BOSTON THEN AND NOW

 

 

 

 

An animated comparison of Boston’s Copley Square as seen in 1888, and again 127 years later, in 2015. The central building in both images is Trinity Church, which was completed in 1877. The dark-colored building at right in the 1888 image was the original Museum of Fine Arts building, opened in 1876. In the 2015 image, the skyscraper that reaches offscreen at upper right is the John Hancock Tower, the tallest building in New England, built in 1976. # (1888) Courtesy trustees of the Boston Public Library / (2015) Alan Taylor  Boston's fisherman's wharf jammed with merchants and dock workers, ca. 1890. (Courtesy of the National Archives) Photo by Add this to feed 73 The rain-swept Boston Fish Pier, crowded with fish carts, fishing boats, and workmen, ca. 1950. (Courtesy of the National Archives) 4 The USS Constitution passes the Boston skyline as it is tugged back through Boston Harbor in Massachusetts, on August 19, 2012. The USS Constitution set sail under her own power for the first time since 1997 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of her victory over HMS Guerriere during the War of 1812. (Reuters/Jessica Rinaldi) previous North End aerial with gas tank Old house, corner of Lewis and North Streets Aerial North End Waterfront 1928 – Hull St. Copps Hill burying ground in foreground (Courtesy of Boston Public Library) Singleton House on Charter St. - 1898 (Courtesy of Boston Public Library) Battered city: A pair of parking meters are covered with ice and snow early Saturday in Boston ‘My thermostat keeps dropping. Right now it's 54 inside, and I don't have any wood,’ said O'Brien, a respiratory care practitioner. ‘There's nothing I can do to keep warm except maybe start the grill and make some coffee.’ In heavily Catholic Boston, the archdiocese urged parishioners to be prudent about attending Sunday Mass and reminded them that, under church law, the obligation 'does not apply when there is grave difficulty in fulfilling this obligation.' WHEN WEATHER SYSTEMS COLLIDE: WHAT'S CAUSED THE BLIZZARD? Winter storm Nemo is the result of two low-pressure weather systems combining. One is moving from the Ohio Valley and the other is a coastal low-pressure system that is moving northeast. Both are following jet streams - the first is following an Arctic jet stream across the Midwest, while the other is following a subtropical jet stream moving from the Gulf of Mexico. This subtropical system contains warm air, which holds moisture, while the Arctic system is full of cold winter air. When they merge, they produce strong winds and snowfall - like those which will rattle the Northeast this weekend. Hartford, Connecticut, was blanketed by 34 inches of snow and St. James, New York, recorded 27.5 inches, with more coming down, the weather service said. Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra said street-clearing crews had been forced to suspend operations as snow fell at a rate of more than 4 inches an hour. 'I've never seen snow fall like this all at once,' he told CNN. Halfway through what had been a mild winter across the Northeast, blizzard warnings were posted from parts of New Jersey to Maine. The National Weather Service said Boston could get close to 3 feet of snow by Saturday evening, while most of Rhode Island could receive more than 2 feet, most of it falling overnight Friday into Saturday. Connecticut was bracing for 2 feet, and New York City was expecting as much as 14 inches. Early snowfall was blamed for a 19-car pileup in Cumberland, Maine, that caused minor injuries. In New York, hundreds of cars began getting stuck on the Long Island Expressway on Friday afternoon at the beginning of the snowstorm and dozens of motorists remained disabled early Saturday as police worked to free them. About 650,000 customers in the Northeast lost power during the height of the snowstorm, most of them in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant in Plymouth, Mass., lost electricity and shut down Friday night during the storm. Authorities say there's no threat to public safety. Forecasters said wind gusts exceeding 75 mph could cause more widespread power outages and whip the snow into fearsome drifts. Flooding was expected along coastal areas still recovering from Superstorm Sandy, which hit New York and New Jersey the hardest and is considered Jersey's worst natural disaster. In Manhattan, streets normally bustling after midnight, were quiet Saturday but for the hum of snow blowers, the scrape of shovels and the laughter from late night revelers who braved the snow. While some stubborn New Yorkers got themselves stranded, motorists in neighboring Connecticut and Massachusetts were ordered off state roads. Connecticut Governor Dannel P. Malloy on Saturday ordered all roads closed until further notice as the state deals with a storm that dumped more than two feet of snow over much of the state, saying stalled or abandoned vehicles will only slow the recovery process. Drivers and even some troopers have been getting