Blizzard hits plains states and PNW

Are you goofballs actually arguing about the weather forecasting 131 years ago?

agesilaus wrote:
Because of the high winds, ice and snow there were no telegraph lines left in service in the area.
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That was after the storm-. Normally warnings work best when sent before an event not after.

"The Schoolhouse Blizzard, also known as the Schoolchildren's Blizzard, School Children's Blizzard,[1] or Children's Blizzard,[2] hit the U.S. plains states on January 12, 1888. The blizzard came unexpectedly on a relatively warm day, and many people were caught unaware, including children in one-room schoolhouses."
"The blizzard was preceded by a snowstorm on January 5th and 6th, which dropped powdery snow on the northern and central plains, and was followed by an outbreak of brutally cold temperatures from January 7 to 11. "
Schoolhouse Blizzard of 1888

I don't know if there were two different blizzrds or just the same event in two places.

The NE one was different and is referred to in the wiki you posted. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Blizzard_of_1888

Because of the high winds, ice and snow there were no telegraph lines left in service in the area.
-------------------------------------
That was after the storm-. Normally warnings work best when sent before an event not after.

"The Schoolhouse Blizzard, also known as the Schoolchildren's Blizzard, School Children's Blizzard,[1] or Children's Blizzard,[2] hit the U.S. plains states on January 12, 1888. The blizzard came unexpectedly on a relatively warm day, and many people were caught unaware, including children in one-room schoolhouses."
"The blizzard was preceded by a snowstorm on January 5th and 6th, which dropped powdery snow on the northern and central plains, and was followed by an outbreak of brutally cold temperatures from January 7 to 11. "
Schoolhouse Blizzard of 1888

I don't know if there were two different blizzrds or just the same event in two places.

agesilaus wrote:
The storm was in 1888 and nobody was warned?

What should they have done? Social media posts? Urgent messages on every TV station? News alerts on all the radio stations?

Seriously?
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Yes they did have a telegraph system to every train station in the country and could have send out a warning on that. It's been years since I read the book so my recall of the details might not be perfect. But technology existed long before the Internet tho that comes as a shock to younger folks.

I believe one of Thomas Edison's (look him up on Wiki if you never heard of him) early lucrative inventions was a machine that would convert telegraph dots and dashes to words on yellow paper tape.

Alexander Graham Bell incorporated AT&T in 1885 so they had telephones too. People had to talk into them and listen for verbal replies in those days.

Well if you want to talk facts instead of humour, I’m game.

The “Blizzard of ‘88” was NOT in the mid-west, it was in the north-east.

I doubt many children were caught by surprise on their way home from school, the storm hit first in the NYC area on the evening of Sunday March 11, 1888, around midnight the temperature had dropped to freezing and the rain became sleet and then heavy snow. By morning things in New York were atrocious, and things were not much better to the south, in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C.

Because of the high winds, ice and snow there were no telegraph lines left in service in the area.

Mother Nature will always win in the end... No matter how much technology there is at the time..

Edd505 wrote:
Might help if you read the article and not just post. Spokane WA got 3.3" with a full blow blizzard predicted date Oct 9 2019.

You read?

Might help if you read the article and not just post. Spokane WA got 3.3" with a full blow blizzard predicted date Oct 9 2019.

They should have kept track of how much firewood the Indians were cutting reports! :)
Even in the early and mid part of the last century the Farmer's Almanac was the most reliable weather forecaster.
Grand Ma read the signs of the animal movements and birds and caterpillars and such and of course the clouds other natural signs.
Dad was born a Sharecropper. He related the weather discussions and the signs, at the little store that no longer stands.
In the seventies during deer season I went hunting in the mountains. All the deer were moving east and down the mountains into the cedar thickets and hollows where the springs flowed. The birds were all flying outhwest It was in the fifties.
The next morning work up to huge snow storm and for a period of near two months the river and lakes froze over. Animals feel see and know the signs same as we can smell rain coming.
Dad's Brothers moved to Indiana. One operated a peach and apple orchards miles from the nearest paved road. he kept track of the signs and knew hard weather was coming but didn't know it was going to be that hard, in the seventies. The well froze down over 50 ft. The electricity went out and it was below zero for a couple of months. he had to cut orchard trees to feed the fireplaces in the big old fireplace and to cook. The seasonally stocked freezers weren't enough and they ate a lot of venison.Other Uncle made sure my cousins as did the one that operated the orchards, they knew how to identify the clouds, and signs and kept a daily log of the weather.
There is a reason GGrand Pa's cabin has a steep pitched roof, in Tn.Weather runs in cycles that exceed years, and decades.
We will see more intense cold and snow even in the deep south.
We will see more dry and hot and on natures schedule, not ours, caused by smoke from the BBQ grill.
I've seen snow on Easter at Grand Ma;s in the Cumberlands.She said it was going to snow but it was near 70, then in the evening the rain set in and it turned brutal cold and started to freeze then heavy wet snow followed by lihgt tiny flakes. Snow was on the ground for two weeks or so.
Hawood's Civil and Political History of Tn tells of a yea when there was frost every month, and ice fog and intense cold in April and heavy snows all winter. And he relates the same occilations or changes of weather in Tn we see today,of warm periods, followed by rain and then cold and repeat.
Here near Kingman,Az woke up to 50 degrees and now at almost 3:00 it is60 degrees with high winds for a week and a visible dust storm visible just miles to the east and wind quartering from northeast. We may/might/will get covered in dirt.
Haywood relates a native American returning from the west visit in his who counted his years as over 90 snows I don't remember specific number. This in Tn.
With the satellites they have now weather prediction is really accurate but I bet Grand Ma would predict the times right that they miss.

The storm was in 1888 and nobody was warned?

What should they have done? Social media posts? Urgent messages on every TV station? News alerts on all the radio stations?

Seriously?
----------------------------
Yes they did have a telegraph system to every train station in the country and could have send out a warning on that. It's been years since I read the book so my recall of the details might not be perfect. But technology existed long before the Internet tho that comes as a shock to younger folks.

I believe one of Thomas Edison's (look him up on Wiki if you never heard of him) early lucrative inventions was a machine that would convert telegraph dots and dashes to words on yellow paper tape.

Alexander Graham Bell incorporated AT&T in 1885 so they had telephones too. People had to talk into them and listen for verbal replies in those days.

agesilaus wrote:
Just as a historical mention, I think it was back in 1888 that a blizzard hit the midwest and drop temps something like 70 degrees in a matter of minutes. Just as kids were walking home from school. Many froze to death. The nascent weather bureau actually knew it was coming but, no surprise, failed to warn anyone.


"On this day in 1888, the so-called “Schoolchildren's Blizzard” kills 235 people, many of whom were children on their way home from school, across the Northwest Plains region of the United States. The storm came with no warning, and some accounts say that the temperature fell nearly 100 degrees in just 24 hours."

The storm was in 1888 and nobody was warned?

What should they have done? Social media posts? Urgent messages on every TV station? News alerts on all the radio stations?

Seriously?