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On Febraury 6, 1978 it started to snow in New England. And snow. And snow. And Snow. For 2 days straight till the total peaked at 24.1 inches. By the time it was over 54 people had died. Damage to property exceeded $1 billion, thousands were stranded and New England came to a virtual and official standstill. Fortunately I got through it with a minimum of inconvenience. At the time I was a student living in a dorm at Boston University. Unlike the New York Blizzard of 2003, the snow accumulated quickly. Many people thought that they would have plenty of time to leave woek and get home before the brunt of the storm hit. Wrong! 3500 cars had to be abandoned along an 8-mile stretch of Route 128. It became one huge snowbound parking lot. People got stranded all over the region. My boss ended up spending 3 days in a Stop & Shop. ( I guess if you have to be stranded, being stranded in a grocery store is a good choice.) February 6th was also the date of the Beanpot finals at the Boston Garden. The Beanpot is the annual Boston college Hockey tournament between BU, BC, Harvard and Northeastern. During the second game of the night an announcement was made that the "T", the Boston Subway system, was going to shut down, so you better leave now if you want to catch the last train. The bulk of attendees left, but the game continued and BU eventually won. While the two teams were able to get back to their schools by bus, about 200 people were stranded at the Garden for 3 days. They ended up eating the food from the VIP club, taking showers in the locker rooms and borrowing the uniforms of the vendors. Masachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis officially declared a state of emergency. It was illegal to drive, illegal to open your business (with the exception of grocery stores) and all schools were closed. I'm happy to report that the liquor stores and bars around BU ignored the emergency order and opened for business. 'Twas one big party in the dorms. It got even better when our cafeteria started to run out of food on day 3. New supplies were trucked in and everyone agreed that it was the best food that the school ever served. It seems that only the better grades and cuts of meat, and better quality vegetables and canned goods were available during the blizzard. Every morning we turned on our televisions to learn whether the state of emergency would be extended for one more day. While we waited for Governor Dukakis to appear from the states emergency bunker we all placed bets on what color pullover sweater he would wearing that day. His sweaters became another just part of the lore of the blizzard of '78. As you can tell, my blizzard experience was pretty positive.
The only downside was that every morning at 8AM a helicoptor hovered outside my 11th floor window while it was waiting for clearance to land in the Red Cross parking lot across the way. On these days when I could sleep in, the helicoptor wouldn't let me. It was so close that I could wave to the pilot and he waved back. (Yes, I did wave. NO, I did not use another gesture.) Happy blizzard everyone. Do you have a blizzard travel story? Share it with us! Click here for our live report of the 2003 New York Blizzard. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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