Blizzard

a severe snowstorm. A genuine blizzard is heralded by a mild thaw drawn suddenly to a close by a black, lowering sky, and is characterized by a furious wind, blinding fine snow, and extreme cold. The famous blizzard of January, 1888, extended from North Dakota to Texas. The thermometer fell suddenly in localities from 74 deg. F. to --40 deg. F. The total loss of human life is not known, but 235 deaths were recorded. Snow sifted through the walls of straw stables and packed in around the animals as they stood. Only the stoutest survived until dug out. Many cattle, tramping the snow beneath them, broke out through the flat straw roofs and fled before the storm. Some reached groves and other places of safety. Others were impaled on fences or fell into ravines, where they were found the next spring. The storm overwhelmed the cattle of the plains, involving the loss of millions of dollars. Branch railroad lines were so buried in snow that trains were abandoned till spring released them from the drifts. Heavy snowstorms along the Atlantic coast not infrequently block traffic, break down telegraph wires, and cause much loss of life and property. The velocity of the wind is quite as high, but the eastern storm lacks the extreme cold and the dust-like penetration of fine, dry snow that characterizes the western blizzard. See Snow; Wind; Weather Bureau