Margaret & I have seen some impressive snow since emigrating to New England … two feet on Aprils Fools day 1997 was amazing! But our friends still talk about “the blizzard of ’78” – so much snow there was nowhere to put it, Gloucester inaccessible for a week (till the army was able to clear highway 128).
Now, on the 30th anniversary, there’s an interesting article published in the Gloucester Times:
Thirty years ago, five men went to sea from Gloucester for the last time aboard the 50-foot, steel-hulled pilot boat Can Do. Rockport’s Motif No. 1, the red fish shack and one of the most painted buildings in the nation, toppled into the harbor. The raging ocean pounded the New England Lobster Co. at the end of Pigeon Cove wharf into the sea along with many nearby fishing shanties. Dozens of lobster boats were lost. A nearby house was ripped in half.
The sea, the waves of which reached heights of 30 to 40 feet with near hurricane winds, ravaged the Cape Ann coastline.
A total of 32 inches of snow fell in a period of 24 hours from Monday night throughout the next day making it the heaviest one-day snowfall in the city’s recorded history.
