Blizzard of 1978
This blizzard was a Cat 4 for the Northeast Region that packed hurricane force winds, record breaking snowfall and white out conditions. Heavy snow fell from northeastern Maryland into Maine. Record snowfall smothered Long Island, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. A small portion of Rhode Island reported over 50 inches of snow and many schools and businesses across the area were closed for over a week. (Kocin and Uccellini)
The storm by region
Each region’s thresholds are its own, so the same depth of snow counts for more in the South than in the Northeast.
| Region | Index | Category | Area with snow (sq mi) | People under snow | Above the top threshold (sq mi) | People above it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northeast | 18.42 | Category 5, Extreme | 174,950 | 58,912,680 | 1,249 | 1,169,430 |
| Upper Midwest | 0.68 | Below category 1 | 241,893 | 23,568,233 | 0 | 0 |
| Ohio Valley | 0.56 | Below category 1 | 273,347 | 46,055,289 | 0 | 0 |
| Southeast | 0.37 | Below category 1 | 85,865 | 16,897,632 | 0 | 0 |
The Regional Snowfall Index is NOAA’s ranking of snowstorms east of the Rockies by how much snow fell, over how wide an area and on how many people, region by region: the area and the population above four snowfall thresholds set for each region, weighted against that region’s own history. A storm is scored in each region it reached, on a scale from 1, notable, to 5, extreme.
In the Storm Events record
The Storm Events Database holds winter weather only from 1996, so this storm has no episodes there.
More
The Great Blizzard of 1978 (The Cleveland Superbomb)The snowstorm of February 9 to 15, 1978Snow nowEvery winter storm filed
Sources
NOAA NCEI Regional Snowfall Index, and the Storm Events Database for the episodes.