For many Bay State residents, this week's threat of a monster storm and blizzard is evoking memories of one of the toughest blizzards ever to hit New England, the deadly blizzard of 1978

Blizzard of 1978 Retrospective In that storm, some areas in southeastern Massachusetts and northern Rhode Island saw more than 50 inches of snow, and winds gusted up to 79 miles per hour in Boston and up to 92 miles per hour on the coast.

More than 100 people were killed, thousands were stranded in their cars on the highways, and property damage ran up to nearly $1 billion.

Former NewsCenter 5 meteorologist Bob Copeland remembered that he was off duty that weekend when he got a call from his colleague, Mark Rosenthal.

"He called me up all excited, 'I'm going for 1 to 2 feet of snow.' I was about to chastise him, but I said, 'Maybe I better go and take a look at the charts.' So I did, I came in and when I got all finished looking at the charts I had to agree with thim that it did have the potential of going up to a 1 to 2 foot snowstorm. 'Course it turned out to be even more than that," Copeland said.

"I knew when I left the house about 7 o'clock," recalled former Massachusetts governor Mike Dukakis, who had headed out to a local radio station to do a monthly radio show. "The longer I stayed in the studio, it was clear that this was going to be a big one," he said.

Dukakis later termed it one of the worst weather situations in the state's history and called a state of emergency.

"The situation on the North Shore was something that needed immediate attention because of the high tides. I think it was 16-feet over flood stages, with a full moon flood tide and we had, in my opinion, a hurricane going. Instead of rain we were getting snow," Former Public Safety Commissioner Charlie Barry said.

"The waves were cresting, probably 75-80 feet beyond where the sea wall was on the Winthrop Parkway and the water was up our chest and the water, the cold, you just can't believe the ice, the cold, between the ice floes and the water itself. The spray was actually hitting us. We were passing people over backyard fences," said one rescue worker who was on duty on the north shore during the storm.

"The thing that I didn't expect was the velocity of the wind. The complete lack of visibility. I was having trouble driving. As a matter of fact I remember taking one of the exit ramps by mistake and having to back up the exit ramp and stick my head out just so I could see in front of me. Again, the wind, the visibility, listening to the radio at the same time: Dukakis' state of emergency. Whenever I got out to that Stoughton area, Canton, Route 138, there it was there was this complete bank of lights where all these cars had come to a complete stop, just dead in their tracks. We were stranded," newspaper publisher Asa Cole recalled.

"You couldn't believe it. I mean, it was just something that, there was no experience that prepared you for seeing something like that. It was truly horrifying to see the number of cars that were snowbound, and to realize there were a great many people still in the cars, and they had been in these vehicles all night long in this awful storm. And it was an awful storm," NewsCenter 5 reporter Clark Booth said.

"It could happen again next year," Copeland said. "Certainly it gets the adrenaline flowing and certainly increases your respect for the power of nature. I hope that maybe in my lifetime I see another storm like that, but if I don't, I'll be happy that I lived through that one," he added.