Snow Fell Across Connecticut on This Date in 1977

Here's a little-known fact which just may surprise you: snow fell across southwestern Connecticut and much of New England on this date — May 9 — in 1977. Just to be sure, I visited the local library and found several newspaper articles documenting the snow. While only a trace of snow was recorded at Sikorsky Memorial Airport in Stratford, substantial snow was reported in much of northern Connecticut.

According to a story which appeared in The Bridgeport Post the following day, the Northeast felt the lingering effects of a storm that brought more than a foot of snow in some areas and power failures to thousands. Utilities in Connecticut and Massachusetts said about 110,000 customers were without electricity because of power lines knocked down by snow-laden tree limbs. The temperature dropped to a record-low of 37 degrees in our region.



Unofficially, up to a foot of heavy snow fell in the Northwest hills of Connecticut, and the Greater Hartford area recieved its first measurable May snow since 1903 when records were first kept. The National Weather Service reported eight-tenths of an inch of snow at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, about 20 miles North of Hartford.

The snow forced the closing or delayed-opening of schools in the harder hit areas of Connecticut. At its peak, it left an estimated 25,000 Northeast Utilities customers without electricity. A spokesman was quoted as saying that the heavy snow snapped off tree limbs, and they dragged down power lines. The Southern New England Telephone Company reported about 500 customers lost service in Torrington and Kent, also due to downed lines.



The snow also tore down acres of tent-like coverings over tobacco fields in Connecticut and Massachusetts. As the wet snow ripped through the thin, billowing cloth, poles and wires used to support the snow snapped. The executive dorector of the Connecticut Shade Tobacco Growers Association said a modest estimate of the damage was $1.5 million. He said 80 percent of the damage was in Connecticut.

The story writer added, “On the brighter side, operators of two shopping malls in Eastern Connecticut apparently felt it was better to join Mother Nature than to fight her. So, in recognition of a Winter that refused to say farewell, they piped in Sleigh Bells Ring and I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas.”

Interestingly, today is not the latest date on which snow has fallen across southwestern Connecticut. A trace of snow actually fell as late as May 27, 1961, when the temperature dropped to a record low of 36 degrees at the airport. Consider the normal high temperature for that date is 70 degrees. That’s why I love our weather so much. Just about anything can happen!

Paul