I was seven years old during the Blizzard of ‘78, and I will never forget it. I lived in Blackstone, Massachusetts at the time, within one of the most impacted regions of the Northeast.
Our home was without electricity and heat for a week.
The roads in eastern Massachusetts (where I lived) were closed for a week.
The rest of Massachusetts and all of Rhode Island and Connecticut closed their roads for three days.
The adjacent town of Woonsocket, Rhode Island, reported 44 inches of snow by the time the storm was finished.
The storm included sustained hurricane winds of 86 MPH, making it just as damaging as the snow itself.
In the neighboring town of Uxbridge, Massachusetts, ten-year-old Peter Gosselin disappeared in the deep snow just feet from his home’s front door but was not found until three weeks later.
Motorists died on Interstate 95 as snow piled high enough to prevent the exhaust from escaping from their idling vehicles. Interstate 95 eventually had to be evacuated by cross-country skiers and snowmobilers.
The storm killed approximately 100 people in all.
This storm is a serious piece of business, but it’s nothing compared to what the New England dealt with in 1978.
