Great Blizzard of 1888

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 Great Blizzard of 1888 begins along the eastern seaboard of the United States on March 11, shutting down commerce and killing more than four hundred.

The weather had been unseasonably mild just before the blizzard, with heavy rains that turned to snow as temperatures dropped rapidly.

The storm begins in earnest shortly after midnight on March 12 and continues unabated for a full day and a half.

In a 2007 article, the National Weather Service will estimaet that this Nor'easter dumped as much as 50 inches (130 cm) of snow in parts of Connecticut and Massachusetts, while parts of New Jersey and New York had up to 40 inches (100 cm).

Most of northern Vermont receives from 20 inches (51 cm) to 30 inches (76 cm).

Drifts averaged 30–40 feet (9.1–12.2 m), over the tops of houses from New York to New England, with reports of drifts covering three-story houses. The highest drift was recorded in Gravesend, Brooklyn at 52 feet or 16 metres. 58 inches (150 cm) of snow fell in Saratoga Springs, New York; 48 inches (120 cm) in Albany, New York; 45 inches (110 cm) in New Haven, Connecticut; and 22 inches (56 cm) in New York City.[6] The storm also produced severe winds; 80 miles per hour (129 km/h) wind gusts were reported, although the highest official report in New York City was 40 miles per hour (64 km/h), with a 54 miles per hour (87 km/h) gust reported at Block Island.[6] New York's Central Park Observatory reported a minimum temperature of 6 °F (−14 °C), and a daytime average of 9 °F (−13 °C) on March 13, the coldest ever for March.[6]
Impacts

In New York, neither rail nor road transport is possible anywhere for days, and drifts across the New York–New Haven rail line at Westport, Connecticut, take eight days to clear.

Transportation gridlock as a result of the storm is partially responsible for the creation of the first underground subway system in the United States, which will open nine years later in Boston.

The New York Stock Exchange is closed for two days.

Similarly, telegraph infrastructure is disabled, isolating Montreal and most of the large northeastern U.S. cities from Washington, D.C. to Boston for days.

Following the storm, New York begins placing its telegraph and telephone infrastructure underground to prevent their destruction.

Fire stations are immobilized, and property loss from fire alone is estimated at $25 million (equivalent to $710 million in 2020)

The blizzard results in the founding of the Christman Bird and Wildlife Sanctuary located near Delanson, New York.

From Chesapeake Bay through the New England area, more than two hundred ships are either grounded or wrecked, resulting in the deaths of at least one hundred seamen

More than four hundred people die from the storm and the ensuing cold, including two hundred in New York City alone.

Efforts are made to push the snow into the Atlantic Ocean.

Severe flooding occurs after the storm due to melting snow, especially in the Brooklyn area, which is susceptible to flooding because of its topography.

Not all areas are notably affected by the Blizzard of 1888; an article in the Cambridge Press published five days after the storm noted that the "fall of snow in this vicinity was comparatively small, and had it not been accompanied by a strong wind it would have been regarded as rather trifling in amount, the total depth, on a level, not exceeding ten inches".

New Yorker Roscoe Conkling, an influential Republican politician, dies as a result of the storm.