Another Well Known Figure Among Us !!

[Blue Thunder]

Originally Posted by Rose

No worries, Blue Thunder. I just wasn't sure if VtSteve was referring to the Blizzard of 78, which was forecasted by some meteorologists, or the forgotten snowstorm of Jan. 20-21, 1978 that SteveA referred to, which was not forecasted.

With regards to Don Kent, my memory is not of his forecasts but of my parents constantly saying Don Kent was always wrong. But he certainly was a weather vanguard. I love this snippet from an interview of him by Eric Pinder: "But the going wasn’t easy at first—the Weather Bureau jealously guarded its treasure trove of data from private meteorologists like Kent, who were in effect competing with the Bureau. Kent began with no Teletype machine and thus, no easy way to get the data vital to a forecast. To learn what was going on, he bought some old ham radios and eavesdropped on airplane conversations between Boston and New York. The pilots would frequently ask about or relay the weather conditions and Kent would listen in and jot down the data on a map." Boy, have times changed. I can remember during the World Series in 2000, one of the National Weather Service forecasters in New York mentioned the "Subway Series" in a forecast discussion (a somewhat technical discussion of the reasoning behind the forecast not usually read by the general public but available to them). The private forecasting firms screamed bloody murder that the NWS was competing with them. [insert crybaby smiley here]

That Jan 21-22 storm was the foundation for such deep snowpack after the Blizzard. We had 18 inches here in that one and then the Great Blizzard dumped the 30-36 inches on top of it. We plowed the roads with bulldozers and front end loaders, which by the way, weren't anywhere near as common as they are today. One for the ages, for sure. Thanks Rose.

BT

[SteveA]

Originally Posted by Blue Thunder

That Jan 21-22 storm was the foundation for such deep snowpack after the Blizzard. We had 18 inches here in that one and then the Great Blizzard dumped the 30-36 inches on top of it. We plowed the roads with bulldozers and front end loaders, which by the way, weren't anywhere near as common as they are today. One for the ages, for sure. Thanks Rose.

BT

.. our copy of the Boston Globe for 1/21/1978. We have it saved somewhere because of our sons birth. I recall the headline was something like, Storm of the Century