An Impressive Winter Blast is STILL A Hot Topic for Massachusetts Residents

Many can recall where they were 44 years ago on February 5th, 6th and 7th as a powerful noreaster pummeled New England which resulted in blizzard conditions as the Northeast area was crippled by this massive snow storm. This system also made a mess in my hometown of New York City as The Big Apple accumulated about a foot and a half of the white stuff.

I remember enjoying some days off from school, but walking around my old neighborhood of Washington Heights, the outcome was equivalent of a war zone as a major snowfall of that magnitude took weeks to clean up a sloppy mess which is a task at hand for city sanitation workers. The subway system was a godsend for New Yorkers as trains that were not elevated and underground remained intact for travel. Bus service was halted and driving was not encouraged for people. Lots of people walked (including myself) from point A to point B.

But it could've been worse: Reports indicate that north east of us in New England, they got the brunt of this system. Massachusetts capital capital city tallied 27 inches. A week long state of emergency was declared in Boston statewide by then Governor Michael Dukakis. If you were out and about anywhere in The Bay State, driving without a valid reason resulted in breaking the law and drivers were fined in the process as an array of automobiles were abandoned and stuck on major interstate highways. The two words of "STAY INDOORS" was heavily emphasized and that was in effect until February 12th.

Locally, in the Berkshires, the city of Pittsfield was hard hit by this slow-moving blizzard as they picked up about 20 inches of snow. It was just as bad for south county as reliable sources remember that Great Barrington and it's surrounding areas also got about a foot and a half of snow and that also included parts of Litchfield county in north western Connecticut and throughout the eastern portion of New York state.

The price tag from this blizzard was phenomenal which resulted in over $500 million in damages and 73 lives were also lost in Massachusetts due to the daily deteriorating weather conditions. If you lived through this horrific nightmare, it truly was the storm that everyone will NEVER forget.

South of us, The Ocean state of Rhode Island saw the worst of this winter mess as they measured up to 40 inches as the February 7th edition of The Providence Journal led with the headline: "R.I. Strangled By Blizzard". 26 residents passed away and clean-up efforts took over two weeks to get "Little Rhody" back to par. They saw double the rate of snowfall in 1978 as opposed to the Great Blizzard of 1888 which dumped 20 inches statewide, but in those days it was the equivalent of what fell from the sky during the 20th century three day event which also saw wind gusts of up to 70 miles per hour.

Do you remember where YOU were during The Blizzard of 78? Inquiring minds would like to know.