A typical winter in Massachusetts means freezing mornings, slippery sidewalks, and the occasional Nor’easter that dumps a foot of snow. But the winter of 2015 was anything but typical. Between late January and February, parts of the state were buried in up to 110 inches of snow. This was more than double what we usually experience. Streets disappeared under snowbanks, trains froze on their tracks, and schools closed for weeks.
The storm that started it all hit on January 26, 2015, when a massive Nor’easter swept through New England, blanketing Boston with more than two feet of snow in just 24 hours. Over in central Massachusetts, we received about 30 inches of snow. Winds gusted above 40 mph, and visibility dropped so low that you could barely see across the street. My parents told me that school was cancelled and my friends and I went outside and played in the snow all day. But the snow kept piling as one blizzard followed another, each storm arriving before the last one had melted. One day off turned into a whole two weeks off of school. I remember at one point during the storm I wasn’t able to see out my screen door because it was entirely covered by snow. Looking outside my neighborhood felt surreal. Everything was still, quiet, and completely white.
This blizzard formed when icy air from up north mixed with warm, moist air from the Atlantic, which caused a huge storm that hovered near the coast, constantly dumping snow. Temperatures stayed below freezing for weeks afterward, so the snow never melted and kept stacking up.
The winter of 2015 ended up being one of the costliest in the region’s history, causing millions in property damage and infrastructure repairs. But it also brought people together. Neighbors helped dig out cars, shared snowblowers, and cleared sidewalks for each other. That year we learned to live through what felt like an endless winter.
Sources:
http://paocweb.mit.edu/about/paoc-spotlights/the-science-behind-bostons-record-setting-winter-of-2015
https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/02/05/northeast-blizzard-caused-million-economic-losses/Z11wCXmG7u2pMBHegI89ML/story.html
https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/boston-winter-2015-snow-record/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_2015_North_American_blizzard#:~:text=Up%20to%2034.5%20in%20(88,storm%20total%20accumulation%20on%20record.
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