Great Blizzard of 1888 - Photos

[TorchTheWitch]

52. Actually, I just found out that there was no notice about this storm because

the weather bureau closed in the evening on Saturdays, and the storm hit on Sunday.

I just found this article with an interesting video of an interview with a guy named Jim Murphy that wrote a book about the blizzard. According to Murphy it was actually two storms that hit the same area at the same time...

http://abcnews.go.com/US/remembering-storm-shut-york-city/story?id=28484263

No one had expected this at all. Temperatures had been rather mild with a lot of rain but they suddenly plummeted into the single digits in a matter of hours. People were out and about when the storm hit so violently and not at all dressed for such weather. Some people died in the street on the way from here to there just going a couple of blocks. I think most of those people died from exposure and exhaustion trying to fight their way through the storm and just couldn't go on anymore combined with disorientation as to where they were with the white out conditions. Others stepped into monstrous drifts they didn't know where there with the white out conditions and couldn't get themselves out. Last year I found out the hard way that just having one leg plunge into a drift nearly up to the crotch is DAMN hard to get out of. Thank goodness I didn't get both legs stuck or I wouldn't have been able to get out! It was such a struggle that one boot came off down at the bottom of the drift and I had to dig it out. It was terrifying.

Horse drawn trolleys were the only real transportation for the average person since pretty much only the well-to-do had their own horse and buggy with a stable hand to meet them at where ever they were since even the wealthy used public stables unless they were so wealthy that they had a big spread with their own stables. The trolleys came to a stand still almost immediately, and just like now most people in the city just walked from here to there unless it was a long hike.