The North American blizzard of 2005 was a three-day storm that affected large areas of the northern United States, dropping more than 3 feet (0.9 m) of snow in parts of southeastern Massachusetts, as well as much of the Boston metropolitan area. While this was by far the hardest hit region, it was also a significant snowstorm for the Philadelphia and New York City areas, which both suffered occasional blizzard conditions and snow accumulations.

The storm began dropping snow on the upper Midwest on Thursday, January 20, 2005. It slowly moved eastward affecting the Great Lakes region and the Mid-Atlantic states on Friday and Saturday, January 21 and January 22, 2005. On Saturday evening the storm entered the Southern New England area. The strength of the storm, coupled with the extreme Arctic temperatures, created a light, fluffy snow which increased the snowfall totals.

The storm shut down Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts and T. F. Green Airport in Rhode Island, while also impairing travel throughout much of Massachusetts due to the high amount of snow covering the roads. Practically all schools in the Metrowest and South East regions of Massachusetts were closed for at least two days. Cape Cod Community College, as well as all public schools on Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket were closed for up to a week.

After traveling across the Atlantic Ocean, the storm system hit parts of Great Britain and Ireland and the Scandinavian peninsula, causing even more widespread blackouts and a small number of deaths in the region.

Conditions Conditions throughout much of eastern Massachusetts were near-whiteout and, in some cases, were whiteout. State Police in both Dartmouth and Middleborough suggested that residents travel as little as possible. Major highways, such as Route 24, Route 6 and Route 140, could not be properly cleared because of the heavy snowfall and high winds. Secondary highways, such as Route 79 were nearly impassable in some areas.

Many Boston-area newscasters credit the New England Patriots football game on January 23 for keeping most travellers indoors, avoiding the pile-ups and endless lines of stuck cars that were the hallmark of the Blizzard of 1978. The fact that the storm fell on a weekend when many people did not have to go to work or school also helped to this effect.

Aftermath With much of the snow cleared from the roads by the evening of January 24, snowpiles on street corners were in excess of ten feet high in some locations. Roads were severely narrowed in most congested areas, due to parked cars that were not towed and instead simply plowed in. Most schools in eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island remained closed for an extended period of time to allow for clean-up of the road debris.

Storm totals Connecticut County Location Storm total Report date Report time Snow measurement Notes Litchfield Lichfield Hartford Burlington East Granby South Windsor January 23 1:14 p.m. Southington January 24 8:54 p.m. Measurements from the general public Unionville January 23 1:30 p.m. Windsor 8:20 p.m. Windsor Locks 1:08 p.m. Measurements from Bradley International Airport (BDL) Tolland Andover 3:09 p.m. Hebron 1:20 p.m. Stafford Springs 2:23 p.m. Storrs 1:23 p.m. Windham Ashford 1:16 p.m. Eastford 1:21 p.m. North Grosvenordale 2:18 p.m. Plainfield 1:22 p.m.

