This one - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeastern_United_States_blizzard_of_1978?
I've heard about it, but I was only 3 years old at the time. Looking at the numbers, I don't see what the big deal was though, at least not in terms of accumulation:
Boston received a record-breaking 27.1 inches (69 cm) of snow; Providence also broke a record, with 27.6 inches (70 cm) of snow;[3] Atlantic City broke an all-time storm accumulation, with 20.1 inches (51 cm), two Philadelphia suburban towns in Chester County received 20.2 inches (51 cm) while the City of Philadelphia received 16.0 inches (41 cm).[5]
We got close to 4 feet of accumulation here on February 13, 2017 -
https://i.imgur.com/WYCmOfi.jpg - which is the most I've ever seen from one storm in my life. I didn't encounter any closed roads.
For the 1978 storm it must have been the extreme wind in addition to the snow that made it such a big deal.
In any case, the conditions shown onscreen in Groundhog Day were way too mild for roads to be closed, especially every road out of town. There's hardly any snow on the road, it's not snowing very hard, and the wind isn't particularly strong.
reply
share
strntz (12773)
a year ago
Yeah, that's the one.
Not only was the snow record breaking, but the amount of snow it dumped in a relatively short time was noteworthy along with the 80-100 winds at the same time.
https://s.hdnux.com/photos/65/10/04/13926676/4/ratio3x2_960.webp
In any case, the conditions shown onscreen in Groundhog Day were way too mild for roads to be closed, especially every road out of town. There's hardly any snow on the road, it's not snowing very hard, and the wind isn't particularly strong.
Yeah, I guess they didn't have the budget for better effects or maybe just figured no one would really pay attention. But they needed him to be stranded so it's a plot device I suppose.
I've never lived in Pennsylvania but my buddy moved from CT to VA a few years ago, and he told me when they get half an inch of snow everybody panics and they shut down everything. Meanwhile, he's laughing while doing drifting turns and donuts on the empty streets.
reply
share
MaximRecoil (4845)
a year ago
I've never lived in Pennsylvania but my buddy moved from CT to VA a few years ago, and he told me when they get half an inch of snow everybody panics and they shut down everything. Meanwhile, he's laughing while doing drifting turns and donuts on the empty streets.
Yeah, I've heard stories like that from people who live in places that don't get much snow. It's bizarre to me because from my earliest memories, snow was almost always a non-issue when it came to driving. I'm not saying that snow never causes accidents here, but what I mean is, my parents never let snowfall get in the way of driving somewhere.
I remember being in the family car during heavy snowfall many times as a kid, and not just for short drives in town either. A lot of times it was during a trip to Bangor at night (about a 45-minute drive from my hometown). Us kids would always pester Dad to turn on the high-beams because it made the falling snow so much more visible, like being inside a just-shaken snow globe. He would sometimes do it for a couple seconds when there were no other cars coming, long enough to shut us up (it's obviously not safe to drive in heavy snowfall for very long with your high-beams on).
reply
share