stuck on the snow-covered highways, said Lt. J. Paul Vance, a spokesperson for state police. He said a pedestrian was struck by a vehicle and killed Friday night in Prospect. Snowy Saturday: A woman takes pictures of her dog in the snow in the Seaport World Trade Center area of Boston, where a travel ban remained in effect Standstill: Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority trains sit idle early Saturday Gusty: Snowflakes falling on Boston were being whipped about by strong winds howling at 75mph Frosted: Snow and ice cover the side of a building building in the Seaport World Trade Center area of Boston Alternative transportation: A pedestrian uses skis to travel through the deserted snow-covered streets of Boston In Massachusetts, Gov. Deval Patrick ordered a statewide travel ban, believed to be the first since the blizzard of 1978, which has since been lifted. New York closed Interstate 84 to truck traffic between Pennsylvania and Connecticut. SPIRIT OF '78? NORTHEAST'S EPIC STORM REMEMBERED 35 YEARS ON Marked by massive snow totals and hurricane-force winds, the Blizzard of 1978 is one of the Northeast’s most epic storms. The weather system dumped as much as 27 inches of snow in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. There was little or no visibility for drivers. About 100 deaths are attributed to the storm - with more than a dozen of them along Massachusetts' Route 128, where drivers suffered carbon monoxide poisoning after getting trapped in their cars. Because the storm came during a full moon, there was a double threat of a storm surge and record snowfall, which caused about $520million in damage. Also reported was the rare phenomenon of 'thundersnow' - a thunderstorm that drops snow instead of rain. In addition, a lack of forewarning was blamed after residents said they were unprepared Shortly after 4pm Saturday, the governor of Connecticut and Rhode Island followed suit and also lifted their driving bans. National Guard troops headed to coastal communities on the south shore of Massachusetts to assist in evacuations due to giant waves that pummeled the beaches at high tide for fear that they may overwhelm homes, according to Boston.com. Shortly after 4pm Saturday, the National Weather Service has cancelled all coastal flood warnings for New England. In Maine, heavy snow was blamed for a 19-car pileup in Cumberland early Friday that took four hours to clear. Nemo was blamed for a multiple-vehicle accident in Vermont, and a series of other crashes on Interstate 89 in Bolton and South Burlington. In Toronto, at least 350 storm-related traffic collisions were reported, and at least three people died in southern Ontario. Several professional and college sports teams were forced to rearrange their travel plans as Nemo swept through the Northeast. The NBA's New York Knicks were stuck in Minnesota after playing the Timberwolves on Friday night, hoping to try to fly home sometime Saturday. The San Antonio Spurs were also staying overnight in Detroit after seeing their 11-game winning streak end against the Pistons, awaiting word on when they might be able to fly to New York for their game Sunday night at Brooklyn. The Brooklyn Nets planned to take a train home instead of flying from Washington D.C. after losing to the Wizards on Friday night. Before the first snowflake had fallen, Boston, Providence, R.I., Hartford, Conn., and other New England cities canceled school Friday. In southeast Michigan alone, nearly 700 schools were closed. Ice clings to Ken Anderson's eyebrows and mustache as he uses a snowblower during a blizzard, on February 9, 2013, in Portland, Maine. The storm dumped more than 30 inches of snow as of Saturday afternoon, breaking the local record for the biggest storm. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty) 2 People walk through the blowing snow while a blizzard arrives in the Back Bay neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts, on February 8, 2013.(Mario Tama/Getty Images) # 3 People walk past a church as snow arrives in the Back Bay neighborhood on February 8, 2013 in Boston, Massachusetts.(Mario Tama/Getty Images) # 4 A woman plays with her dogs as snow accumulates along Commonwealth Avenue in Boston, Massachusetts, on February 8, 2013.(Reuters/Brian Snyder) # 5 A snowplow operates in Back Bay neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts, on February 8, 2013. (Mario Tama/Getty Images) # 6 This image released by NASA from NOAA's GOES-13 satellite captured at 9:01 a.m. on Friday, February 8, 2013 shows a massive winter storm coming together as two low pressure systems merge over the northeast U.S. Snow began falling across the Northeast on Friday.(AP Photo/NASA) # 7 Cars drive across the nearly empty Zakim Bridge prior to a mandatory statewide driving ban in Boston, on February 8, 2013. Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick declared a state of emergency Friday and banned travel on roads as of 4 p.m. as a blizzard began to intensify.(AP Photo/Charles Krupa) #   ://