Meteorology

The Schoolhouse Blizzard hits the territories of Montana and Dakota and the states of Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, and Texas, on January 12, 1888, leaving two hundred and thirty-five dead, many of them children on their way home from school.

The blizzard had been preceded by a snowstorm on January 5th and 6th, which had dropped snow on the northern and central plains, and was followed by an outbreak of brutally cold temperatures from January 7th to 11th.

The weather prediction for the day was issued by the Weather Bureau, which at the time was managed by Adolphus Greely; it said: "A cold wave is indicated for Dakota and Nebraska tonight and tomorrow; the snow will drift heavily today and tomorrow in Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota and Wisconsin."

On January 11, a strengthening surface low dropped south-southeastward out of Alberta, Canada into central Montana and then into northeastern Colorado by the morning of January 12.

The temperatures in advance of the low increased some 20–40 degrees in the central plains (for example, Omaha, Nebraska recorded a temperature of −6 °F (−21 °C) at 7 a.m. on January 11, while the temperature had increased to 28 °F (−2 °C) by 7 a.m. on January 12).

The strong surface low rapidly moved into southeastern Nebraska by 3 p.m. on January 12 and finally into southwestern Wisconsin by 11 p.m. that same day.

On January 11, the massive cold air mass that had formed around January 8 around Medicine Hat, Alberta and Qu'Appelle, Saskatchewan, had reached a spread of over 780 miles.

The blizzard is precipitated by the collision of an immense Arctic cold front with warm moisture-laden air from the Gulf of Mexico.

Within a few hours, the advancing cold front causes a temperature drop from a few degrees above freezing to −20 degrees Fahrenheit (-29 degrees Celsius) [−40 °F (−40 °C) in some places].

This wave of cold is accompanied by high winds and heavy snow.

The fast-moving storm first strikes Montana in the early hours of January 12, sweeps through Dakota Territory from midmorning to early afternoon, and reaches Lincoln, Nebraska at 3 p.m.

Many who are caught unaware had misjudged the weather due to a warm spell.

What makes the storm so deadly is the timing (during work and school hours), the suddenness of the storm, and the brief spell of warmer weather that preceded it.

In addition, the very strong wind fields behind the cold front and the powdery nature of the snow reduce visibilities on the open plains to zero.

People venture from the safety of their homes to do chores, go to town, attend school, or simply enjoy the relative warmth of the day.

As a result, thousands of people—including many schoolchildren—get caught in the blizzard.

The death toll is two hundred and thirty-five.

Teachers generally keep children in their schoolrooms.

Exceptions nearly always result n disaster.

Travel will be severely impeded in the days following.

Two months later, yet another severe blizzard will hit the East Coast states: this blizzard will be known as the Great Blizzard of 1888.

It will severely affect  the east coast, in states like New York and Massachusetts.

The first recorded tornado in West Virginia, which ranks among the least tornado-prone states east of the Rockies, is recorded in 1889. 

Severe weather is somewhat less prevalent in West Virginia than in most other eastern states.

The Weather Bureau first becomes a civilian enterprise when it becomes part of the United States Department of Agriculture on February 9, 1890.

Under the oversight of this branch, the Bureau will begin issuing flood warnings and fire weather forecasts, and issue the first daily national surface weather maps; it will also establish a network to distribute warnings for tropical cyclones as well as a data exchange service that will relay European weather analysis to the Bureau and vice versa.

In 1870, the Weather Bureau of the United States had been established through a joint resolution of Congress signed by President Ulysses S. Grant with a mission to "provide for taking meteorological observations at the military stations in the interior of the continent and at other points in the States and Territories...and for giving notice on the northern (Great) Lakes and on the seacoast by magnetic telegraph and marine signals, of the approach and force of storms."

The agency had been placed under the Secretary of War as Congress felt "military discipline would probably secure the greatest promptness, regularity, and accuracy in the required observations."

Within the Department of War, it was assigned to the U.S. Army Signal Service under Brigadier General Albert J. Myer. General Myer gave the National Weather Service its first name: The Division of Telegrams and Reports for the Benefit of Commerce.

Cleveland Abbe—who began developing probabilistic forecasts using daily weather data sent by the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce and Western Union, which he had persuaded to back the collection of such information in 1869—had been appointed as the Bureau's first chief meteorologist.

In his earlier role as the civilian assistant to the chief of the Signal Service, Abbe had urged the Department of War to research weather conditions to provide a scientific basis behind the forecasts; he had continued to urge the study of meteorology as a science after becoming Weather Bureau chief.

While a debate had gone on between the Signal Service and Congress over whether the forecasting of weather conditions should be handled by civilian agencies or the Signal Service's existing forecast office, a Congressional committee had been formed to oversee the matter, recommending that the office's operations be transferred to the Department of War following a two-year investigation.