Great Blizzard of 1888
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This article is about the blizzard which affected the eastern United States and Canada. For information about the storm which affected the Great Plains in the same year, see Schoolhouse Blizzard.
The Great Blizzard of 1888 (March 12 – March 14, 1888) was one of the most severe blizzards in United States recorded history, with snow drifts in excess of 50 feet (15 m). All across the eastern seaboard there were snow walls up to 50 inches (1.3 m) high.
The "Great White Hurricane," as it was called, paralyzed the East Coast of the United States and Atlantic Canada from the Chesapeake Bay to Maine, through to the Maritime provinces of Eastern Canada. Telegraph infrastructure was disabled, isolating New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C. for days. Two hundred ships were grounded, and at least one hundred seamen died. Fire stations were immobilized, and property loss from fire alone was estimated at $25 million. One hundred people were killed in New York City alone and it is estimated 400 people died from the storm in all.
As with some other recorded Great Blizzards, the preceding weather was unseasonably mild with heavy rains that turned to snow as temperatures dropped rapidly. The storm continued unabated for a full day and a half. Food and fuel were scarce, but freshly baked breads and other food were brought to the city each day. The men of the town made a group to shovel all the excess snow into the Atlantic Ocean. The National Weather Service estimated that 50 inches (1.3 m) of snow fell in Connecticut and Massachusetts and 40 inches (1 m) covered New York and New Jersey. Winds blew up to 48 miles per hour (77 km/h), creating snowdrifts 40 to 50 feet (12 to 15 m) high. When the storm finally ended, some places had totals of almost 50 to over 50 inches such as Albany, New York with 46.7 inches (119 cm) and Saratoga Springs had a total of over 58 inches (147 cm) of snow.
The resulting transportation crisis led to the creation of the underground portion of the New York City Subway system, which was approved in 1894 and begun in 1900.
