History

Photos: Looking back at the Blizzard of ‘78

Boston saw 27.1 inches of snow fall over the course of 32 hours and 40 minutes. Cars and trucks became stranded on Route 128, and 29 people died in the storm that hit the region on Feb. 6 and 7, 1978.

By Dialynn Dwyer

A dinosaur sculpted from snow is pictured in Harvard Yard following the Blizzard of ’78, on Feb. 11, 1978. – Charles Dixon / The Boston Globe
People line up outside the reopened Coolidge Bank in Harvard Square on Feb. 10, 1978, following the blizzard. – Bill Curtis / The Boston Globe
An elderly woman displaced by the Blizzard of ’78 sits surrounded by cots after seeking safety at the Revere High School gym on Feb. 10, 1978. – Jack O’Connell / The Boston Globe
A highway in Massachusetts was buried in snow on Feb. 6, 1978. – David L. Ryan / The Boston Globe
Firefighters Pat Moni and Dick Laureana of Engine 22 dig out a hydrant on Massachusetts Avenue in Boston on Feb. 10, 1978. – Stan Grossfeld / The Boston Globe
People used cross-country skis to get around Boston on Feb. 7, 1978. – David L. Ryan / The Boston Globe
John Lewis and Billy O’Neil work at digging out a car on Old Colony Avenue in South Boston. – John Blanding / The Boston Globe
Military equipment flown into Boston clears snow on Feb. 9, 1978, from the southbound lanes of Route 128 between Highland Avenue and Great Plain Avenue in Needham. – John Blanding / The Boston Globe
Two girls ventured out in Dorchester on Feb. 10. 1978. – The Boston Globe, File
This message was stamped out in the snow on the surface of a lake in Montville, Connecticut, on Feb. 8, 1978. It asked for Gov. Ella T. Grasso’s help in the state’s snow emergency. The author of the message was unknown, but it got across to the governor who saw it as she flew over the lake on a helicopter tour of eastern Connecticut. – Robert Child / AP
A National Guardsman checks a stranded car on Feb. 9, 1978, in Hampton, New Hampshire. – Tim Savard / AP
Gandolf, an Irish Setter, watches Martine Carroll, 14, walk down Trenton Street. – OPS
An aerial view of cars buried in the snow on Route 128 near the Dedham and Westwood line. – Ed Jenner / The Boston Globe
Snowbound vehicles on Route 128 South in Massachusetts. – David L. Ryan / The Boston Globe
Destroyed houses on Minot Beach in Scituate after the blizzard. – Bill Brett / The Boston Globe
Revere was completely flooded with seawater and snow. – The Boston Globe Archives
Falling and drifting snow surrounds a car on Morrissey Boulevard during the early morning hours of the blizzard on Feb. 7. 1978. – OPS
Boston’s Washington Street was buried in snow on Feb. 6, 1978. – David L. Ryan / The Boston Globe
Cleared streets and driveways are pictured in an aerial view of Wakefield on Feb. 8, 1978. – Ed Jenner / The Boston Globe
Pedestrians take a sunset stroll along snow-covered Newbury Street on Feb. 10, 1978. – Stan Grossfeld / The Boston Globe
Bostonians check out the snow on Revere Street on Beacon Hill on Feb. 8, 1978. – Rachel Ritchie / The Boston Globe
This photo taken five days after the blizzard shows cars abandoned on Route 128 on the Dedham and Westwood line. – Photo by Joe McDermott
The parking lot of the North Shore Shopping Center in Peabody on Feb. 9, 1978. – Photo by H. Ray Wallman