of that time. You see, my Mom was 9 months and 14 days pregnant with my brother Chad...that's right, 2 weeks late! We lived in Simsbury, Connecticut, at the time, a very rural suburb of Hartford. She was scheduled to have an induced labor but then the snow came...and came...and came, she never made it to the hospital. Streets were impassible and plows were nowhere to be seen.

Finally, my brother had enough of the amniotic fluid and wanted out. My Mom's water broke on the 11th. My parents called for an ambulance. After hours of navigating through snow blocked streets in the Farmington River Valley, the ambulance arrived and took my Mom to the UConn Medical Center in Farmington, Connecticut. Chad was born on the 13th...that's right, almost 24 hours of labor! He was 10 pounds and 21 inches long...my pour Mom!

That's my memory of the Blizzard 78'...I guess it's more of a tale...but it's true. And I've got a great little brother to prove it.

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