Monday, January 14, 2008

The Blizzard Of 1978

I was looking around the internet yesterday for some weather information, and I was reminded of The Great Blizzard Of 1978, because this is the thirty year anniversary of that horrendous event. As you may know, Boston was buried in about 29 inches of snow:

February 6-7 - Blizzard of 1978, 27.1 inches of snow and 23.6 inches of snow in 24 hours for Boston. (Highest storm total and 24 hour total ever.) February 7 - Greatest snow depth for Feb. 29 inches, 1978. (Source: annandaleweather.com)

Of course, that prompted me to look around for some old photos of Boston and snowstorms. (I like to collect old, rare, or vintage photos, by the way.) Here's one taken of Route 128 during the 1978 Blizzard. Some 3500 cars were buried, and a number of people died from asphyxiation because the snow prevented the exhaust from escaping.
























Here's one, Circa 1951:

























This kid is obviously moving a mountain!

That's Warren Ave in the South End behind him, from Clarendon St to Berkeley St, before trees were in fashion.

And I came across this interesting photo of the Valentine's Day Blizzard of 1940:




That's the intersection of Comm Ave and Exeter St in the Back Bay.

Have any interesting old photos of Boston you want to share? Send them to me at beantowntoday@yahoo.com.

3 comments:

Neponset River Bridge Dig said...

Lovbe the old photos - great post!!

BeanTownBoy said...

Thank you, Rich. You, by the way, are an awesome photographer yourself!

Rhea said...

I was going to Emerson College at the time of this storm and I remember drifts of snow over our heads as we made our way down Beacon Street to the cafeteria.