The storm blanketed the area with 27 inches of snow.
It’s hard to believe it’s been 34 years since Massachusetts was hit with the Blizzard of '78, but the stories will withstand the test of time.
On Feb. 6, 1978, the area was blanketed with a record 27 inches of snow, with the added bonus of hurricane force winds. The storm began the morning of Feb. 6 and lasted through the following evening. It was a storm that was never really predicted to be so large, and yet from it one good thing came – we learned about emergency preparedness.
The snow came down so quickly (at a rate of an inch an hour) thousands of motorists were stranded in snowdrifts as they drove down Rte. 128. Roads throughout the state were impassible and cars were abandoned at every turn.
For those of us who were old enough to remember, the memories differ. The motorist stuck in his car for hours on the highway, the family wondering where that person was, to a community paralyzed by Mother Nature in a storm no one ever expected.
As a young girl I remember climbing seven foot snow piles while my parents shoveled and plowed our driveway so we could get out of the house. I remember, walking from Dedham’s Oakdale Square, down to the Rte. 128 rotary with my family and neighbors pulling children on sleds. We crossed over the highway and I remember seeing the graveyard of cars sitting on the highway, just frozen there, covered in snow. We were walking to Roche Bros in Westwood, the only store open in the area for milk bread and anything else we needed while the Commonwealth was in a state of emergency.
As a child it was almost magical because we didn't understand the danger. Our parents shielded us from the chaos and we didn't know people lost their lives in that storm. Looking back as an adult, it's terrifying how unprepared we were for this event.
Thirty-four years ago we had 27 inches of snow. Today, the forecast is saying temps will be in the 50s. I’ll take the 50-degree temps over what happened here a little more than three decades ago.
[Editor's note — This item is posted in the following Patches: Brookline, Sudbury, Waltham, Newton, Jamaica Plain, Wayland, Acton, Watertown and Weston.]
Chris Helms
1:02 pm on Monday, February 6, 2012
JP's Michael O'Sullivan reports via Facebook that he was "taking about 5 hours to get back to JP from Lower Mills."
Pam Roberts
2:15 pm on Monday, February 6, 2012
I was a student at Simmons College. No electricity for a week. Fresh food gone in a few days -- frozen cod cakes and cans of beans got OLD really fast. Cold viruses whipped through campus. Governor's State of Emergency for several days, which meant no walking around town (heh heh, didn't follow that one). Some of our heroes at MIT made a path between our hall and their fraternities, which made our plight MUCH more interesting.
Maura Chancey
2:59 pm on Monday, February 6, 2012
I had just turned 10 on this day 34 years ago and I was waiting for my Dad to come home from work with my birthday gift - a mickey mouse watch with a white leather band only to find that he'd got stuck and had to stay over in a local church with some others until the roads had cleared some 4 or so days later meanwhile my mother, sister, brother and I stayed in the house with no electricity, sleeping by the fireplace to stay warm and weren't allowed to go outside and play because mom was worried the weight of the snow would down the wires and tree limbs... :(
Maura Chancey
3:01 pm on Monday, February 6, 2012
It was considered a great memory and always will be...
Larry McGlynn
3:24 pm on Monday, February 6, 2012
I was coming home at 7am from the night shift at Polaroid in Needham. I was on Rt 128N barely staying on the road at the Rt 9 Exit. I looked over and saw cars piling up on the southbound of the road. I tried to warm my Dad's office to get out, but could not get near his office building in Newton. I drove home and called them to get out of there and not take Rt128. They all got home okay. After the storm had passed, I got out my Xcountry skis and skied down Rt 30 into Auburndale. I also skied on the Mass Pike to take pictures of the lack of activity on all roads. The rest of the week was spent walking or skiing to the store of supplies (riding on the fire engines that the town had circling the town to help walkers get to the store), helping the neighbors shovel out their driveways and documenting the storm's effects on the town.
Ace
3:30 pm on Monday, February 6, 2012
I was living and working in Boston. The wind was so powerful that several of us had to join in a human chain to navigate the State Street area. I spent the next few days volunteering at Mass General and cross country skiing westbound in the eastbound lanes of Storrow Drive. Our biggest hardship was that the closest liquor store was down to peach schnapps by Day 3.
Chris Helms
3:30 pm on Monday, February 6, 2012
Great story, Larry. Are you able to scan and upload any of the photos you took?
Kenneth Guzzetti
9:16 pm on Monday, February 6, 2012
I was working for a Security Company at the Old Boston Garden. We just happened to be working the Beanpot Tournament. We knew it was snowing outside but we didn't realize how much. Towards the end of the last game the announcement came that all subway and trains were cancelled. We had to make the best of it for the next three days. We played alot cards and the Garden made food for all of us. I found myself sleeping in the Luxury boxes high above the ice. The next few days were really long and dragged out looking for ways to past the time. We had lots of fun. We finally were able to leave and I was on my way home, luckily I had airline tickets for that day to take my first trip to Orlando Florida and first time in an airplane.
Acouple years past and I found myself married and living in Kissimme Florida since 1982.There is nothing like it anywhere else. Ken Guzzetti
Beryl Porter
10:57 am on Tuesday, February 7, 2012
I picked up a brand new 1978 VW at the dealership, drove it home, parked it in the driveway, and didn't drive it again for three weeks!
Jeff Barry
1:37 pm on Tuesday, February 7, 2012
I was supposed to meet someone important at work the morning after the snow started. A plow had just dug out my car on two sides and the weatherman was saying the storm was going to stop (WRONG!) so I decided to go to work. 495 was a cow path and I was the ONLY ONE on it. I made it to work where the security people said the cops were arresting people who were out driving. ?! Well, I hadn't heard that on the radio, but I therefore stayed at work for a couple of days. Got a lot done too. When the snow did stop I went out to dig out my car. It was hard to find; only the tip of the radio antenna was showing in a mostly flat field of snow. I had to dig a "driveway" to the nearest plow cut.
Susan Johnson
5:55 pm on Tuesday, February 7, 2012
I had just had a baby a few months before and we were living in the nicest neighborhood in Arlington. All the neighborhood kids walked down town to get whatever the adults needed and the adults planned a cookout with whatever we all had in our freezers. A special memory of a special time.
Choo Choo
6:45 pm on Tuesday, March 20, 2012
I was kayaking on the Usumacinta River in Guatemala. It was 80 degrees! When our group got to Tenosique, Mexico, I read a recent issue of Time. It referred to the storm before the blizzard.