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Centennial History Book
Then there were DISASTERS
SIX STUPENDOUS STORMS
February, 1698--- At the end of what one chronicler calls "the terriblest winter ever," eight days of snow bury New England. In the Boston area, 42 inches on the ground. Paralyzing cold. Charles River frozen over.
March, 1717--- Four fearful storms pound the Northeast to a standstill. Many deer floundering in drifts are killed by bears and wolves.
March, 1888--- The granddaddy of all blizzards wreaks havoc from Chesapeake Bay to Maine. Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., innundated. For four days, winds gust 70 mph; total snowfall averages 40 inches. Over 400 deaths - 200 in New York City alone. Train passengers marooned; 200 ships sink.
February, 1923--- Washington state disappears! For one week, furiously drifting snow blots out Seattle (16 inches in one day). It’s one of the worst storms in Washington’s history.
January, 19499--- Westerners say it’s one of the most severe blizzards in memory. For six days, sub-zero temperatures and blinding snowstorms pummel the Great Basin, the Middle Rockies and the Great Plains. Airlifts deliver supplies to marooned communities and hay to starving cattle; 39 people die.
December, 1962 --- Howling winds and zero temperatures follow a heavy two-day storm throughout the Northeast. At Orono, Maine, 40 inches of snowfall in 24 hours. Drifts mount 15 feet. Water pipes freeze from Canada to Virginia. Again, meteorologists agree: it is one of the century’s worst blizzards.
These storms affected Nebraska also. People of Farnam remember these four years, 1888, 1923, 1949 and 1962, as being bad for this area, also.
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