March 19, 2021 --

This March 11th in The Bronx was a sun-splashed, spring-like day with a very mild temperature of 67 degree. 

On March 11, 1888,  things were quite different.  After unseasonably mild weather, it began to snow along the east coast, from Washington, D.C. to Maine. After midnight March 12, the snow turned into a blizzard that dumped 22 inches of snow on New York City, where 200 people died as a result of the storm. 

Albany, New York was hit with 45 inches of snow.  Winds of 45 miles an hour created snow drifts of 30 to 40 feet, covering tops of houses.

In the Gravesend section of Brooklyn, drifts reach 52 feet. 

Transportation was paralyzed for days.  In some places it took a week to clear snow drifts.  The storm took 400 lives and was known as The Blizzard of '88 -- or the Great White Hurricane of 1888. 

March 11

LPR recalls growing up in the 40's and 50's and the New York City press, as March 11 came around, would regularly write commemorative articles about the blizzard of '88.  But just about as many years have elapsed between 1955 and today, as between 1888 and 1955. The year 1888 is beyond individual memory.

Besides, what's a snowstorm in 1888 compared to what the country is experiencing with our Covid-19 pandemic?