Great Blizzard of 1888

Storm details

The weather was unseasonably mild just before the blizzard, with heavy rains that turned to snow as temperatures dropped rapidly. The storm began in earnest shortly after midnight on March 12 and continued unabated for a full day and a half. In a 2007 article, the National Weather Service estimated that this nor'easter dumped as much as 50 in of snow in parts of Connecticut and Massachusetts, while parts of New Jersey and New York had up to 40 in. Most of northern Vermont received from 20 in to 30 in.

Drifts averaged 30 –, 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 ft. 58 in of snow fell in Saratoga Springs, New York; 48 in in Albany, New York; 45 in in New Haven, Connecticut; and 22 in in New York City. The storm also produced severe winds; 80 mph wind gusts were reported, although the highest official report in New York City was 40 mph, with a 54 mph gust reported at Block Island. On March 13, New York City recorded a low of 6 F, the coldest so late in the season, with the high rising to only 12 F.

Impacts

In New York, neither rail nor road transport was possible anywhere for days, The New York Stock Exchange was closed for two days. A full two day weather-related closure would not occur again until Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

Similarly, telegraph infrastructure was 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 began placing its telegraph and telephone infrastructure underground to prevent their destruction.

Fire stations were immobilized, and property loss from fire alone was estimated at $25 million (equivalent to $ million in ).

From the Chesapeake Bay through the New England area, more than 200 ships were either grounded or wrecked, resulting in the deaths of at least 100 seamen. Efforts were made to push the snow into the Atlantic Ocean. Severe flooding occurred after the storm due to melting snow, especially in the Brooklyn area, which was susceptible to flooding because of its topography.

Not all areas were 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".

Roscoe Conkling, an influential Republican politician, died a few weeks after attempting to walk home during the blizzard.

On October 1, 1888, an article appeared in the first issue of the National Geographic Society magazine about the great blizzard. It was written by Edward Everett Hayden and described the blizzard and the courageous and successful struggle, told by boat-keeper Robert Robinson, of the crew from the pilot-boat Charles H. Marshall, No. 3.

Gallery

File:Blizzard 1888 Grand Central NY.jpg|45th Street and Grand Central Depot, Manhattan, March 12 File:Brooklyn blizzard 1888.jpg|Park Place in Brooklyn, March 14 File:Brooklyn Museum - Blizzard of March 1888, Brooklyn - Breading G. Way - overall.jpg|Brooklyn children after the blizzard File:StereoviewNewBritainCTGrandStMar131888BlizzardFWAllderige enh.jpg|New Britain, Connecticut, March 13 File:Stebbins-11-Cythera.jpg|Cythera, lost with all aboard in the blizzard File:Bone-valley-trail.jpg|Bone Valley Trail, where a herd of cattle froze File:(King1893NYC) pg047 THE BLIZZARD OF MARCH 1888 (PHOTO BY LANGILL).jpg|14th Street, New York City, "just after the storm" (March 14)

References

References

1. "The Blizzard of 1888; the Impact of this Devastating Storm on New York Transit".
2. Douglas, Paul. (2004). "Restless Skies". Barnes & Noble Publishing, Inc..
3. "Building the invisible city". Virtual New York.
4. (September 2, 2020). "The Blizzard of 1888: America's Greatest Snow Disaster".
5. "Biggest Snowstorms in the United States: From 1888 to Present". NWS Milwaukee/Sullivan, WI.
6. "Climate of Vermont". National Climatic Data Center.
7. "The Big One! A Review of the March 12–14, 1993 "Storm of the Century" [With comparisons to the Blizzard of 1888]". National Climatic Data Center.
8. "Blizzard shuts down Massachusetts". Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities.
9. "The Blizzard of 1888; the Impact of this Devastating Storm on New York Transit".
10. "New York Stock Exchange Special Closings, 1885–date".
11. Redden, Molly. "The New York Stock Exchange Has a Long History of Shutdowns".
12. (2015). "The Underground Grid". Museum of the City of New York.
13. "On Mar 12 in weather history". NWS Northern Indiana Weather History.
14. (March 17, 1888). ""The Great Storm"". Cambridge Press.
15. O'Grady, Jim. (January 27, 2015). "Bad Idea: The Most Powerful Man in America Walks Home Through the Blizzard of 1888". WNYC News.
16. "The Great Storm Of March 11–14, 1888". Everett Hayden.