The April Fool's Day Blizzard was a major winter storm in the Northeastern United States on March 31 and April 1, 1997. The storm dumped rain, sleet, and snow from Maryland to Maine leaving hundreds of thousands without power and as much as three feet of snow on the ground.
Due to the day many people took the warning with a grain of salt and thought it wouldn't be that bad. Plows had already begun to be put away for the summer and hardware stores had to sell shovels again even though they already had out patio furniture. One commuter called it "Mother Nature's April Fools' Joke."
Famous quotes containing the words april, fool, day and/or blizzard:
“Summer of man its sunlight and its flower,
Spring-time of man all April in a face.”
—John Masefield (1878–1967)
“A learned fool is more a fool than an ignorant fool.”
—Molière [Jean Baptiste Poquelin] (1622–1673)
“Unpleasant questions are being raised about Mother’s Day. Is this day necessary? . . . Isn’t it bad public policy? . . . No politician with half his senses, which a majority of politicians have, is likely to vote for its abolition, however. As a class, mothers are tender and loving, but as a voting bloc they would not hesitate for an instant to pull the seat out from under any Congressman who suggests that Mother is not entitled to a box of chocolates each year in the middle of May.”
—Russell Baker (20th century)
“Again and again, I struggled though the storm. Once I fainted—and it wasn’t in the script. I was hauled to the studio on a sled, thawed out with hot tea, and then brought back to the blizzard, where the others were waiting. We filmed all day and all night, stopping only to eat standing near a bonfire. We never went inside.... The blizzard never slackened.”
—Lillian Gish (1896–1993)