If there’s two topics Bostonians love to talk about, it’s the space saver wars of yore and which year had a doozy of a snowfall.
Meteorologists predict the upcoming blizzard to break records, with 18 to 24 inches of snow expected across most of Eastern Massachusetts.
The National Weather Service tends to look at top snowfalls over a two-day period, the length of most blizzards or big storms. We chatted with them, and with you, about the top five snowpocalypses (or is it snowpocalypi?) in Boston history.
#1: Feb. 17-18, 2003
The President’s Day storm was referred to as "snowmaggedon." At Logan Airport, 27.6 inches of snow were recorded, along with wind gusts up to 60 miles an hour. Ambulances got stuck in snow, and of course, schools shut down.
Kris Olson, a legal reporter, remembers the storm well, because his wife had a C-section scheduled Feb. 18 to deliver their anticipated 12- to 13-pound first-born. They were renting a place in Swampscott, and the landlord kept the driveway clear so they could head to Salem Hospital.
“If I remember correctly, it was pretty hairy by the time we got over there,” he said, remembering the white-knuckle drive through the blizzard.
“As my wife says, there were 22 inches of snow that day and we got 22 inches of baby,” he said laughing.
#2: Feb. 6-7, 1978
This is the storm many longtime residents remember.
It snowed 27.1 inches over two days, but there was already 21 inches of snow on the ground before this storm arrived, making the situation exponentially worse. Winds gusted at up to 83 miles per hour in Boston, and 92 on Cape Cod. Gov. Michael Dukakis declared a state of emergency and shocked the commonwealth wearing a red sweater instead of the usual blazer, shirt and tie while giving blizzard updates.
The MBTA was shut down for days. Logan Airport was shuttered. Over 3,500 cars and trucks were stranded on Route 128 outside of Boston for days, with 14 people dying of carbon monoxide poisoning as they waited for rescue, their vehicles' tailpipes buried in snow. Flood tides forced 10,000 people into emergency shelter, and 11,000 homes were destroyed or damaged.
Twitter user @superguppy, who responded to a GBH Twitter request for stories, remembered the National Guard arriving to help a pregnant neighbor get to the hospital.
Neighbors were talking about '78 last night. National Guard had to come in to bring a pregnant neighbor to hospital. Neighborhood gathered and cheered when plows cleared WestRox Parkway.
— Super Boosted Guppy (@superguppy) January 28, 2022
Dave Baron, who also shared his story on Twitter, said the MBTA was out of service. But what he remembered most was the size of the snow banks.
T was shut down for days in '78 and I believe also '03. In '78 my brothers and I did a lot of jumping off of things -- off the second-floor porch of our apartment, off of the roof of the neighbor's garage. The snow banks were well over my head.
— Dave Baron (@davebaron) January 28, 2022
Twenty-nine Massachusetts residents died in the storm, according to Mass Moments, a daily almanac of Massachusetts history. Southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island were hit even worse than Boston, with around 54 inches of snow, according to the New England Historical Society.
Jerry Berger was a rookie reporter for the Marlborough Enterprise when he was called in to cover a night city council meeting, which then got canceled. Stuck more than 20 miles from his Watertown home, he stayed with a colleague.
“We reported out of her house between efforts to shovel snow for four days,” he said. When he got to the office, his car was completely snowed in. A colleague attached a chain to his bumper for a snow truck to pull it out from the drifts.
#3: March 31-April 1, 1997
Dubbed the April Fool’s Day storm, it snowed 25.4 inches in Boston. The wet, heavy snow came down at 3 inches an hour at some points. Gov. Bill Weld called a state of emergency, and the USS Constitution suffered damage.
Western Massachusetts news station WWLP was also hit hard by the storm, losing power for almost a full day. Central Massachusetts got even more snow than Boston, with Milford receiving 3 feet altogether.
Brian Healey was 14 years old and living in Lunenberg at the time. His family lost power for 15 hours, and school was canceled for three days.
“I remember a lot of people genuinely believing it was maybe some kind of joke, because the temperature in the days leading up was very warm, in the 50s and 60s,” he said. “I had, in fact, played outdoor baseball just the day before it all started.”
Nearly 40,000 Massachusetts customers lost power. Three deaths in Massachusetts and Rhode Island can be attributed to the storm, from heart attacks while snow shoveling.
#4: Feb. 8-9, 2013
Winter Storm Nemo brought 24.9 inches of snow to Boston, at some points coming down at the rate of 4 to 5 inches an hour in parts of New England. Gov. Deval Patrick issued the first statewide travel ban since the blizzard of '78.
For the first time, the MBTA stopped service ahead of a storm, stopping all of its boats, trains and buses for almost 48 hours. The shutdown led to Harvard University dining service workers being stranded on campus, and the administration putting many staff in hotels.
Three Bay Staters died, including a boy in a snowed-in car who suffered carbon monoxide poisoning while his father shoveled around it.
Towns outside of Boston got even more snow, with West Boylston in Central Mass. getting a whopping 34.5 inches.
#5: Jan 26-27, 2015
It snowed 24.4 inches over a two-day period, but everyone remembers 2015 because Boston broke its all-time record for snowfall in one season: 110.3 inches. That winter saw four storms with over a foot of snow each, and a lot of smaller snowfalls in between.
Worcester saw a record-breaking 34.5 inches of snow from that specific storm, and smaller towns like Auburn and Westford got 3 feet. Nantucket was slammed with hurricane-force winds and severe flooding.
What do residents remember? I can tackle this one. Worcester Polytechnic Institute students living in Somerville built a massive two-room snow structure, stuck a barbecue grill in their yard, and offered hotdogs and beer to the curious who ventured down Highland Avenue on foot and skis.
The MBTA shut down, and the commuter rail was a hot mess. MBTA General Manager Beverly Scott resigned just days after the disruptions, which continued through much of that winter. The last of the sludge on a snow farm melted in July.
The Boston Yeti, a famous local sasquatch, also made his debut. He shoveled walkways for older residents and was spotted across the city to the delight of many who were snowed-in.
