The 1997 April Fool's Day blizzard was a major winter storm in the

Northeastern United States The Northeastern United States, also referred to as the Northeast, the East Coast, or the American Northeast, is a geographic region of the United States. It is located on the Atlantic coast of North America, with Canada to its north, the Southe ...

on March 31 and April 1, 1997. The storm dumped rain, sleet, and snow from Maryland to Maine leaving hundreds of thousands without power and as much as three feet of snow on the ground. Due to the date, many people took warnings of the storm less seriously. Plows had started to be put away for the summer and

hardware store Hardware stores (in a number of countries, "shops"), sometimes known as DIY stores, sell household hardware for home improvement including: fasteners, building materials, hand tools, power tools, keys, locks, hinges, chains, plumbing suppli ...

s still had to sell

shovels A shovel is a tool used for digging, lifting, and moving bulk materials, such as soil, coal, gravel, snow, sand, or ore. Most shovels are hand tools consisting of a broad blade fixed to a medium-length handle. Shovel blades are usually made o ...

again even though they already put out patio furniture. One commuter called it " Mother Nature's April Fools' Joke."

Evolution of the storm

Formation

The storm started as a surface low pressure system over the Ohio River Valley that was generated by an area of strong jet stream energy carving out an active upper air low pressure trough on Sunday March 30. The low pressure system brought rain to much of the Ohio Valley. When the storm arrived in eastern New York and western New England, the areas received light rain. The storm moved off the coast of New Jersey on March 31 and began rapidly strengthening. As the storm intensified, air began rising around the storm very rapidly, which cooled in the atmosphere and changed the rain into heavy snow. The low moved very slowly along the coast gaining strength throughout the day, and with a continuous supply of moisture, this allowed for an extended period of heavy snow.

Boston

Prior to the storm, Boston had received just of snow for the season. On Sunday March 30, Boston was sunny with a high temperature of . A cold front passed early next day (Monday March 31), dropping the temperature into the 40s, and just before dawn light rain began to fall. In Boston the rain began to mix with wet snow mid-morning and eventually turned to wet snow and became heavier just after 7 p.m. From 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. the snow fell at at least per hour. During the peak of the storm from about 11 p.m. March 31 to 3 a.m. April 1, snow fell in Boston at the rate of per hour. Numerous lightning strikes and thunderclaps accompanied the extremely heavy snow, which accumulated in those four hours. Moderate to heavy snow continued through midmorning before tapering off.

Impacts

New England

Precipitation received

The of snow that fell at Boston's Logan International Airport was the fourth-biggest snowstorm in Boston history, behind the

North American blizzard of 2003 The Blizzard of 2003, also known as the Presidents' Day Storm II or simply PDII, was a historic and record-breaking snowstorm on the East Coast of the United States and Canada, which lasted from February 14 to February 19, 2003. It spread heavy sn ...

's , the Northeastern United States blizzard of 1978's , and the

February 1969 nor'easter The February 1969 nor'easter was a severe winter storm that affected the Mid-Atlantic and New England regions of the United States between February 8 and February 10.Kocin and Uccellini, p. 450 The nor'easter dropped paralyzing snowfall, exceedin ...

's . The storm was the biggest on record in the month of April and made April 1997 Boston's snowiest April on record, nearly doubling the previous record of . It also set a record for Boston's greatest April 24-hour snowfall. Parts of New England received wind gusts at the height of the storm. Providence recorded of snow which was the fourth greatest on record at the time. Other parts of New England reported more than and up to three feet with Worcester receiving , the city's largest snowfall in history until 2015. With in

Milford, Massachusetts Milford is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 30,379 according to the 2020 census. First settled in 1662 and incorporated in 1780, Milford became a booming industrial and quarrying community in the 19th c ...

, the state set a 24 hour snowfall record.Late-Season Snowfall in the U.S.
Weather Underground, April 29, 2020

Damage and travel disruptions

state of emergency A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to be able to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state du ...

was declared by Massachusetts Gov.

William F. Weld William Floyd Weld (born July 31, 1945) is an American attorney, businessman, author, and politician who served as the 68th Governor of Massachusetts from 1991 to 1997. A Harvard and Oxford graduate, Weld began his career as legal counsel to ...

. The snow came down too fast for road crews to keep up with and roads became impassable and thousands of cars were stranded. Commuter trolleys in Boston were closed for the first time in nearly twenty years, public transportation was crippled, about 1,000 motorists spent the night stranded in their cars and 4,000 stayed in shelters. Some of the narrow side streets of Boston were completely buried and portions of

Interstate 95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from U.S. Route 1, US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between M ...

and Route 128 were shut down because of the snow. The main roads and highways were cleared within a couple of days but the secondary roads remained a mess making travel difficult. Two days after the storm, subways and commuter rails were still sluggish because of fallen trees and signal problems. The wet and heavy snow caused tree limbs and even whole trees to fall. Some fell on power lines, and many people were left without power. Electricity was knocked out for nearly 700,000 people. Nearly 13% of New England lost power, mainly due to trees falling on power lines and utility poles. Power crews from as far away as Canada came to help clean up the area. Logan Airport was also shut down from 2 p.m. March 31 to 10 p.m. April 1.

Mid-Atlantic

Upstate New York received and in some parts of New Jersey two feet of snow fell causing delays on commuter trains. A disaster was declared in eight northeast counties by Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge and the National Guard of the United States was dispatched to dig out cars. Interstate 84 had to be shut down because of a ten vehicle accident.

Injuries and deaths

Hospitals reported weather-related injuries including back sprains, pedestrians being hit by falling ice, and hand injuries including missing fingers from snow blowers. Three deaths were caused by the storm in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, all men who had heart attacks while shoveling, with another traffic death in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

which may have been caused by the weather.

References

{{United States winter storms April Fools' Day 1997-3 Nor'easters 1997 meteorology 1997 natural disasters in the United States March 1997 events in the United States April 1997 events in the United States