True, it doesn’t quite have the ring of “where were you in sixty-two?” but Mother Nature certainly wasn’t giving a whole lot of thought to picking the date and year to deliver us one of her most impactful, crippling, record-setting events in weather history.

Like pretty much every event of any kind, the Blizzard of ’78, which carried a bunch of other names, perhaps depending on where one lived at the time, evokes the familiar reaction: “No way, it can’t be that long ago – 45 years? Really?”

Well, it was indeed 45 years ago this week that we Nashuans were joining folks across a wide swath of the Northeast in digging out (a favorite cliche of TV weather people) from what was officially recorded as a 21-inch snowstorm that absolutely blew away (no pun intended) the benchmark for an official blizzard: Sustained winds of 35 mph or greater; visibility at a quarter mile or less; and minimum three hours in duration.

What might get lost in all the giant headlines and dramatic photos that emerged in the wake of the “white hurricane” is how darn cold it was in these parts in the week or so leading up to the blizzard’s arrival.

Meanwhile, the Midwest was already getting pounded by a succession of snowstorms, none of them in the same league as the blizzard but formidable enough to disrupt life out that way.

“Snow Belts the Midwest Again” was the headline on a Telegraph story that ran on Thursday, Feb. 2, but no indication was given that the storm or storms in question could head this way packing a serious punch.

The onset of frigid temperatures grabbed the headlines away from snowstorms over the first few days of the month. “Cold Grips Eastern Sections” a Friday, Feb. 3 Telegraph story announced.

On Sunday, Feb. 5, an official reading of 10 below zero was recorded, and was reported in the Monday, Feb. 6 paper because The Sunday Telegraph was still eight or so years in the future.

Snow retook the spotlight on Feb. 6: “Northeast Area Braced for Another Big Storm,” read the headline on the story that appeared in the middle of Page 1.

The comparatively tiny weather map in the “Today’s Weather” box at the bottom of Page 2 cautioned readers about the “winter storm watch” that had been declared for Monday night into Tuesday.

I have no idea when it became a winter storm warning, or even if it did at all. By the time Greater Nashuans read about the watch in the paper, saw it on TV or heard it on the radio, the Blizzard of ’78 was well underway.

We at the Telegraph went to work as usual on Monday the 6th, which would have been around 7:30 or 8 a.m. because we were still an afternoon newspaper, meaning that we began writing stories and developing photos first thing in the morning for a 1 p.m. press run.

I clearly recall that come lunchtime Monday, fellow youthful reporter Pete Charest and I headed up to the Burger King on Amherst Street, which was probably the only BK in Nashua at the time.

While walking from the car into the restaurant, I remember what felt like tiny ice pellets stinging my face, but only on one side. If I turned to look in the direction they were coming from, the frozen little BBs filled my eyes in seconds.

Looking in the other direction was a lot easier, and I remember standing outside the BK door and watching a most unusual sight: It was actually snowing sideways. The ice pellets, I later learned, were very fine snowflakes that represented the leading edge of the impending blizzard.

Even though Pete and I were at BK for 30, maybe 45 minutes tops, the drive back to the Telegraph looked considerably different than it did on the way up.

Those ultra-fine snowflakes had begun coating every exposed surface there was, from buildings to utility poles to vehicles to people and pets. Once back in the newsroom, and after defrosting ourselves, Pete and I shared with the others our observations, prompting the editors to strongly suggest, “Make sure you come in early tomorrow morning.”

Ah, the romanticism of daily newspapering.

Dean Shalhoup’s column appears weekly in The Sunday Telegraph. He may be reached at 594-1256 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.