The Children's Blizzard
The January 12, 1888 blizzard, dubbed the "Children's Blizzard" because so many children died while attempting to walk home from school, was one of the deadliest winter storms in the upper Midwest.
In comparison to the eastern Dakota Territory, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Iowa, the Black Hills area was spared the brunt of the storm. Despite the severity of the storm and its sudden onslaught, no lives were lost in this area, which was remarkable. The majority of people in southwestern Dakota Territory lived in and along the Black Hills, as well as a few towns south of Rapid City, which were safer than the plains. Although many residents were new to the Black Hills, many thought it was the worst storm they had ever seen.
The storm primarily disrupted transportation and communications, effectively isolating the Black Hills region from the rest of the region. For days, deep snow drifts blocked the Fremont, Elkhorn, and Missouri Valley Railroad tracks from Chadron, Nebraska to Rapid City and Whitewood, South Dakota, the only railroad line to the Black Hills. As the storm approached, the Western Union telegraph line went down, preventing information from reaching Rapid City, including the Cold Wave Warning issued by the Signal Office in St. Paul, Minnesota. Telephone service between Black Hills towns remained operational, allowing information to reach the media from outlying areas.
The U.S. Army Signal Corps office had recently moved to Rapid City from Deadwood, with observations starting January 1, 1888. The office was located in the Sweeney Building on the southwest corner of Main and Seventh Streets. Snow began falling in the early morning hours of January 12 and stopped around 11:20 a.m. local time. A total of 1.5 inches of snow was measured, but given the strong winds and the observation location on top of a three-story building, some of it most likely blew away before it could be measured.
As cold air poured into the area, temperatures dropped throughout the day from a high of 14 degrees shortly after midnight. The temperature had dropped to -10 by 8 p.m. The sustained north winds reached 30 miles per hour. The temperature had dropped to -21 degrees by 5 a.m. on January 13. The low temperature that morning was -25 degrees, and the high was only -10 degrees. Several low temperatures in the days following the storm set records that still stand today, and January 1888 ranks as the fifth coldest January in Rapid City.
Type: Extratropical cyclone Blizzard Winter storm
Formed: January 12, 1888
Dissipated: January 13, 1888
Maximum snowfall or ice accretion6 inches (15 cm)
Fatalities: 235 fatalities
Areas affected: Mid-Western US