Tag Archives: blizzard

Development on the summit

“This summit is near the intersection of Hope Street and Doyle Avenue. If in existence in 1835, Hope Street was a rough country road known as East Pawtucket Turnpike. Doyle avenue was not laid out until many years later. On this summit stands Ladd Astronomical Observatory of Brown University erected in 1891.”

―Rhode Island Geodetic Survey, COLLEGE HILL, 1935

USGS 1894
Topographic map of the East Side of Providence as surveyed in 1885 & 1887. The small brown oval near the center is the hill where Ladd Observatory was built. USGS, 1894.

When the construction of Ladd Observatory began in May of 1890 the area was rural with few buildings nearby. At a distance to the east and northeast of the hilltop were low lying areas that were swampland, as indicated by the blue hash marks on the map above. These marshes were later drained and filled to allow for building the residential neighborhoods that are seen there today. A short distance to the south there was a large reservoir, built in 1875. A steam powered pumping station delivered the water through pipes buried beneath the streets. The former reservoir is now the site of Hope High School and the athletic fields behind the building.

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Thundersnow

During the Blizzard of Feb. 8-9, 2013 there were reports of thunder and lightning amidst the heavy snowfall and high winds. The lightning detector on the roof of Ladd Observatory recorded a great deal of activity late Friday night into Saturday morning with the peak occurring just before midnight. Most of the strikes were along the southern coast of Rhode Island, but some were observed about 350 miles to the south over the ocean. For more information about thunder snowstorms see Scientific American.

thundersnow
Plot of lightning strikes detected by our weather station during the Blizzard of Feb. 8-9, 2013. The activity was not as strong as a summer thunderstorm, but was unusual for this time of year and very rare for a blizzard.