17 Haunting Photos from the Blizzard of ’78
Mother Nature pulled no punches during the 1978 blizzard, and the photos prove it. Cars were swallowed whole by snowdrifts, streets transformed into arctic wastelands, and locals bundled like astronauts on a frozen moonwalk. These photos capture moments that look like they belong in a disaster film.
Frozen in the Fast Lane
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Route 128 South in Needham, Massachusetts, became a snowbound parking lot in February 1978. This shot shows cars stuck mid-commute after the blizzard dumped over 27 inches of snow in parts of the state. Winds hit 70 mph, snowplows couldn’t keep up, and citizens abandoned vehicles where they sat.
Bird’s-Eye Blizzard
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The Washington Street Elevated tracks cut across the photo like a long, dark zipper, while Arborway Yard looks like a toy train set in powdered sugar. City life flatlined, and even mail delivery shut down for a week.
No Rest, Just Response
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Snow piled high didn’t slow these firefighters. Crews responded to a building fire surrounded by ladders, gear, and frozen streets. Conditions were rough—icy steps, low visibility, and subzero wind chills. Still, they moved fast. The blaze lit up a city already on edge, and teams like this were out all night.
Car in Snow Bank
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After the Blizzard dumped over 40 inches in some parts of the Northeast, cities like Boston were buried. Cleanup took over a week, and some vehicles stayed stranded even longer. Crews worked around the clock, but with roads blocked and fuel deliveries delayed, progress crawled.
Abandoned Possessions
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Cleanup crews had to plow around vehicles, sometimes creating icy mounds several feet high. In places like downtown Boston, entire blocks looked like frozen scrapyards, and cars like this stayed buried for days. This one, nose-deep in a snow pile, sits on a street corner like it’s waiting for winter to pass.
Storm Surge Fallout
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This battered stretch along the Brant Rock, Massachusetts, seawall shows what happened when the Blizzard of ’78 collided with high tides and hurricane-force winds. Over two days, waves tore through foundations and flooded hundreds of homes. More than 2,000 coastal homes were severely damaged or destroyed in Massachusetts alone.
Whiteout in the Peaks
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This eerie black-and-white shot shows Woodhead Road buried under snow as it winds into Holme Village in West Yorkshire. The area sits high in the Dark Peak, and storms here often hit hard. In this case, visibility dropped to near zero, and rural travel became almost impossible for days.
Debris of Collapsed Houses
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This mess on Stoney Beach Road in Hull, Massachusetts, shows what coastal neighborhoods were up against. A sandbag wall stands on one side, but it wasn’t enough. Powerful waves ripped through homes, including the one now reduced to splinters and scattered debris. Storm surges hit over 14 feet in some places.
Buried Backyard in Woonsocket
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This isn’t a snow hill—it’s someone’s backyard in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. Somewhere under all that white is a Jeep and an above-ground pool, completely swallowed by snowdrifts that climbed up to 10 feet high. Residents had to dig into their homes just to step outside.
Moorland Mission on the A672
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Somewhere between Denshaw village and the M62, this lone snow blower fights back against six-foot drifts. The A672 runs across exposed moorland, making it one of the first roads to vanish under heavy snow. Crews worked through the night just to cut a single lane back through the frozen wall.
Brookpark Road Buried
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This shows Brookpark Road in Cleveland, Ohio, frozen in time. Cars sit frozen mid-commute, nearly swallowed by snowdrifts after the massive storm swept through the Midwest. Wind gusts hit 50 mph, leaving thousands stranded across the region, including here, where people tried to dig out with whatever tools they had.
News Coverage
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A news crew films as a snow-covered car gets pried open in downtown Boston, days after the Blizzard brought the city to a crawl. With more than 27 inches falling in just over 30 hours, reporters covered everything from snowbound highways to buried cars like this one.
Boston’s Bravest, No Days Off
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Snowstorm or not, fires don’t wait—and neither did Boston’s firefighters. With temperatures dipping below freezing and snowdrifts as high as chest level, hauling hoses and climbing ladders was brutal. Fire hydrants were buried, roads blocked, and visibility cut to near zero, yet these guys kept showing up.
Snow Patrol Meets Street Talk
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Streets in cities like Boston were so clogged with snow that the National Guard stepped in to help clear things out and restore basic movement. The photo feels like a pause during chaos, a quick regroup on icy pavement as icicles dangle dramatically from nearby buildings.
Digging Out on Maple Street
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One week after the event, Maple Street in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, still looked like a snow maze. The sidewalks had become narrow trenches, and neighbors could finally step outside after snowing in for days. This shows the kind of hand-dug paths that became lifelines for communities without power, plows, or passable roads.