Blizzard Of '26 And Blizzard Of '78 : Teasing Out Which Was Worse and Which Was Snowier

A parking lot in Fall River, Massachusetts
last evening. Photo by Abby Camacho

 For nearly a half century now, New Englanders have been regaling their offspring with tales of the epic Blizzard of 1978.

Now, young victims of hearing those 1978 stories over and over again will now probably spend the next half century torturing the next generation or two with stories of the epic Blizzard of 2026. 

By most measures, the Blizzard of 1978 was a worse storm than the Blizzard of 2026.

DAMAGE/DEATHS/WIND COMPARED

In 1978, 100 people died in the storm and 4,500 were injured. Of course, we don't have a final toll from yesterday's storm, but it won't get that high. 

So far, two deaths have been reported with this storm. There will be more, because I expect heart attacks from snow shoveling, carbon monoxide poisoning because of vents buried in snow, falls from people clearing roofs and other accidents. 

Both the 1978 and 2026 storms were destructive, but 1978 was clearly worse. It caused $520 million in damage, using 1978 dollars. Correcting for inflation, the toll from that storm would har been about $2.7 billion in 2026 dollars. 

The 1978 damage included destruction from storm surges that destroyed coastal homes in New England. From Maine to Virginia, there was damage from storm surges in this week's storm, but it clearly was not nearly as severe as 1978.  

The 1978 storm caused coastal destruction through four high tide cycles. Yesterday's storm stirred up trouble only during one high tide.

The 2026 storm was destructive in other ways, judging from the hundreds of thousands of power outages, countless fallen trees and some structural damage. New York City is now littered with dozens of fallen trees, some of which crushed cars and awnings. 

As of this morning, 362,800 homes and businesses were still without power in the Northeast. That includes 253,000 or so Massachusetts outages. 

A house in Halifax, Massachusetts just before the
Blizzard of '26.........

We don't yet have an estimate of damage from this storm, but I wouldn't be surprised if it reaches $1 billion or more. 

The top wind gust recorded during the Blizzard of 1978 was 111 mph in Scituate, Massachusetts. 

The Blizzard of 2026 didn't quite reach those levels. But Newport, Rhode Island gusted to 89 mph; Montauk, Long Island had a gust to 84 mph. 

Other strong gusts include 83 mph in Nantucket and 82 in Dennis, Massachusetts. We saw many reports of gusts exceeding 70 mph on Monday. 

SNOWFALL.

Snow was really where the Blizzard of 2026 shined. 

The biggest snow total from the Blizzard of 1978 was 40 inches in Plymouth County, Massachusetts. So far, I haven't seen a total that high from yesterday, but deep snow was clearly more widespread in 2026 than in 1978

.....and the same house after the Blizzard of '26. Photos by
Erika Rossini. 

Final snow totals aren't in yet but the information tells us that people are buried. Five states - Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey and New York - had reports of more than 30 inches of snow. 

The big snow winner was Rhode Island. Namely Providence. The final snow total there was 37.9 shattering the city's record snowstorm of 28.6 inches set in, yes, 1978.

The Rhode Island statewide record for biggest snowstorm was 38 inches in Woonsocket in 1978.  So Providence just missed that. It's possible that we might see a late breaking total in Rhode of more than 38 inches, but we haven't seen that yet.  

The most snow I've seen in Massachusetts so far is 37 inches in Bliss Corner, which is is Bristol County. 

In New York City, the final storm total in Central Park stuck at 19.7 inches, their ninth biggest snowstorm on record. Other sections of New York City had much more. The most snow reported in the Big Apple was 29 inches in Grasmere and 27.8 inches at Todt Hill. Both locations are on Staten Island. 

Newark, New Jersey has 27.2 inches of snow, just 0.6 inches short of their biggest snowstorm in January, 1996.

WHAT'S NEXT

People in the blizzard zone can probably be forgiven if they want all that snow to melt. It was a late season storm, which makes thaws more likely than a January storm would have. 

Indeed, after some subfreezing temperatures today, readings on Wednesday through Sunday will be a little above freezing, which will help to settle the snow. 

However, a one to three inches of snow is possible tonight and tomorrow. And a cold wave will likely hold temperatures below freezing next Monday

VERMONT EFFECTS

As mentioned yesterday, the Green Mountain State sat out this blizzard.  Up to five inches of snow fell near the Massachusetts border, and light snow extended up into Rutland and Windsor counties, with little accumulation. Flurries fell elsewhere in Vermont.

In the Blizzard of 1978, up to two feet of snow fell in Rutland and a few other southern Vermont locations. The 1978 storm was lighter up north, with only four inches in Burlington.  

It looks like we in Vermont might have a little issue with snow tomorrow. Most of the trouble, once again, will be with the timing of the snow rather than the amounts.

A short burst of steady snow is likely for tomorrow morning's commute, especially in central and southern Vermont. We'd only get an inch or two of snow, but drive time could get dicey.

Then, in the afternoon, it might get a little above freezing in the valleys for a time, but snow showers and maybe snow squalls could enter the picture toward later afternoon and evening. Once again, we have lousy timing. 

The snow showers and squalls might abruptly make the roads icy. That's especially true because they'll quickly drop temperatures below freezing, so water on the roads would freeze along with the fresh bit of snow from the squalls. 

We won't actually get much snow out of this. Projected accumulations tomorrow are about a half inch to two inches, with maybe a tad more in the mountains. 

Our never ending winter does not show many signs of ending just yet.