Snow, Snow Go Away…We’re Ready for Spring…Not the Blizzard of ‘88
March 9, 2009 by Mary Emma Allen
Filed under Parenting
After two glorious springlike days here in New Hampshire, we’re experiencing snow again on March 9. However, it’s not unusual to have snow in March and some of our worst storms.
When I was growing up, we children heard stories of the “Blizzard of ‘88″ and my grandparents’ experience. In the eastern part of the United States, the storm began on March 11 and paralyzed cities, towns, and the countryside. My grandfather told of shoveling snow from the house to the barn that was above his head. Others tales related how people got lost in it and froze to death.
An earlier blizzard occurred in the western part of the United States in January of 1888. In those days before weather forecasting and communications like we have today, the day went from warmth to blizzard conditions in a matter of hours. To hear some tell, it was a matter of minutes.
For further reading about this phenomenal winter of 1888:
City of Snow: The Great Blizzard of 1888 by Linda Oatman High.
In All Its Fury: A History of the Blizzard of January 12, 1888 by W. H. O’Gara.
Blizzard! The 1888 Whiteout by Jacqueline A. Ball.
Blizzard!: The Storm That Changed America by Jim Murphy.
Blizzards and snowstorms of other years:
One to Remember: The Relentless Blizzard of March 1966 by Douglas Ramsey
Northeast Snowstorms by Louis W. Uccellini
Fiction:
Lost in the Blinded Blizzard (Hank the Cowdog) by John R. Erickson
(For information about the sources for the above “blizzard books,” check out my page, Books About the Blizzards of 1888 and More.
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Whew, I was scared there for a minute; I didn’t think I was that old, but I remembered a blizzzard of ‘88, only it was 1988 in February; I was pregnant with my now 20 yr. old, living down a dirt road (still do) but when I woke up that morning with snow all over and we were stuck in, all I could think about was what if I went into labor! even though I wasn’t due until May things do happen – thankfully in this case it didn’t (and I even had another baby down this dirt road but not through the winter that time) but I don’t think I’ll forget that.