Are you dreaming of a white Easter? When a snowstorm shut RI down on the holiday
The front page of The Providence Sunday Journal on March 29, 1970, told readers that the weather for the day would be fair and cooler.
It was Easter Sunday, a holiday that traditionally signals the start of spring but can also deliver weather of all types. This year would bring a surprise.
Fifty-five years later, it would also lead a What and Why RI reader to ask about the largest Easter snowfalls.
The day after the storm, the front page of The Journal didn't have images of children hunting for Easter eggs or sunrise services. Instead, readers found Providence policemen and a lone truck traveling through a deserted city covered in white.
"It's horrible. Whoever dreamed this storm up and picked this time is goofy," Susy Thomas told a Journal reporter as she arrived at T.F. Green Airport to return to Atlanta after spending the holiday in North Kingstown.
According to the March 30, 1970, edition of The Journal, a nor'easter traveling up from Arkansas dropped 5 to 10 inches across the state. Its arrival caught everyone off guard, from the weather bureau to public works departments. The storm ended as the most significant 24-hour snowfall of the season, with 7.8 inches falling at the airport.
The early-spring storm also resulted in what was essentially a perfect storm of unpreparedness.
As many vehicles had already shedded their snow tires, major highways across the state were clogged with abandoned vehicles. Plows had also been removed from many trucks used by DPWs, requiring them to be reattached before the trucks could hit the streets.
Reports indicated that plowing and sanding didn't start until 7 p.m., no plows had been seen on Interstate 95 by 8 p.m. and most highways were still considered impassable at 10 p.m.
Fortunately, no serious crashes were reported.
Additionally, the storm caused air and bus travel to be temporarily suspended that Sunday night, stranding travelers seeking to return home.
One family found themselves stuck at the airport after flying in earlier in the day from Hartford, Connecticut, to enjoy a scenic excursion for the holiday. With their flight home canceled, they were hopeful for a bus to take them back to Connecticut, but then heard that it was stuck on I-95.
"Not so hot," Thomas Carroll said of his chances of returning home before dawn.
The 1970 storm proved to be the largest recorded on the holiday to date.
Before that storm, the previous white Easter record was 6 inches on April 4, 1915.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Easter snowstorm dropped 10 inches, causing RI to shut down in 1970
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