34th Anniversary of the Northeast Blizzard of '78
Photo of Blizzard of '78 in Chester County, Pa., by AccuWeather.com Expert Senior Meteorologist Henry Margusity. Click here to see more photos from the blizzard.
Amidst the monotony of this season's mild winter, people can't help but think about snowier days and, markedly, the Northeast Blizzard of February 1978.
The blizzard, which swept the Northeast from Feb. 5 to 7, 34 years ago, buried parts of New England and New York with up to 36 inches of snow.
The nor'easter broke record snowfalls in some areas, including Boston with a 27.2 inches and northwestern Rhode Island with almost 50 inches.
Those that lived at the coast experienced devastating damage as a result of severe tides, flooding and hurricane-force winds.
In Connecticut, Governor Ella Grasso ordered all roads to be closed except for emergency travel, causing the state to be shut down for almost three days.
AccuWeather Severe Weather Expert Henry Margusity remembers the intensity of the snowfall outside his home in Chester County, Pa.
"The storm started while I was in school. They let us out early, and by 4 p.m., we had almost 6 inches of snow on the ground," Margusity said.
"I had to shovel the driveway so my sister could get into it, but it was a huge fight between the drifting snow and the intensity of the snow. I can recall how big snowflakes were and how hard it was snowing that evening. At times, it was snowing almost 2 inches per hour."
The snowfall resulted in massive drifts, with some roads requiring days of work to be dug out. Cars were buried up to their roofs, and houses had snow drifts up to 6 feet on either side.
"The interstate system around Boston was like a parking lot; it took days for people to recover their cars," AccuWeather broadcaster Elliot Abrams said.
"It was quite memorable working through," Abrams said, who was at AccuWeather during the storm. "I don't remember a period where there were so many large snowstorms coming up the coast."
In total, the snowfall forced more than 10,000 people into emergency shelters and 75 people were killed. Damages totaled over $500 million.
More Weather News
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What's Next for Beryl?
May 28, 2012; 12:25 PM ET
Beryl, with its drenching downpours and locally severe thunderstorms is expected to turn to the northeast, paralleling the Carolina coast during the middle of the week.
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Memorial Day Storms Albany to Boston
May 28, 2012; 12:09 PM ET
Locally strong thunderstorms will roll across upstate New York and through part of New England into this evening.
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"Mothership Cloud" Supercell Tornado In Texas
May 28, 2012; 12:07 PM ET
Storm chasers spotted the storm on May 21.
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Photos: After-Effects of Tropical Storm Beryl
May 28, 2012; 12:00 PM ET
"Beryl, shmeryl..." No serious damage has been reported.
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Severe Flooding in Northwestern Ontario
May 28, 2012; 10:49 AM ET
A state of emergency has been declared in the Thunder Bay area after severe flooding struck parts of Ontario's Lake Superior region.
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Watching the Caribbean in the Wake of Beryl
May 28, 2012; 9:30 AM ET
The same general area of disturbed weather in the Caribbean that seeded Beryl, could attempt yet another tropical system this week.
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Severe Storms to Slam Chicago, St. Louis, Springfield
May 28, 2012; 9:22 AM ET
Damaging thunderstorms will ignite from Chicago to St. Louis to Springfield later this afternoon and evening.
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Memorial Day Weather for "Founding" Towns
May 28, 2012; 9:01 AM ET
Officially, Waterloo, N.Y., is the birthplace of Memorial Day, however, many towns in the U.S. claim the honor of being the first.
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Atlantic Hurricane Forecast: Storms Close to the Coast
May 28, 2012; 7:32 AM ET
AccuWeather's 2012 Atlantic Hurricane Season forecasts 12 named tropical storms, five named hurricanes and two major hurricanes.
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Beryl's Impacts on the Southeast
May 28, 2012; 5:25 AM ET
As Beryl moves into the Southeast, its impacts will be widespread. However, not all news will be bad.
Daily U.S. Extremes
past 24 hours
| Extreme | Location | |
|---|---|---|
| High | 100° | Smyrna, TN |
| Low | 15° | Sunset Crater, AZ |
| Precip | 3.99" | Wadena, MN |
WeatherWhys®
Hail is much more common during the months of May and June compared to July and August. The main reason is the fact that the freezing level is usually higher during July and August as pockets of cold air in the upper atmosphere are less common as the jet stream weakens and retreats farther north.
This Day In Weather History
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In Leesburg, a suburb of Washington, D.C., 2.20 inches of rain fell in 15 minutes.
Leesburg, Fla. (1989)
A lightning bolt tore a 4-foot-wide hole in the ceiling of a residential dining room and struck a 9-year-old boy between the shoulder blades. Although injured, the boy survived.
Rough Weather
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