Editing Blizzard (section)

==== 1851 to 1900 ====
* Plains Blizzard of 1856. December 3–5, 1856. Severe blizzard-like storm raged for three days in Kansas and Iowa. Early pioneers suffered.<ref>The American Weather Book. David Ludlum pg 263</ref>
* "The Cold Storm of 1857" January 18–19, 1857. Produced severe blizzard conditions from North Carolina to Maine. Heavy snowfalls reported in east coast cities.<ref>Northeast Snowstorms, Vol II. Kocin/Uccellini pg 304</ref>
* Midwest Blizzard of 1864. January 1, 1864. Gale-force winds, driving snow, and low temperatures all struck simultaneously around Chicago, Wisconsin and Minnesota.<ref>The American Weather Book. David Ludlum pg 6</ref>
* Plains Blizzard of 1873. January 7, 1873. Severe blizzard struck the Great Plains. Many pioneers from the east were unprepared for the storm and perished in Minnesota and Iowa.<ref name="The American Weather Book pg 7">The American Weather Book. David Ludlum pg 7</ref>
* Great Plains Easter Blizzard of 1873. April 13, 1873
* Seattle Blizzard of 1880. January 6, 1880. Seattle area's greatest snowstorm to date. An estimated {{convert|4|ft|cm}} fell around the town. Many barns collapsed and all transportation halted.<ref name="The American Weather Book pg 7"/>
* The [[Hard Winter of 1880-81]]. October 15, 1880. A blizzard in eastern South Dakota marked the beginning of this historically difficult season. [[Laura Ingalls Wilder]]'s book ''[[The Long Winter (novel)|The Long Winter]]'' details the effects of this season on early settlers.
* In the three year winter period from December 1885 to March 1888, the Great Plains and Eastern United States suffered a series of the worst blizzards in this nation's history ending with the [[Schoolhouse Blizzard]] and the [[Great Blizzard of 1888]]. The massive explosion of the volcano [[1883 eruption of Krakatoa|Krakatoa]] in the South Pacific late in August 1883 is a suspected cause of these huge blizzards during these several years. The clouds of ash it emitted continued to circulate around the world for many years. Weather patterns continued to be chaotic for years, and temperatures did not return to normal until 1888. Record rainfall was experienced in Southern California during July 1883 to June 1884. The Krakatoa eruption injected an unusually large amount of sulfur dioxide (SO2) gas high into the stratosphere which reflects sunlight and helped cool the planet over the next few years until the suspended atmospheric sulfur fell to ground.
* Plains Blizzard of late 1885. In Kansas, heavy snows of late 1885 had piled drifts {{convert|10|ft|m}} high.<ref name="kshs.org">{{cite web|url=https://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/blizzard-of-1886/11982|title=Blizzard of 1886 - Kansapedia - Kansas Historical Society|website=www.kshs.org|access-date=11 May 2018}}</ref>
* Kansas Blizzard of 1886. First week of January 1886. Reported that 80 percent of the cattle were frozen to death in that state alone from the cold and snow.<ref name="kshs.org"/>
* [[January 1886 blizzard|January 1886 Blizzard]]. January 9, 1886. Same system as Kansas 1886 Blizzard that traveled eastward.
* Great Plains Blizzards of late 1886. On November 13, 1886, it reportedly began to snow and did not stop for a month in the Great Plains region.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~insrisg/nature/nw04/0119Blizzards.htm|title=Blizzard Years|website=www.acsu.buffalo.edu|access-date=11 May 2018}}</ref>
* Great Plains Blizzard of 1887. January 9–11, 1887. Reported 72-hour blizzard that covered parts of the Great Plains in more than {{convert|16|in|cm}} of snow. Winds whipped and temperatures dropped to around {{convert|-50|F|C}}. So many cows that were not killed by the cold soon died from starvation. When spring arrived, millions of the animals were dead, with around 90 percent of the open range's cattle rotting where they fell. Those present reported carcasses as far as the eye could see. Dead cattle clogged up rivers and spoiled drinking water. Many ranchers went bankrupt and others simply called it quits and moved back east. The "Great Die-Up" from the blizzard effectively concluded the romantic period of the great Plains cattle drives.<ref>{{cite web
| title=The 1887 Blizzard That Changed the American Frontier Forever
| url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/1887-blizzard-changed-american-frontier-forever-1-180953852/?no-ist
| first=Laura | last=Clark | work=smithsonianmag.com | publisher=[[Smithsonian (magazine)|Smithsonian]] | date=January 9, 2015
}}
</ref>
*[[Schoolhouse Blizzard|Schoolhouse Blizzard of 1888]] North American Great Plains. January 12–13, 1888. What made the storm so deadly was the timing (during work and school hours), the suddenness, and the brief spell of warmer weather that preceded it. In addition, the very strong wind fields behind the cold front and the powdery nature of the snow reduced visibilities on the open plains to zero. People ventured from the safety of their homes to do chores, go to town, attend school, or simply enjoy the relative warmth of the day. As a result, thousands of people—including many schoolchildren—got caught in the blizzard.
*[[Great Blizzard of 1888|Great Blizzard of March 1888]] March 11–14, 1888. One of the most severe recorded blizzards in the history of the United States. On March 12, an unexpected northeaster hit New England and the mid-Atlantic, dropping up to {{convert|50|in|cm|abbr=on|}} of snow in the space of three days. New York City experienced its heaviest snowfall recorded to date at that time, all street railcars were stranded, and the storm led to the creation of the NYC subway system. Snowdrifts reached up to the second story of some buildings. Some 400 people died from this blizzard, including many sailors aboard vessels that were beset by gale-force winds and turbulent seas.
*[[Great Blizzard of 1899]] February 11–14, 1899. An extremely unusual blizzard in that it reached into the far southern states of the US. It hit in February, and the area around Washington, D.C., experienced 51 hours straight of snowfall. The port of New Orleans was totally iced over; revelers participating in the New Orleans [[Mardi Gras]] had to wait for the parade routes to be shoveled free of snow. Concurrent with this blizzard was the extremely cold arctic air. Many city and state record low temperatures date back to this event, including all-time records for locations in the Midwest and South. State record lows: Nebraska reached {{convert|-47|F|C}}, Ohio experienced {{convert|-39|F|C}}, Louisiana bottomed out at {{convert|-16|F|C}}, and Florida dipped below zero to {{convert|-2|F|C}}.