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First-person accounts of history, humanity and humor throughout the storm By Michael J. Touglas with Chet Williamson On Monday morning, Feb. 6, 1978, New Englanders woke up to cloudy skies but no falling snow. Some probably went straight to work, never giving the predicted snowfall a second thought. For those who had a chance to glance at the morning paper, there was nothing alarming to make them pause. Commuters who had the time in the morning to listen to the radio or watch TV before they left the house might have learned that the snow would be heavy and a major storm was on the way. The people of New England, however, had just experienced record snowfall two and half weeks earlier, and that storm did little damage. So the general population started their commute to work. After all, this was New England — and snowfall is expected. The first snowflakes arrived in Southeastern New England at roughly 10 o'clock in the morning. Rather than starting off slow, the storm caught people off guard by hitting with almost full force. Snow accumulated quickly and nervous office workers looked out windows during lunch and began to realize this was indeed a storm to be reckoned with. Those who had access to radios and TVs would learn that the forecast for heavy snow had been upgraded to near-blizzard conditions and some had the foresight to head home immediately rather than wait for an official office-closing announcement. By 1 o'clock snow was starting to drift on the streets and winds were blowing up to 40 miles an hour. Most offices began releasing workers at 2 o'clock, and the mass exodus was on. The Fine Arts, fishtails and the freeze Charles Pierce, writer and former Worcester Magazine reporter:  Charles Pierce "I was writing for the paper at the time. I remember we were at 65 Elm St. in the old doctor's office. I was living at home and didn't have a car. So I took the 15 Shrewsbury bus, which I would pick up at City Hall. "I remember looking out about 4 o'clock and all of a sudden the snow was just going sideways. So I said, 'The hell with this I'm going home.' I left the office and I walked down Elm Street and Pleasant Street. I remember I was between buses. The buses came on the hour. So I went into Tammany Hall and I got a beer. When I walked in it was really a bad snowstorm. I waited around for the 6 o'clock bus and about quarter of I walked out and at that point it was a hurricane and the most amazing thing I'd ever seen. It just hit me in the face. There used to be an old porn theater called the Fine Arts a half a block down from the Tammany Hall. I remember walking out the front door of Tammany and you could not read the marquee. It was snowing that hard. "The bus ride was a nightmare. People were spinning out and it was dark at that point. I remember the old folks on the bus being completely terrified. I got on the bus. The 15 Shrewsbury used to go down Shrewsbury Street, over the lake, up past Spag's and then when it got to the Route 9/Maple Hill split in Shrewsbury, it would go left and go up Maple Hill. My parents lived on Richard Ave., right off of Main Street, at the top of Maple Hill. "I remember we went up past what used to be the Canada Dry bottling plant and the bus fish-tailed. I had never been on a bus that fish-tailed before. The whole back-end just started swaying. I got off and walked home and it was the last bus that ran for three days. If I missed the 6 o'clock bus, I'd have been living at Worcester Magazine for three days." Commuters who took buses, trains and subways flocked to their respective stations, jamming the transit systems. Wind whipped the snow furiously, and conditions for pedestrians became unsafe as people walked with their backs to the wind or hunched over, trying to make progress as icy crystals stung exposed faces. Some pedestrians hung onto light posts and street signs to keep from skidding into the street. Conditions on the roadways were no better and were quickly becoming impassible. Front-wheel-drive and four-wheel-drive vehicles were not nearly as common as today and spinning wheels could be heard on small hills and vehicles slid sideways on the slightest curves. Disabled cars soon narrowed both side streets and major highways, and plows, already having difficulty keeping the blowing snow off roadways, were now impeded by the thousands of motorists who desperately tried to get home. Traffic came to a standstill. Some people waited in their cars for help, and others abandoned their vehicles, heading into the nearest town or toward the nearest home looking for shelter. Drivers who stayed in their cars later related their fears that the snow would cover their vehicles and they would never be found. "Guys were sleeping in trucks, on their desks — you couldn't get home even if you wanted to go home." Robert Moylan Jr., director of the city's Department of Public Works:  Rarely seen today — this much snow, and a phone booth. "I worked as an employee at DPW at the time. I had responsibility for snow-plowing in the Shrewsbury Street, Grafton Street, Vernon Hill area of the city. "There wasn't anything particularly noteworthy about the storm in terms of advanced warning. There was discussion of a moderate snowstorm. Of course, a week or two before we had a decent-size snowstorm that left some 12 to 15 inches, so there was already a pretty significant snow blanket before the Blizzard of '78 came. "The stormed carried on for some 24, 36 hours. I recall not being able to