![]() Surface analysis of Blizzard on January 13, 1888. | |
Meteorological history | |
---|---|
Formed | January 12,1888 |
Dissipated | January 13,1888 |
Blizzard | |
Lowest temperature | −56.8 °F (−49.3 °C) in Poplar River,Montana [1] |
Maximum snowfall or ice accretion | 6 inches (15 cm) |
Overall effects | |
Fatalities | 235 fatalities |
Areas affected | Midwestern United States |
The Schoolhouse Blizzard,also known as the Schoolchildren's Blizzard,School Children's Blizzard, [2] or Children's Blizzard, [3] hit the U.S. Great Plains on January 12,1888. With an estimated 235 deaths,it is the world's 10th deadliest winter storm on record.
The blizzard came unexpectedly on a relatively warm day,and many people were caught unaware,including children in one-room schoolhouses.
The weather prediction for the day was issued by the Weather Bureau,which at the time was managed by Brigadier General Adolphus Greely. The indications officer (forecaster),Lieutenant Thomas Mayhew Woodruff in St. Paul,Minnesota,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." [4]
On January 11,a strengthening surface low dropped south-southeastward out of the Alberta District in Canada's North-West Territories into central Montana Territory and then into northeastern Colorado by the morning of January 12. The temperatures in advance of the low increased some 20 to 40 °F (11–22 °C) 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 and Qu'Appelle,Assiniboia District,had reached a spread of over 780 miles (1,255 km). [5]
The blizzard was 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 caused a temperature drop from a few degrees above freezing to −20 °F (−29 °C) [−40 °F (−40 °C) in some places]. This wave of cold was accompanied by high winds and heavy snow. The fast-moving storm first struck Montana in the early hours of January 12,swept through Dakota Territory from midmorning to early afternoon,and reached Lincoln,Nebraska,at 3 p.m.
Many who were caught unaware misjudged the weather due to a warm spell. Carl Saltee,a teenage Norwegian immigrant in Fortier,Minnesota,remembered that "... on the 12th of January 1888 around noontime it was so warm it melted snow and ice from the window until after 1 p.m." This changed rapidly for the teenager who continued that by 3:30 p.m. "A dark and heavy wall built up around the northwest coming fast,coming like those heavy thunderstorms,like a shot. In a few moments,we had the severest snowstorm I ever saw in my life with a terrible hard wind,like a Hurricane,snow so thick we could not see more than 3 steps from the door at times." [5] The Boston Daily Advertiser reported under the headline "Midnight at Noon" that "At Fargo ... mercury 47°below zero and a hurricane blowing ... At Neche,Dak. the thermometer is 58°below zero." [6]
What made the storm so deadly was 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 reduced visibilities on the open plains to zero. People ventured 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 —got caught in the blizzard. The death toll was 235,though some estimate 1,000. [7] Teachers generally kept children in their schoolrooms. Exceptions nearly always resulted in disaster. [8]
This cold front was so self-reinforced that it dropped temperatures as far south as Veracruz,Mexico,before dissipating.
Travel in three states (Nebraska,Kansas,and Minnesota) and five territories (South Dakota,North Dakota,Montana,Wyoming,and Idaho) was severely impeded (or almost completely ceased in some places) in the days following.
Two months later,yet another severe blizzard hit the East Coast states:This blizzard was known as the Great Blizzard of 1888. It severely affected the east coast,in states like New York and Massachusetts.
![]() | This section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. The specific problem is: Real life experiences are interspersed with fictional/popular culture examples.(February 2022) |
In the 1940s a group organized the Greater Nebraska Blizzard Club to write a book about the storm. The resulting book, In All Its Fury: A History of the Blizzard of Jan. 12, 1888, With Stories and Reminiscences, was edited by W.H. O'Gara. [5]
A blizzard is a severe snowstorm characterized by strong sustained winds and low visibility, lasting for a prolonged period of time—typically at least three or four hours. A ground blizzard is a weather condition where snow is not falling but loose snow on the ground is lifted and blown by strong winds. Blizzards can have an immense size and usually stretch to hundreds or thousands of kilometres.
A winter storm is an event in which wind coincides with varieties of precipitation that only occur at freezing temperatures, such as snow, mixed snow and rain, or freezing rain. In temperate continental and subarctic climates, these storms are not necessarily restricted to the winter season, but may occur in the late autumn and early spring as well. A snowstorm with strong winds and other conditions meeting certain criteria is called a blizzard.
The Armistice Day Blizzard took place in the Midwest region of the United States on November 11 and November 12, 1940. The intense early-season "panhandle hook" winter storm cut a 1,000-mile-wide (1600 km) swath through the middle of the country from Kansas to Michigan.
The Great Blizzard of 1899, also known as the Great Arctic Outbreak of 1899 and the St. Valentine's Day Blizzard, was an exceptionally severe winter weather event that affected most of the United States, particularly east of the Rocky Mountains. On February 11, Swift Current in present-day Saskatchewan reported a record-high barometric pressure of 31.42 inches of mercury (1,064 mb). While there was heavy snow during this event, the 1899 storm was most noted for the record cold it brought to several areas of the USA, including the first below 0 °F (−17.8 °C) temperature ever recorded in Florida, when the state capital Tallahassee in the extreme northern Panhandle recorded −2 °F or −18.9 °C.
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The 1991 Halloween blizzard was a powerful storm that caused a period of heavy snowfall and ice accumulation, which affected parts of the Upper Midwest of the United States, from October 31 to November 4, 1991. Over the last week of October 1991, a large storm system over the Atlantic Ocean blocked most of the weather patterns over the eastern half of the United States, and in turn, moisture from the Gulf of Mexico was funneled straight northward over the affected region. By the time the precipitation stopped falling, many cities in the eastern half of Minnesota and northwestern Wisconsin had witnessed record early-season snowfall accumulations, while parts of southern Minnesota and northern Iowa were crippled by a large ice storm. Arctic air that was pulled southward behind the storm had combined with the heavy snow pack to produce many record low temperatures. Between the blizzard and the ice storm, 22 people were killed and over 100 were injured.
The 1936 North American cold wave ranks among the most intense cold waves in the recorded history of North America. The Midwestern United States and the Canadian Prairies were hit the hardest. Only the Southwestern United States and California largely escaped its effects. The cold wave was related to a highly negative North Atlantic Oscillation event during that winter driving cold Arctic air into most of North America.
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Hazel Dulcie Miner was a student at a rural Great Plains one-room school, who died while protecting her 10-year-old brother, Emmet, and 8-year-old sister, Myrdith, from the spring blizzard of 1920 in Center, North Dakota.
North Dakota's climate is typical of a continental climate with cold winters and warm-hot summers. The state's location in the Upper Midwest allows it to experience some of the widest variety of weather in the United States, and each of the four seasons has its own distinct characteristics. The eastern half of the state has a humid continental climate with warm to hot, somewhat humid summers and cold, windy winters, while the western half has a semi-arid climate with less precipitation and less humidity but similar temperature profiles. The areas east of the Missouri River get slightly colder winters, while those west of the stream get higher summer daytime temperatures. In general, the diurnal temperature difference is prone to be more significant in the west due to higher elevation and less humidity.
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