Most Massachusetts residents woke Wednesday morning to a measurable amount of snow covering the ground from storms over the last week. For some areas, it was the first White Christmas — defined as having at least 1 inch of snow on the ground Christmas morning — in multiple years.

The answer is yes. It was about 47 years ago when a polar jet stream twisted into a raging river of powerful winds sweeping south over the warm Gulf of Mexico and into South Florida where climate history was made.