Thursday, February 28, 2013
volkswagen covered by snow from 1978 blizzard

Blizzard of 1978. Photo courtesy UNH Archives

The snowfall—that would later be known as the Blizzard of '78—began in earnest on the morning of Feb. 6, falling at a rate of up to four inches an hour and continuing for approximately 36 hours. Road crews could not keep up and the University was eventually forced to cancel classes. This, however, did not deter some of the students from attempting to drive to wherever they wanted to go; a few were successful, most were not (as gathered from the blizzard stories collected in 2004.)

  • 1975 Camaro, horrible in the snow
  • SAAB 99, great car in snow
  • Fiat Station Wagon, buried under the snow
  • Datsun B210, no match for the ocean waves at Hampton Beach
  • 1967 Ford Falcon, rear wheel drive, not an option
  • 1975 AMC Gremlin, three-speed manual transmission, rear wheel drive, no match for the snow
  • VW Beatle, sucked in too much snow and died
  • Jeep, made it from Durham to Dover and back
  • UNH Karivan, couldn’t make it up the hill by the hospital on Central Avenue in Dover

Blizzard of 2013

Blizzard of 2013 students sledding off the side of Snively Arena. Photo by Marena Hoogeveen.

Originally published by:

UNH Connections

Written by Mylinda Woodward

  • Written By:

    Staff writer | Communications and Public Affairs