The North American Winter of 1886-1887
An extract from “The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt “(1979) a biography of United States President Theodore Roosevelt
The haze which had hung over the Badlands all autumn rose to high altitudes in late October, causing weird “dogs” to glow around the sun and the moon. Then, late on the afternoon of 13 November, it turned white and began to sink again, very slowly, cushioned on the dead still air. Only when it touched the Elkhorn bottom, and sent an icy sting into the nostrils of the cattle, did the whiteness prove to be snow—snow powdered so fine and soft that it hovered for hours before settling.
That night the temperature fell below zero, and a sudden gale came down from Canada, blowing curtains of thicker snow before it. By morning the drifts were piling up six or seven feet deep, and the air was so charged with snow that the cattle coughed to breathe it. Some cows stupidly faced north until the blizzard plugged their noses and throats, asphyxiating them.
Continue reading “The Blue Snow”