A Week’s Worth of Snow Days: the Blizzards of 2015

A satellite image of the January 23rd to 31st blizzard at its highest point of intensity on January 27th. Photo: NASA/NOAA

Overview of the storms

During the 2014-2015 winter, Boston set a city record for most snow in a single year with 110.6 inches. For four weeks in late January and early February, four different storms passed over the city, bringing with them heavy snowfall and high winds. The storms came after a relatively tame early winter, with the city having received only 10.6 inches of snow through the third to last week of January.

The first storm passed through the area from January 23rd to January 31st, with 31 inches of snow falling in Lunenburg, MA (a town West of Boston). The second storm overlapped with the first, spanning the 29th to February 3rd with 24.1 inches of snow being recorded in Lunenburg. The third storm to pass dropped another 22 inches of snow over the course of two days, February 8th through 10th, with the fourth and final storm bringing with it an additional 16.2 inches from February 14th through 15th.

Image: Residents walk down a snowy street during the third storm. Photo: Brian Snyder from Reuters

To put the amount of snow into context, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker claimed that the state had moved enough snow to fill Gillette Stadium, where the New England Patriots play, 90 times over. Up to 35,000 tons of salt were prepared by the city to remove snow prior to the first storm and a state of emergency was declared, shutting down public transportation and some public buildings. Logan International Airport was also temporarily closed, with thousands of flights being canceled due to the multitude of storms.

Image  Residents were encouraged to shovel their roofs in the hopes of preventing potential collapses. Photo: Michelle Freeman

My experience

I was in sixth grade when these storms took place and got to reap the benefits of the snow by having six whole snow days. Though I can’t remember if the days occurred concurrently or if they were spread out over the four weeks, I’m sure sixth grade me relished in all the time away from school (sixth grade me was definitely less impressed in late June when we were still in school, making up for those missed days). What I can vividly remember from that time is, once we had returned to school, we weren’t allowed on the field due to how deep the snow was; school administration was worried we’d get buried in the multiple feet of snow that had accumulated and thus restricted recess to the cleared blacktop.



Sources used
https://www.cnbc.com/2015/02/09/5-feet-of-snow-be-glad-youre-not-in-boston.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2015/03/15/boston-clinches-snowiest-season-on-record-amid-winter-of-superlatives/
https://www.wcvb.com/article/remembering-first-blizzard-of-2015-winter-snow-blitz/30675086
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014%E2%80%9315_North_American_winter#Late_January_blizzard