Massachusetts County Location Storm total Report date Report time Snow measurement Notes Barnstable Brewster January 23 8:20 p.m. Harwich Port 10:49 p.m. Measurements from the general public Mashpee 5:23 p.m. North Eastham 5:28 p.m. Sagamore Beach 9:44 p.m. Sandwich 3:15 p.m. Measurements from a NWS employee Yarmouth Port 2:40 p.m. Bristol Acushnet 3:04 p.m. Easton 1:07 p.m. W.E. 1.71 Fairhaven 8:47 p.m. New Bedford drifts Rehoboth January 23 2:47 p.m. Seekonk 4:30 p.m. drifts Somerset 3:03 p.m. Taunton 7:00 p.m. drifts 3:31 p.m. NWS Office KBOX Dukes Edgartown 2:40 p.m. Essex Beverly 8:02 p.m. Measurements from CO-Op observer Haverhill 9:59 p.m. drifts Ipswich 3:10 p.m. Lawrence 1:30 p.m. Lynn 2:50 p.m. Manchester 3:09 p.m. Marblehead 9:41 p.m. Marblehead Neck 2:34 p.m. Methuen 2:04 p.m. North Andover 1:00 p.m. drifts North Beverly 8:25 p.m. Peabody 1:55 p.m. Rowley 2:56 p.m. Salem 10:40 p.m. Measurements from Salem State 2:56 p.m. Em Saugus 2:34 p.m. Swampscott 3:53 p.m. Topsfield 5:52 p.m. West Peabody 3:53 p.m. Franklin Ashfield 3:38 p.m. Hampden Chicopee 11:56 p.m. Granville 2:15 p.m. Southwick 2:23 p.m. Wilbraham 2:07 p.m. Hampshire Amherst 2:06 p.m. Belchertown 2:05 p.m. Northampton 2:32 p.m. South Hadley 2:31 p.m. Southampton 2:06 p.m. Middlesex Ayer 3:30 p.m. Belmont 9:18 p.m. Billerica 9:17 p.m. Cambridge 2:58 p.m. Chelmsford 2:19 p.m. Dracut 2:20 p.m. Everett 3:00 p.m. Hudson Lexington 2:49 p.m. Littleton 2:41 p.m. Malden 2:30 p.m. North Billerica 1:00 p.m. Pepperell 2:49 p.m. Shirley 1:05 p.m. South Chelmsford 1:14 p.m. Stoneham 1:23 p.m. Townsend 4:02 p.m. Wayland 3:40 p.m. Westford 5:26 p.m. Wilmington 1:37 p.m. Woburn 10:40 p.m. Nantucket Nantucket 4:00 p.m. Norfolk Braintree 4:42 p.m. Canton 2:59 p.m. Dedham 4:00 p.m. Foxboro 5:11 p.m. Franklin 3:09 p.m. Millis 4:00 p.m. Milton Needham 9:21 p.m. North Attleboro 7:37 p.m. Plainville 2:48 p.m. Randolph 8:19 p.m. Sharon 4:30 p.m. South Weymouth 9:18 p.m. Walpole 2:40 p.m. Wellesley 2:39 p.m. Weymouth 2:44 p.m. Plymouth Brockton 5:20 p.m. Hanson 3:11 p.m. Hingham 5:07 p.m. Kingston 9:41 p.m. Lakeville 1:17 p.m. Manomet 10:40 p.m. Marion 8:35 p.m. Marshfield 2:30 p.m. Plymouth 7:02 p.m. Plympton 10:41 p.m. Measurement from the general public Rockland 8:03 p.m. Scituate 4:01 p.m. Wareham 3:09 p.m. West Duxbury 2:43 p.m. Whitman 3:02 p.m. Suffolk Boston Common 1:16 p.m. Measurement from a NWS employee East Boston 7:00 p.m. Measurement from Logan International Airport Roslindale 3:05 p.m. Winthrop 4:00 p.m. Winthrop Square 10:00 p.m. Worcester Ashburnham 9:17 p.m. Athol 2:33 p.m. Boylston 3:04 p.m. Fitchburg 2:10 p.m. Gardner 2:50 p.m. Holden 2:04 p.m. Leicester 1:33 p.m. drifts Lunenburg 2:02 p.m. North Grafton 1:04 p.m. ret NWS orh oic Northborough 3:19 p.m. Old Sturbridge 2:03 p.m. Oxford 2:07 p.m. Shrewsbury 3:25 p.m. Southborough 3:11 p.m. Spencer 2:05 p.m. Uxbridge 1:29 p.m. Webster 2:02 p.m. West Brookfield 2:30 p.m. West Warren 3:14 p.m.

New Hampshire County Location Storm total Report date Report time Snow measurement Notes Cheshire Alstead January 23 1:03 p.m. Dublin 1:21 p.m. Hillsborough Greenville 2:20 p.m. Hollis 3:45 p.m. Hudson 1:36 p.m. Nashua 4:00 p.m. New Ipswich 1:35 p.m. South Weare 4:29 p.m. Rockingham Atkinson 7:00 a.m. Plaistow 12:35 p.m.

New York County Location Storm total Report date Report time Snow measurement Notes Ulster Kingston

Pennsylvania County Location Storm total Report date Report time Snow measurement Notes Berks Morgantown Bucks Langhorne Perkasie Yardley Carbon Albrightsville Lehighton Chester Honey Brook Phoenixville Delaware Boothwyn Radnor Lehigh Germansville Lehigh Valley International Airport Monroe Pocono Summit Saylorsburg Montgomery Conshohocken Green Lane Palm Northampton Easton Forks Township Philadelphia Northeast Philadelphia Philadelphia International Airport

Rhode Island County Location Storm total Report date Report time Snow measurement Notes Bristol Bristol January 23 5:02 p.m. Kent Warwick 1:02 p.m. TF Green (Pvd) 3:16 p.m. West Warwick 2:51 p.m. Providence Cranston 2:53 p.m. Greenville 1:13 p.m. Johnston Memorial 4:03 p.m. Measurement from a NWS employee North Cumberland 7:45 p.m. Pawtucket 2:10 p.m. Rumford 10:46 p.m. Woonsocket Reservoir 1:55 p.m. Rhode Island Hopkinton 2:36 p.m. North Kingstown 1:02 p.m. Westerly 5:35 p.m. drifts

See also List of Regional Snowfall Index Category 4 winter storms

References

External links Photos from the blizzard of 2005 from Saugus