So we like Christmas, we like Snow days when schools are canceled and we can do.....whatever we want or just sleep, (You know who I'm talking too), but what we definitely don't like....is the COLD!, and how do we get our Snow days; Blizzards of course, but this Blizzard I'm talking about didn't happen during our time, and so not a lot of those cozy warm blankets were available to a lot of people, you have to be rich for some of those back then.

But let's not make this long today I'm talking about The Great Blizzard of 1888 from the Daily Life Section in Story of America Cards.

(What was the Great Blizzard of 1888?)

The Great Blizzard of 1888 also known as Great Blizzard of '88 or the Great White Hurricane, was one of the most severe recorded blizzards in American history. The storm paralyzed the East Coast from the Chesapeake Bay to Maine, as well as the Atlantic provinces of Canada. Snow fell from 10 to 58 inches (25 to 147 cm) in parts of New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, and sustained winds of more than 45 miles per hour (72 km/h) produced snowdrifts in excess of 50 feet (15 m). Railroads were shut down and people were confined to their homes for up to a week. Railway and telegraph lines were disabled, and this provided the impetus to move these pieces of infrastructure underground. Emergency services were also affected.

(New York was Basically Buried!)

In 1888, after one of the mildest winters in many years, most residents along the East Coast were beginning to think about baseballs and the first daffodils. But early in March a storm center that had originally been spotted in Colorado zipped across the country leaving havoc in its wake.

Most observers believed the storm would lose its strength before reaching the East Coast and they would have been right had not another storm formed in Georgia and joined the Colorado storm over Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.

Cold air was suddenly pulled in from Canada, and by Monday morning March 12th 1888 a fierce blizzard struck Washington, D.C, New York City, and Boston, Massachusetts.

Most New Yorkers started that Monday morning as they would any other work day. Snow was falling heavily, but few suspected it would get worse.

After all, the weather prediction called a warming trend Monday with generally fair skies, What actually happened, though, was almost unbelievable by day's end some 50 inches (128cm.) of snow covered Connecticut and eastern Massachusetts, and 10 to 20-foot (3-6 m.) drifts buried towns north of New York in the Hudson Valley.

By comparison, New York's 21 inches (60 cm.) of snow seemed insignificant, but the city was almost buried by massive drifts whipped up by 50-mile-per-hour wind.

Food deliveries ceased as all trains and roads into the city closed down, Telegraph lines fell and soon nearly all communications with the outside world shut down.

By late Monday afternoon most hotel rooms in New York were full with four to six people sharing a double room, Clubs and restaurants did a booming business, but only three theaters managed to stay open.

P.T Barnum, put on a full circus for a handful of people who showed up and only four ticket holders arrived at Tony Pastor's Music Hall, Those who suffered the most, however were poor immigrants in New York's squalid tenements, When food ran out, local merchants who still had some on hand charged outrageous prices.

Ironically, thousands of gallons of badly needed milk were stranded on railroad trains just a few miles outside the city. Not until Friday, March 16th, did things get back to normal.

The Great Blizzard of 1888 left 200 people dead from exposure in New York City alone; and businesses losses were estimated at close to $3 millions, a massive sum at the time.

(Ending)

And that was the Great Blizzard of 1888....or how much information can find and what was proved from the card and internet and what information was accurate and good for telling and like this was one of the most brutal blizzards in history and that's what we need to remember from it, if you have anything about Great Blizzard of 1888 you want to tell me please add in the comments.

So anyways see you later and goodbye.