February 11, 1983: The Megapolitan Blizzard

Manhattan, February 12, 1983

February 11, 1983: A blizzard hits the Northeastern U.S. It becomes known as the Megapolitan Blizzard.

It was a Friday, and I was in the 8th grade in East Brunswick, New Jersey. Snow began to fall around 11:00 AM, and they let us out around 12:00 Noon. I spent much of the night dipping a yardstick into the backyard to get measurements. By the time I went to bed, it was 22 inches. That would be the most that East Brunswick got between the day-after-Christmas blizzard of 1947 and the big one of January 1996.

New York reported 24 inches, or 2 full feet, in some spots. Philadelphia reported 21. Even southwestern Virginia reported 20. Glen Cary, West Virginia reported the most: 35 inches, or an inch under 3 feet. A total of 46 deaths were attributed to the blizzard.

And yet, by Monday morning, February 14, we were back in school. We only missed a shade over 2 hours. We got gypped. At that age, you think of snow as fun. As you get older, and snow means you lose a day's pay because you don't go to work, you realize that "snow" is a four-letter word.

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February 11, 1983, as I said, was a Friday. Baseball and football were out of season. The NBA was lucky: They were in their All-Star Break, so they didn't get any games postponed due to the snow. On Sunday, February 13, at The Forum, outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California, the East beat the West, 132-123. Julius Erving, "Dr. J," was named the game's Most Valuable Player.

The NHL wasn't so lucky, as some games were postponed. Only 1 game was played: The Edmonton Oilers beat the Quebec Nordiques, 7-3 at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton. It was 2-1 Nords 8 minutes into the 2nd period. Then Jari Kurri scored his 2nd of the game to tie it. In the 3rd period, the Oilers just unloaded, getting goals from Laurie Boschman, Mark Messier, Ken Linseman, Dave Semenko and Wayne Gretzky.

Also on this day, Dutch soccer star Rafael van der Vaart was born.