I am wearing my historian hat today to write another #OnThisDay blog post. Sometimes I’m quite familiar with the topics covered in my occasional #OnThisDay blog posts, but today’s subject was one I knew nothing about. I need a topic like that to come along once in a while to keep my research juices flowing.

The Blizzard of 1888

I had never heard of the Great Blizzard of 1888 until I stumbled upon it in a reference book that lists events of note for every day of the year. It turns out that the blizzard in March 1888, also known as the Great White Hurricane, was not measured in feet like the snow in the Sierra Nevada ten days ago. However, it was a paralyzing blizzard in the Northeast US and eastern Canada.

It was unseasonably mild leading up to the March 1888 blizzard. Temperatures plummeted and it snowed for a day and a half. Many people were stranded at their places of employment. It is said that prisons and hotels were crowded with people seeking shelter from the storm.

Snow depths from 10 to 58 inches accompanied by sustained 45 mile-per-hour winds created 50-foot snow drifts. It took eight days to clear the New York-New Haven rail line at Westport, Connecticut. Telegraph service infrastructure was knocked out in Montreal and from Washington, DC to Boston for days. In fact, the disabling of rail and telegraph lines by that storm prompted authorities in New York City to start working toward moving of some of those services underground.

More than 400 people died as a result of the blizzard, including 100 seamen as more than 200 ships were grounded or wrecked. Immobilized fire stations prevented firefighters from responding to fires. Loss of property to fires alone during the blizzard amounted to $25 million (in 1888 dollars), which is the equivalent of $810 million in 2024.

The Children’s Blizzard of 1888

In researching the Great Blizzard of 1888, I found information about another blizzard that year and a book about it – The Children’s Blizzard, by David Laskin. I read the book and thought it would be interesting to supplement what I had learned about The Blizzard of 1888 with a few details about The Children’s Blizzard.

To my surprise, The Children’s Blizzard, by David Laskin captivated my interest. The stories about the so-called Children’s Blizzard dwarfed the more famous “Blizzard of 1888” in the northeastern states. Granted, the snow drifts in the northeast might have been higher than in the Children’s Blizzard in the Plains states two months earlier, but the sheer brutality and suddenness of the storm in Montana, the Dakota Territory, Nebraska, and Minnesota made the one in the northeast pale in comparison.

The snowstorm on January 12, 1888 in the Plains was called the Children’s Blizzard because so many school children were caught off-guard in their one-room schoolhouses that mild winter day when a monster blizzard roared in at break-neck speed. In today’s meteorological parlance, it would probably be described as a “perfect storm,” as all the forces of nature converged to create a blizzard beyond comprehension.

Like the Blizzard of 1888 in the northeastern states and eastern Canada, the Children’s Blizzard was preceded by at least a few hours of mild weather. This lulled people, except for the most seasoned Plains residents, into a false sense of security. Folks across the Plains welcomed a morning when the temperatures did not dictate the wearing of their heaviest winter clothing. Children were glad to have a pleasant morning on which to walk to school.

The state of weather prediction in 1888 did not afford the people enough – and in some cases, not any – warning that within several hours a dramatic drop in temperature and blinding snow would engulf them.

I will write more about The Children’s Blizzard, by David Laskin in my blog post scheduled for the first Monday in April.

Until my next blog post

Never be without a book to read. I hope you are reading one now that you don’t want to put down.

Don’t forget to visit https://www.janetmorrisonbooks.com to subscribe to my e-newsletter and to read about the books and short stories I’ve written.

Remember the people of Ukraine who have been fighting for their lives and democracy for two years now. Can the members of the US Congress not see what Putin is doing?

Remember the innocent people in Gaza who it appears more convincing by the day are the victims of a genocide. I do not condone in any way the terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, 2023; however, that event does not warrant the wholesale bombing of millions of innocent people. This war will not lead to peace in the Middle East. It will lead to countless generations of hatred on the part of survivors and the descendants of those who are murdered. And that hatred will be turned against not only Israel but also on the countries that enable Israel.

You and I don’t have to agree on politics but, at least for now, I am free to state my opinions. I hope you are free to state yours.

Janet