get home until Friday. The interesting thing was once the storm was over it was sunny, blue skies. We spent the remainder of that week opening up the "lost" streets. The city spent three weeks working around the clock in 16-hour work shifts to remove the snow. It cost everybody a pretty penny. It cost the people who worked those hours — you'd be surprised as to how screwed up you get. "We had snow removal crews that came down from Buffalo, New York. They were part of the emergency response. I believe that what we did was probably duplicated in any number of other urban areas that were hard hit. There were the inevitable emergencies — people having heart attacks, people delivering babies. We would be called to work in tandem with the Fire Department and EMTs to try to rescue people. "The other interesting thing is when you look at statistics they don't leap off the page. While it was a tremendous storm, we've had storms since where the snowfall was greater. We've had a couple of 30 inches or more. And yet, they pale in comparison to the Blizzard of '78. It may have been the snow blanket that we had before, it may have been the winds or longevity, but nothing — nothing — has come close to that storm since." The most intense period of snow fell in the early evening hours, with snow coming down at a clip of three inches an hour. For those commuters still in their cars, the night was lonely and terrifying, as they tried to keep warm while wondering if they would ever be found. People would stop and start their engines, trying to save fuel to power the heater. Most remembered to step outside and clear the exhaust pipe every so often. Each time this was done the driver would be covered with snow, then return to the car where the snow would melt, soaking their clothes in the cold darkness. Hypothermia became a very real danger. Beginning on Monday night and into Tuesday, state troopers and National Guardsmen tried to check every stuck car on the highways. Sometimes the troopers and Guardsmen got there too late — discovering a frozen body, a victim of carbon monoxide poisoning. He worked for a week that day Charles "Chuck" Grovesnor Sr., gas station owner and general contractor: "Thirty years, I can't believe it's been that long. I was running a plow truck and a front-end loader. I was working for a private contractor and we were doing sidewalks for the School Department. "We'd get done for the day, have some supper and go to bed. I'd be out for 18 hours. I was working around the clock most of the time. It was more snow than I'd ever seen. It was crazy. I can remember falling asleep in the loader, being so tired. I'd hit a bump and it would wake me up and I'd go back to work. There were no people out anywhere. It was just bitter cold, blowing wind. At times you couldn't see anything. All you could see was white in front of you." "Our little snowflake of '78" Martha Greenwell, comments on WorcesterMass.com, January 24, 2008:  Frustration mounted along with the snow. How well I remember my husband driving on all that ice trying to get me to the hospital 40 miles away. The roads were heavy with ice. We made it in time. Then the doctors, nurses and staff had trouble making it to the hospital. Some didn't. As patients, we had to help each other. Newborns were not allowed to go home due to the dangers of the cold. Family and friends could not make it to the hospital. It was a mess. Dangerous, cold and miserable. Each year, on my daughter's birthday, I remember the weather and how things could have turned out worse. We are thankful for "Our Little Snowflake of '78." It was a memorable year for sure!" Fifty-four people in Massachusetts and 21 people in Rhode Island lost their lives as a result of the storm. Some died from drowning in the ocean, others from heart attacks from shoveling or slogging through the snow, and a few from carbon monoxide poisoning due to snow-clogged car tailpipes. Car accidents and prolonged exposure to the cold also claimed victims. Freak accidents occurred as well, such as electrocution when stepping on fallen wires buried beneath the snow. Medical emergencies were handled by snowmobile, four-wheel-drive trucks and National Guard helicopters. Those same helicopters were also used to ferry food to delivery points, where it could then be distributed to stores and restaurants. The storm exposed just how dependent New England was on trucking as our main means of transporting essential goods. "I was working as a nurses' aide when the Blizzard of '78 hit. By 11 p.m. that night all the cars in the parking lot were buried. We were trapped there for two days. I now live in Florida and don't miss the snow at all." Janet Nigosanti, commenting on WorcesterMass.com, January 26, 2008. "It was a boon for business." Michael Keating of Keating Enterprises Inc., landscape contractors: "We were maintaining Worcester State College at the time. We had lots of responsibilities because we had students stuck in the dormitories. We kept it open. We had bulldozers up there plowing. It was quite an experience. At the time, my mother lived a block away from Worcester State College so that became a center of operations. It became Ground Zero for us. The guys would go over and eat and sleep. I lived up off Vernon Hill and couldn't get home for two weeks. "It was a boon for business. I bought my first house after the blizzard, but emotionally — I remember how we were not prepared to be hit with that kind of snow. Now we are. We prepare for the worst. "I was also a member of