Writing and Photography by Michael Baker|

It has been over 30 years since the Northeast was hit with a storm as massive as this. The Blizzard of ’78 was a horrible storm, but this one was worse. Blizzard “Charlotte” ripped through Connecticut and surrounding states leaving it’s residents without power, heat, and transportation. Soon after the storm passed, many people attempted to venture outside and see how bad it really was, but were met at their front door with over two, in some places over three, feet of snow.

Many families made sure that they were prepared for the snowstorm. Kelsey Novak a student at Morgan said, “we had brought firewood inside, filled gas cans, and bought enough food for a few days.” Her family was preparing for the worst because many of the predictions for the amount of snow Connecticut would get varied. Some of the early weather models showed areas getting up to 70 inches of snow, which  threw some people into a panic. A resident of Westbrook, one of Clinton’s neighboring towns, spoke to me saying that she did do some before hand grocery shopping, “we just made sure we had enough milk and food for a few days.” Making sure there was enough food in their house was important because they were not sure how long it would be until a plow came to do their road. Speaking to various other students led me to conclude that not too many people were worried about losing power and running out of food; they were confident that the electric and snow removal companies would be able to get the job done.

After the clouds cleared and the snow stopped falling, many began shoveling out their cars and walkways. Usually when there is a forecast for snow everyone automatically assumes that we will get less snow than what is predicted, but this was not the case. Snowplows and salt trucks were even having trouble clearing the roads. Many trucks got stuck while plowing, so heavy duty machines such as backhoes and bucket loaders has to be called in to help with clean up. While some people here in Clinton waited days to be plowed out, others roads were quickly cleared such as was Nick Bradley’s road. I asked him how long it took for his road to get cleared. He responded, “only one day.” He was quite lucky to have been plowed out so quickly, while others were stuck inside for  three days.

Large amounts of snow are still on the ground, and students around the state still have not made it back to school yet. Cities like New Haven are cleaning snow out of the roads, and small towns are trying to clean up the snow as much as they can. It is safe to say that this blizzard is one for the record books.

If you have any stories you would like to share, just leave a comment below. If you would like to submit a photo taken during or after the storm send an email to [email protected]