Great Blizzard of '88: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

The Great Blizzard of 1888 (March 11 - March 14, 1888) was one of fiercest blizzards on U.S. record: 400 total deaths were calculated and there are still some missing to this day-- with up to 50 foot (15 m) snow drifts it was definitely a hard period of time. All across the eastern seaboard there was snow walls up to 50 inches (1.3 m) high. 100 people alone were killed in New York City.

The "Great White Hurricane," as it was called, paralyzed the East Coast from the Chesapeake Bay to Maine. Telegraph wires were downed, isolating New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington 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. Overall, more than 400 deaths were reported.

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. National Weather Service estimated that fifty inches (1.3 m) of snow fell in Connecticut and Massachusetts and forty inches (1 m) covered New York and New Jersey. Winds blew up to 48 miles an hour (77 km/h), creating snowdrifts forty to fifty feet high (12 to 15 m).

The resulting transportation crisis led to the creation of the New York subway system, approved in 1894 and begun in 1900.

Other Great Blizzards in the United States:

• The Armistice Day Storm (November 11 – 12, 1940);
• The Great Midwest Blizzard (January 26 – 27, 1967);
• The Blizzard of 1978 (February 6 – 7, 1978)
  • "The Great Blizzard of 1978
• The "Storm of the Century" (March 12 – 13, 1993):
• The Blizzard of 1996 (January 7, 1996).