the Air National Guard and they were activated. My military training came into being because supply is the most important thing. We kept our trucks in gas and we kept our guys fed. When you do those things — let your troops get some rest, give them some food, they are ready to go again. All those things became an issue. I didn't get out of that uniform for three weeks. It hit so quickly, and they were so wrong with the forecast." Hundreds of homes were destroyed, and almost 6,000 were damaged. A handful of homes were consumed by fire because firemen simply couldn't get to the scene to fight the blaze. In Minot Beach one home was destroyed when it caught fire due to floodwaters short-circuiting the electrical wiring and then that same water prevented fire apparatus from reaching the home. Total monetary damage from the storm was estimated to be more than a billion dollars. Although largely forgotten, looting did occur during the storm, when thieves took advantage of abandoned stores. In the first three days of the storm, 125 people were arrested in Boston, most of them on Tuesday night. Exhausted police officers were helped by National Guardsmen in beefing up the police presence in troubled areas. Abandoned cars were also broken into and there were cases of price-gouging. "People were happily intimidated by the snow." John Anderson, educator and former city councilor: "I was teaching at Holy Cross as well as serving on the City Council. I had taught that day. I remember I left the campus early because of the weather. Of all things, we were scheduled to have a public works committee meeting that night. It was a regularly scheduled meeting. The Council committees have three members. It was Joe Tinsley, Mike Donahue and I. "There was always a reluctance to cancel meetings because it meant that the next meeting would be twice as long. I was living on the top of a hill and I could get down there but, I never could get back. So I told them I wasn't going. My memory though is the two of them went to City Hall to have the meeting, but the public works people were trying to deal with the storm. They ended up canceling the meeting. I'm sure Mike Donahue got a ride home in a snow plow. I think by consensus the city did a good job. The fact that travel was prohibited made it possible to clean the streets and highways. The governor's action was appropriate, perfect. "I live on Bancroft Tower Hill Road. I'm the highest house on the hill. I remember the snow after I'd finished shoveling — I'm six feet tall — the snow was above my head. I remember my wife and I walked down to Highland Street and it was almost like a small-town atmosphere. You saw people you knew. A few of the stores were open. You could walk around and chat. In that sense, and only in that sense, it was kind of fun. People generally had a good attitude about it. This was kind of a spectacular event. People were happily intimidated by the snow. It was the marvel of it. It brought the modern world to a stop." Although the wind and tides did the most damage on the coast, tremendous snowfall amounts crippled inland communities for a week. While Cape Cod snowfall was mixed with rain and snow accumulation was less than a foot, just 50 miles inland towns along the Massachusetts/Rhode Island border, such as Woonsocket, Rhode Island, had 38 inches. According to the National Weather Service, the Blizzard of '78 was the worst storm to hit Southern New England in the 20th century. For those who were stranded in their cars it was a nerve-wracking experience, but many saw the best side of human compassion. Total strangers opened their doors to marooned motorists and shared what they had. Many became life-long friends. "I can remember Gov. Dukakis with his sweater on telling us not to go out on the roadways. I have since moved to Northern Florida." — Debbie LaPrade, commenting on WorcesterMass.com. Comments about the aftermath of the blizzard usually tended to be fond memories, about neighborhoods rallying together to help one another, and the spirit of camaraderie of people who were battered and bruised by a common foe and survived. One friend recalled the days after the storm as follows: "It's almost as if the people in your neighborhood all got transported through space to a new, wondrous place — a place similar to old surroundings but in place of rough square edges and straight lines were white curves. A place where cars are not allowed and people cannot hurry." Others recalled the days after the blizzard, as "a chance to slow down and reconnect with family and friends. We walked to the store, went sledding and played games by the fireplace. Without electricity we cooked on the fire or outside on the grill. It was fun." People who lived through the Hurricane of 1938 have an instant recall of the storm. I suspect those who experienced the Blizzard of '78 will remember every detail, even on the 30th anniversary of the event. o Celebrated Massachusetts writer, historian and lecturer Michael J. Tougias is the author of several books, two of them concerning the Blizzard of '78. One is a pictorial eponymously titled The Blizzard of '78, and the other is about heroism at sea during the storm — Ten Hours Until Dawn: The True Story of Heroism and Tragedy Aboard the Can Do. His latest book is Fatal Forecast: An Incredible True Tale of Disaster and Survival at Sea. For more about the author and his work, along with his public speaking schedule, visit www.michaeltougias.
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