The Children's Blizzard

Laskin states that “an evil genius could not have devised a more perfect battleground” (118) for clashing weather fronts than the North American prairie. Cold fronts in particular are known to move so quickly through the region that water freezes in ripples and small animals find their feet frozen to the ground. When such an extreme cold front is combined with harsh blizzard snow, the conditions easily become fatal.

Storms often have warning signs created by the change in atmospheric pressure, like cirrus clouds or a smell in the air. However, when a cold front moves as rapidly as this one, there is little to no warning before it suddenly begins. The warm air moving northward created perfect conditions for a storm of incomprehensible magnitude. Lieutenant Woodruff sent his predictions to the Western Union to be translated into Morse code as usual at midnight before the dawn of January 12. Though he accurately predicted a “cold wave,” he could not comprehend the scale of the front moving his way. No meteorological technology at the time could have been helpful in understanding the scope of the approaching blizzard.

For the citizens of the Great Plain states, the warm front that would tragically clash with the cold was a welcome break from the harsh winter.