"On This Day" In Engineering History

On this day in engineering history, the northeastern U.S. was buried by the Blizzard of 1978. The winter storm dumped as much as 55 inches of snow in some areas, battering swaths of New England and New York with hurricane-force winds and eerie blasts of thunder and lightning. Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and the New York City metropolitan area were especially hard hit.

According to the American Red Cross, the 36-hour storm caused over 100 deaths and 4500 injuries in New England alone. Some 3000 cars and 500 trucks were stranded along Massachusetts Route 128, a partial beltway around Boston. Ultimately, damages from the Blizzard of 1978 totaled over $500 million (USD). "It was the worst I've ever seen," 81-year old harbormaster Elmer Pooler told The Boston Globe in 2008, on the storm's thirtieth anniversary. "I hope never to see another one like it".

The Perfect Storm

The Blizzard of 1978 formed when cold Canadian air to the north, low pressure to the south, and relatively warm ocean air converged. On February 5 of that year, an extra-tropical cyclone developed off the South Carolina coast while an upper-air disturbance and Arctic cold front moved across the Appalachians. These weather phenomena then combined off the Virginia coast to form a rapidly intensifying low-pressure system.

As low-pressure edged toward the northeastern United States, a strong high-pressure system parked itself over eastern Canada. Meanwhile, there was nearly stationary high-pressure over Greenland. These two high-pressure systems blocked the developing low-pressure system from moving beyond the New England coast, causing a nor'easter to rage.

As the term "nor'easter" suggests, these storms feature winds from the northeast. The center of rotation remains over the ocean, however, and allows the weather systems to gather additional moisture. Typically, nor'easters bring large amounts of precipitation along with high winds, huge waves, and storm surges in coastal areas. Larger storms, such as the Blizzard of 1978, have a hurricane-like eye and also batter inland regions.

Yankee Skepticism

Armed with primitive computer models, the National Weather Service (NWS) issued a Winter Storm Watch for southern New England on Sunday, February 5th. By early Monday morning, meteorologists predicted heavy snow. When the precipitation failed to arrive in the pre-dawn hours, however, many New Englanders and New Yorkers went to work or school as usual. Some of these commuters were later stranded on roadways such as Massachusetts Route 128.

Resources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_6

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/02/07/a_blizzard_too_furious_to_forget/?page=2

http://www.erh.noaa.gov/box/papers/blizzard78_30yrs/Bliz78NWS_files/frame.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Route_128_(Massachusetts)