![]() Snow covers an old tractor Octoin Putney, Vermont. Gale force winds buffeted the New Jersey and Delaware coastlines. Heavy, wet snow aided by strong winds resulted in tree and power line damage across northern New Jersey and northeast Pennsylvania by Saturday afternoon as the low-pressure system churned northward along the mid-Atlantic coast. The storm began on the 28th, but most of its fury was felt on the 29th. Usually, those in the northeast aren't thinking about snow as they decide on their Halloween costumes, but in 2011, many areas had snow on the ground as trick-or-treaters roamed the chilly neighborhoods. The blizzard ranks second on the Northeast Snowfall Impact Scale, behind the 1993 storm. Many of those deaths were those who suffered heart attacks while shoveling snow. In all, more than 150 people were killed in the storm, according to the National Weather Service. Snow totals measured 21 inches in Central Park. ![]() Weather Bureau gave the storm the name the "Great Atlantic storm," but because it lingered through five high-tide cycles, it was also known as the "Five High Storm", according to NOAA.ĭuring the height of the storm, New York City was completely cut off from the rest of the country for two days as all its airports, roads and trains were shut down, stranding hundreds of travelers. The storm was uniquely destructive in that it combined the powers of a strong low pressure timed near the astronomically high tides near the spring equinox to create catastrophic tidal surges along the mid-Atlantic coast. Weather Bureau - the precursor to today's National Weather Service - was signed in to law as part of the Department of Agriculture. That prompted the government to move the Signal Service from the War Department "to improve forecasting and preparedness efforts." Two years later, the U.S. Signal Service – in charge of weather forecasts in those days – failed to issue cold weather warnings ahead of that blizzard and another that had hit the Northern Plains two months earlier. More than 400 people died, and more than 200 ships were destroyed up and down the Eastern Seaboard. As a result, there were numerous accounts of people stranded and freezing to death." "As the economy was struggling, most workers went to their jobs regardless of the weather conditions. ![]() "The storm became legendary in New York City," Valley wrote in his recap of the storm. Snow totals reached incredible amounts of 40-50 inches across parts of New England with wind gusts of 50 mph creating snowdrifts as high as 30-40 feet deep, Valley said. Jordan/Library of Congress/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images)Īnd then the snow just didn't stop. The biggest storm to hit the eastern US in the 19th century. Snow covers a street and blows against a row of apartment houses surrounding Trinity Church during the Blizzard of 1888.
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