One of the biggest weather stories of the 19th century began on March 11, 1888.
Here’s some background about the “Blizzard of 1888”:
“On March 11th, 1888, all along the East Coast, light snow began to fall at 3 o’clock in the afternoon. At first, the flurries were dismissed as just another light snow fall, but after time, when the levels of snow did not decrease, people became increasingly worried about their personal safety.
After a grueling 96 hours without electricity and with snow drifts as tall as 50 feet, the worst blizzard in U.S. history finally came to an end, and marked a turning point in city-wide transportation.
….In the end, the blizzard left over 400 people dead, although much of this came from the 200 ships sunk. The total damage amounted to $25 million dollars, which mostly came from the fires that destroyed several parts of metropolitan cities.”
The blizzard and the news coverage lasted for days.
The New York Tribune:
Weather history from AccuWeather.com:
The New York Sun:
And finally, an excerpt from a story originally published in the Hartford Courant on March 16, 1888:
Courant’s Presses Roll
“The Courant was the only paper in Hartford to publish without interruption.
Route carriers were offered double their usual pay, and newsboys actually scalped the paper.
They usually bought it for 2 cents and sold it for 3 cents, but on Tuesday morning they got anywhere from 5 cents to 50 cents from Hartfordites hungry for news of the blizzard.”
