Imref - you'll really enjoy this link to a description of the Blizzard of '78. Some great photos.
http://www.boston.com/news/weather/weather_wisdom/2013/02/the_meteorology_behind_the_bli.htmlThe snow totals may have been exceeded, but in terms of wind intensity, tides, snow, and quirky meteorology, this still is a classic. with 24" in New Haven, Yale called off classes for the first time in 275+ years. It was so unheard of, my professor, Edmund Morgan, came in and had class anyway (hurt my grade, but it also meant Morgan gave me the final oral exam; he only did that for students in danger of failing or potentially getting an A). My home suburb of Boston got 30". The surface pressure was 984 millibars. Jet streams converged, and a hurricane-like circulation, with an eye, set up. The best restaurant in Boston at the time, Pier 4, had a riverboat tied up next to it for functions and dining. It sunk in its berth. That said, they still played the Beanpot.
The link below is to Globe photos then and now. One section of Revere (the beach town near Logan Airport to the north), Beachmont, had a 16' above-normal high tide, leading to 2500 people evacuating.
http://www.boston.com/news/weather/gallery/blizzard_of_1978_then_and_now/3000 cars abandoned on the Boston beltway, route 128, and $500MM damage (in 1978) in Massachusetts alone.
http://www.boston.com/yourtown/needham/gallery/remembering_blizzard_of_78/Oh, and I shoveled the one bigger snow fall in February 2003.