Hello, and welcome to This Day in History. Here’s what happened on February 8th. Winter snowstorms are nothing new to New Englanders, but the one that ended on this day in 1978 was one for the record books, dumping 55 inches of snow on parts of Massachusetts and Rhode Island over three days. The blizzard whipped up powerful wind gusts of nearly 100 miles per hour, while 50-foot waves wiped out seaside homes, three Maine lighthouses and an amusement pier.

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