In All Its Fury: A History of the Blizzard of January 12, 1888

The morning of January 12, 1888, walm and warm. School children played outdoors in shirt sleeves. Then literally without warning, the storm roared down from Canada at 50 miles per hour. Temperatures dropped 36 degrees. Snow up to 8 inches covered the Great Plains. Furious winds swirled the snow into a blinding, life-threatening blizzard. More than 1,000 people died.