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Children's Blizzard 2
Tue Dec 07, 2004
Listen in RealAudio 
Hi, I’m Bryan Yeaton for The Weather Notebook. Today, we continue talking to David
Laskin about his forthcoming book, "The Children’s Blizzard," about a storm that
slammed into the American prairie as a rolling gray wall.
DL: This is the other Blizzard of 1888. The one that most people think of, especially
people from the East Coast, is the one that hit New York City. That one came in March.
This one came in January, and hit a much more primitive part of the country. Still, when
you consider the low population numbers, the fact that as many as 500 people died, is
really quite stunning.
Laskin says that the task of forecasting weather in the late 19th century fell to the U.S.
Signal Corps, a part of the Army.
DL: The guy who was in charge, his name was Thomas Woodruff, he actually did
forecast this storm correctly, and I held his original forecast, written with pen, written on
tissue paper. The problem was there was no way to get the word out.
DL: The most advanced technology of the day was the telegraph, and the railroad lines
actually did telegraph word of the storm and some people were saved, and word got
out, so some parents kept their kids home, but you had to live close enough to a
telegraph office or a rail station, or else close enough to one of the very widely
scattered Weather Bureau stations in order to see the flags that they hoisted. And it
wasn’t even called the Weather Bureau back then.
DL: It was one of the warmest mornings in weeks and weeks. Kids went out without
coats and jackets, and they were just unprepared for the fact that the weather just
changed in a matter of minutes.
"The Children’s Blizzard" is published by Harper Collins. The Weather Notebook is
funded by Subaru of America.
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