I was a senior in college up at UMASS/Amherst at the time so a different dynamic for this storm being in what was a basically a "rural" area on a big university campus. We did get almost 2ft up there. There was a good little summary of the big storms up that way here - https://www.masslive.com/news/2015/01/top_western_massachusetts_snow.html
A number of the articles from that link were referencing Bradley Airport, which was right across the MA/CT border from Springfield, MA (where Amherst is about 30 miles NE of Springfield).
And I know many of us miss Jim O'Brien (not just from his "weather guy" career but on WFIL 560 doing Top 40 as a disk jockey). But in addition to him and "real" met Elliot Abrams on KYW, don't forget Herb Clarke, just "across the street" from Channel 6 on City Line Ave., - another who was doing the "weather man" role on TV at the time.
(Below from 2008 - lots of "weathering" in the pic )
As a sidenote, my first thundersnow came a decade or so before 1983 - there was a storm that started as pouring rain and then the cold air came blasting in. I had actually made a mention in my little diary at the time complete with an illustration. It was either in '71 or '72.