Schoolhouse Blizzard


The Schoolhouse Blizzard, also known as the Schoolchildren's Blizzard, School Children's Blizzard, or Children's Blizzard, 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 Schoolhouse/Children's Blizzard of 1888

The blizzard was preceded by a snowstorm on January 5th and 6th, which dropped snow on the northern and central plains, and was followed by an outbreak of brutally cold temperatures from January 7th to 11th.
The weather prediction for the day was issued by the Weather Bureau, which at the time was managed by Adolph's Greeley; it said: "A cold wave is indicated for Dakota and Nebraska tonight and tomorrow; the snow will drift hevily today and tomorrow in Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota and Wisconsin."
On January 11, a strengthening surface low dropped south-southeastward out of Alberta, Canada into central Montana and then into northeastern Colorado by the morning of January 12. The temperatures in advance of the low increased some 20–40 degrees in the central plains. The strong surface low rapidly moved into southeastern Nebraska by 3 p.m. on January 12 and finally into southwestern Wisconsin by 11 p.m. that same day. On January 11, the massive cold air mass that had formed around January 8 around Medicine Hat, Alberta and Qu'Appelle, Saskatchewan, had reached a spread of over.
The blizzard was precipitated by the collision of an immense Arctic cold front with warm moisture-laden air from the Gulf of Mexico. Within a few hours, the advancing cold front caused a temperature drop from a few degrees above freezing to −20 degrees Fahrenheit . This wave of cold was accompanied by high winds and heavy snow. The fast-moving storm first struck Montana in the early hours of January 12, swept through Dakota Territory from midmorning to early afternoon, and reached Lincoln, Nebraska at 3 p.m.
Many who were caught unaware misjudged the weather due to a warm spell. Carl Saltee, a teenage Norwegian immigrant in Fortier, Minnesota remembered that, "...on the 12th of January 1888 around noontime it was so warm it melted snow and ice from the window until after 1 p.m." This changed rapidly for the teenager who continued that by 3:30 p.m. "A dark and heavy wall builded up around the northwest coming fast, coming like those hevy thunderstorms, like a shot. In a few moments, we had the severest snowstorm I ever saw in my life with a terrible hard wind, like a hurrycane , snow so thick we could not see more than 3 steps from the door at times." The Boston Daily Advertiser reported under the headline "Midnight at Noon" that "At Fargo....mercury 47' below zero and a hurricane blowing...At Neche, Dak. the thermometer is 58' below zero."
What made the storm so deadly was the timing, the suddenness of the storm, and the brief spell of warmer weather that preceded it. In addition, the very strong wind fields behind the cold front and the powdery nature of the snow reduced visibilities on the open plains to zero. People ventured from the safety of their homes to do chores, go to town, attend school, or simply enjoy the relative warmth of the day. As a result, thousands of people—including many schoolchildren—got caught in the blizzard. The death toll was 235. Teachers generally kept children in their schoolrooms. Exceptions nearly always resulted in disaster.
Travel was severely impeded in the days following.
Two months later, yet another severe blizzard hit the East Coast states: This blizzard was known as the Great Blizzard of 1888. It severely affected the east coast, in states like New York and Massachusetts.

The stories

In the 1940s a group organized the Greater Nebraska Blizzard Club to write a book about the storm. The resulting book, In All Its Fury : A History of the Blizzard of Jan. 12, 1888, With Stories and Reminiscences, was edited by W.H. O'Gara.

Affected states and territories

Many of these states were United States territories at the time: