GHPCC-The Blizzard of 1888 Traditional Cache
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GHPCC-The Blizzard of 1888
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This is one of the series of caches placed throughout Camden County to bring awareness to historical locations. It has been placed here with the permission of the Mayor of Lindenwold. Please be respectful of the area around the cache as nothing needs to be disturbed to find it.
We have had our share of blizzards in the past few years, but none can compare to the most famous snowstorm in American history – the Blizzard of 1888 – nicknamed “The Great White Hurricane.”
The U.S. Weather Service defines a blizzard as a storm with winds of more than 35 miles an hour and snow that limits visibility to 500 feet or less. A severe blizzard is defined as having winds exceeding 45 miles an hour, visibility of a quarter mile or less, and temperatures of 10 degrees Fahrenheit or lower. During this particular blizzard, temperatures often went below zero, and winds were clocked at 75 to 85 miles per hour.
The winter of 1888 had been one of the warmest winters on record in the East. The days leading up to the blizzard were no exception – it was unseasonably mild, with temperatures in the 40s and 50s along the East Coast. People woke up on Saturday, March 10, 1888 to another beautiful day – clear and unusually warm. It was so nice, that President Grover Cleveland and his wife left Washington, D.C., for a vacation weekend at their country home just outside the capital.
Out in the west, one storm system was sweeping across Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan – dumping tons of snow along the way. If it held to its current course, it would travel over most of New York and Pennsylvania before reaching the Atlantic. In the South, the second system moved over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico dragging along moisture-laden air. On that Saturday, over four inches of rain deluged Pensacola, Florida, while cyclone-force winds tore up Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi. All of this information, along with all 154 local weather stations were telegraphed three times a day to Washington, D.C., where it was carefully marked on maps and analyzed. So complete was the information that the Signal Corps analyzed that it boasted that it was correct 82 percent of the time. After examining that day’s data, the staff at the Signal Corps concluded that there would be no real problem from either storm. Their final analysis at 10 P.M. on Saturday night read “Fresh to brisk winds, with rain, will prevail, followed on Monday by colder brisk westerly winds, and fair weather throughout the Atlantic states…”
Sunday people woke up to another mild day with light rain. As the day progressed, the rain became heavier and the wind more fierce. The two storm systems had not followed their predicted tracks – they had both intensified and then combined to wreak havoc on the East Coast from Maryland to Maine. By early evening the temperature was dropping, the rain had intensified and the wind was blowing hard. People that had ventured early in the day found themselves trapped in a wild storm.
The storm began in earnest shortly after midnight on March 12, and continued unabated for a full day and a half. Snowfalls of 40-50 inches fell along the East Coast with drifts
Reports to average 30-40 feet. Accounts abound of people in New Jersey having to exit their homes from the second story as the snow covered their doors and first floor windows.
When the snow finally ended on Wednesday, March 14, 1888 the devastating effects of the blizzard could be seen. The long steel pier in Lewses, Deleware had a 200-foot chunk ripped out of it and the boats were strewn everywhere – some on land and some in shallow water. The East River in New York looked like a solid sheet of ice. Trains trying to push their way through snowdrifts were derailed. President Cleveland had been stranded and out of touch with our government for days. Telephone and telegraph wires were snapped leaving the East Coat isolated. All told, over 200 ships were grounded and at least 100 seamen had died. Over 400 deaths on land were reported and there was an estimated $25 million worth of damage.
Many lessons were learned from this storm. Immediately following the storm New York Mayor Hewitt ordered all companies to put their wires underground and to take down their poles – other cities soon followed suite. It showed a need for underground transportation and Alfred Ely Beach’s subway system was set in motion. The Signal Corps was taken away from the army and came under control of the Department of Agriculture – its name was changed to the less military one of the United States Weather Bureau.
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