February 28, 2005
Just in case anyone was wondering or It has started snowing!
We're supposed to get another Nor'easter starting tonight and going through tomorrow afternoon. A Nor'easter is essentially a winter hurricane. The snow tends to be moisture laden and that makes it heavy. When you couple that with high winds you end up with power outages too as the snow sticks to branches and power lines causing them to snap. If you live near the coast you have to deal with the storm surge and that is usually worse when it is a full moon, like it is tonight.
I was 15-years-old when New Hampshire was hit with the Blizzard of '78. We never lost power during the storm which is pretty amazing since we only live about a 1/4 mile from the ocean. We did end up providing refuge to a family that couldn't evacuate from the beach because the waves had breached the walls along the ocean and flooded the roads.
We went back at night to rescue their cat before the storm got really bad. We had to walk on the snowbanks that were on either side of the road because the waves were coming over the dunes and straight down our road. The water was basically level with the snowbanks and lots of debris was floating by.
The dunes were actually big hills that were comprised of big granite blocks and a sand/dirt/gravel mix upon which people built expensive homes. We rescued a cat from one such home and had to hide behind homes and walk on snowbanks to stay dry from the crashing waves.
When we went back the next morning the National Guard was on duty to prevent looting. The house we had been to the night before had two stories. The front and back walls, facing the ocean, were gone on the first floor and sand was 3-4 feet high in their living room.
Entire houses were lifted off of their foundations and deposited in the marsh. The sea walls, mostly metal at that time, were twisted in bizarre pretzel-like shapes. The devastation had a surreal quality to it as you can see in some of the pictures I found below taken in Hampton after the storm.
You can read an article and see more pictures here.
Comments
Yep, the "blizzard of '78"...remember it well. I
was actually at Environmental Camp w/ a hundred or so other eighth graders. We had an extra day or two there because of the storm and had ourselves an incredible time. Was Cathy there?
We were kind of insulated from the scary part of it, but I remember being shocked when I got back to Hampton and saw what had happened!
It was weird to see those pictures you posted...brought back a lot of memories.
Was the family who stayed w/ you all anyone I knew?
Love the pic's of your kitties! What color is the sky in Fizban's world? :)
Cathy was at environmental camp at the same time. I remember her return being delayed.
The family that stayed with us was a young couple, no kids, a dog and a cat. I don't we ever saw them after that either.
The color of the sky in Fizban's world is whatever she wants. :)
Posted by: Bob on March 1, 2005 01:58 PMI remember that blizzard, well, too. Of course, I was up north then. We got out of school for a couple of days because of the storm. Our cat was out when the storm hit and we never saw it again. I've yet to see a winter that beat 1969, though.
Posted by: Chosen on March 1, 2005 04:29 PMThat's very scary stuff: snow, giant waves, and then no power to warm yourself up. I hope you've all survived this latest hurricane?
Posted by: Deirdre on March 1, 2005 11:34 PMYeah, this storm wasn't much at all. I did end up with around 6-8 inches but it wasn't anything like a blizzard and we didn't lose power.
I was six-years-old and still living in Philadelphia and the only snow-storm I remember is the one we had on my birthday the following year.
Posted by: Bob on March 2, 2005 04:34 AM
Whoa.....you were 15 in 1978?????!!!!
Posted by: Ashley on March 1, 2005 08:57 AMJust kidding...you still look way too young for your age!