The Blizzard of '78 ... 30th Anniversary

Today, thirty-years-ago, was a very special, totally unique event.

The great Blizzard of 1978.

Anyone of a certain age (say born by 1972) from Boston, New England or the Northeast in general, no doubt, remembers it vividly.

In a little over 24-hours, Boston got 27-inches of snow dumped on it, in a classic, wind-howling blizzard, that, was of such power and force, it shut down the city for a week.

It gets lost in the legend, that we already had a good deal of snow on the ground, including a pretty good storm that gave us a foot-plus about a week before the The Blizzard of '78.

This writer spent the night of the blizzard over a friend's apartment, playing cards, drinking and smoking, stumbling home around 5AM, walking the few blocks through the punishing winds and blistering snow

Once all the snow and wind ended, it was pretty amazing - no sound.

No cars or trucks, the city was absolutely quiet.

I can remember, a few days later, when they finally started clearing the snow (at least from the main streets), seeing big payloaders dig into a massive mounds of snow on Cambridge Street, in East Cambridge, and dumping it in equally-large dump trucks - and seeing a small, green MG come tumbling out (and I knew the guy, on 7th street, that owned the car).

In those days, I worked part-time at the legendary Brattle Theatre, in Harvard Square, and it was party atmosphere.

With no cars on the road, the Square was buzzing with throngs of people, hanging out, some traveling via cross-country skis, and everyone just groovin' on the newly-imposed quiet. Everyone was getting used to having no cars around, and liking it very much.

It was heavy in the spirit of we were all going through something, big, something special.

And everybody was just groovin' on it.


Bonus Blizzard of '78 Links

The Blizzard of '78 Gallery

Blizzard Of '78 Anniversary

Blizzard of '78 Photos