Comparing historic blizzards: 2026 vs. 1978

Well, the blizzard of 2026 broke records yesterday, specifically in southeastern mass 22 new storm team meteorologist Alexa Bianco explains how this most recent storm compares to the blizzard of 1978. Yes, this blizzard will go down as historic and who who knew would be comparing it to the blizzard of 78. The eastern side of southern New England had hurricane force wind gusts, coastal flooding, widespread power outages, falling trees and record breaking snow specifically in Rhode Island. In Providence, the previous record in 78 was 28.6 inches, which was beat with 37.9 inches. For instance, in Rhode Island, when it comes to snowfall, it has met and even exceeded the snowfall that we saw in the blizzard of 78 for that. In that way, yes, it definitely is a bigger storm. Blizzard qualifications were met early Monday morning. Blizzard qualifications are sustained winds or frequent gusts of 35 MPH or more. Visibility has to be less than 1 4th of a mile, and these conditions have to last at least three hours. One of the main differences between both blizzards was the coastal flooding. It was much more catastrophic in the blizzard of 78. One thing that we didn't deal with with this storm that the blizzard of 78 brought was a really destructive, catastrophic coastal flooding. We had whole houses getting, you know, falling into the ocean during blizzard of 78 on the eastern Massachusetts coast. Huge waves caused splash over and coastal flooding, while wind gusts topped 75 MPH along the coast and islands. More than 254,000 customers lost power across southeastern Mass and Rhode Island. On top of that, the snow was heavy and wet, especially along the south shore. While it didn't match the coastal devastation of 78, this storm certainly earned its place in the record books. Working for you, Storm Team Meteorologist Alexa Bianco.