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Blizzard of 2005The Blizzard of 2005 was a three-day Nor'easter that affected large areas of the northern United States, dropping as much 36 inches or more of snow in parts of southeastern Massachusetts, as well as much of the Boston metropolitan area. While this was by far the hardest hit region, it was also a significant snowstorm for Philadelphia and New York City areas, which both suffered occasional blizzard conditions and 12-18 inch snow accumulations. The storm started dropping snow on the upper Midwest on Thursday, January 20, 2005. It slowly moved eastward affecting the Great Lakes region and the Mid-Atlantic states on Friday and Saturday, January 21 - 22, 2005. On Saturday evening the storm entered the Southern New England area. The strength of the storm, coupled with the extreme arctic temperatures, created a light, fluffy snow which increased the snowfall totals. The storm shut down Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts and T. F. Green Airport in Rhode Island, while also impairing travel throughout much of Massachusetts due to the high amount of snow covering the roads. University students at Boston College braved harsh winds and high snow drifts to walk 150ft to the dining hall.
ConditionsConditions throughout much of southeastern Massachusetts were near-whiteout and, in some cases, were whiteout. State Police in both Dartmouth and Middleborough suggested that residents travel as little as possible. Major highways, such as Routes 24 and 140 , could not be properly cleared because of the heavy snowfall and high winds. Secondary highways, such as Route 79 were nearly impassable in some areas. Many Boston-area newscasters credit the New England Patriots football game on January 23 for keeping most travellers indoors, avoiding the pile-ups and endless lines of stuck cars that were the hallmark of the Blizzard of 1978. The fact that the storm fell on a weekend when many people did not have to go to work or school also helped to this effect. AftermathWith much of the snow cleared from the roads by the evening of January 24, snowpiles on street corners were in excess of ten feet high in some locations. Roads were severely narrowed in most congested areas, due to parked cars that were not towed and instead simply plowed in. Most schools in southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island remained closed through Tuesday, with plans to re-open on Wednesday. Second snowstormA second, less-powerful snowstorm began on Wednesday morning, January 26, forcing many of these schools to close or dismiss students early. One noteable example is Bridgewater State College in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, which re-opened on Wednesday only to close down the campus once again Wednesday afternoon at 4:00. The storm was schedule to taper off around 5:00 in the morning on January 27. Storm totalsLocation storm total time/date comments snowfall of (inches) measurement ConnecticutHartford CountySouthington 12.8 854 PM 1/24 General public Tolland CountyStafford Springs 16.0 223 PM 1/23 St Windham CountyNorth Grosvenordale 14.0 218 PM 1/23 MassachusettsBarnstable CountySagamore Beach 36.0 944 PM 1/23 Bristol CountyNew Bedford 30.0 235 PM 1/23 Dukes CountyEdgartown 24.0 240 PM 1/23 Essex CountySalem 38.0 256 PM 1/23 Em Franklin CountyAshfield 15.5 338 PM 1/23 Hampden CountyChicopee/Westover 14.0 1156 PM 1/23 Hampshire CountySouthampton 12.5 206 PM 1/23 Middlesex CountyMelrose 36.0 116 PM 1/23 Nantucket CountyNantucket 24.0 400 PM 1/23 Norfolk CountyWeymouth 28.5 244 PM 1/23 Plymouth CountyPlymouth 38.0 702 PM 1/23 Suffolk CountyWinthrop 28.6 400 PM 1/23 St Worcester CountyNorthborough 26.0 319 PM 1/23 New HampshireCheshire CountyDublin 18.5 121 PM 1/23 Hillsborough CountyHollis 19.0 345 PM 1/23 Rhode IslandBristol CountyBristol 21.0 502 PM 1/23 St Kent CountyWest Warwick 24.5 251 PM 1/23 Newport CountyLittle Compton 27.0 410 PM 1/23 Providence CountyJohnston Memorial 22.5 403 PM 1/23 NWS employee Washington CountyHopkinton 21.0 237 PM 1/23 The contents of this article are licensed from Wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License.
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