Generally Speaking: The Great Blizzard of 1888

January 29, 2015 Theodore W. General
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As we filed this week’s column, there were wild predictions that the snowstorm we just had earlier this week would be one of the worst ever! However, all one has to do is to go back in history to see that the worst snowstorm in recorded weather history for the cities of Brooklyn and New York and most of the Northeast section of the Country took place during the great blizzard of 1888.

Back on March 11, 1888, the Northeast was whopped with nearly 30 inches of snow. However, the city of New York, the then-independent city of Brooklyn, plus Long Island reportedly experienced some wind gusts as high as 85 miles per hour, resulting in snow drifts as high as 55 inches.

Looking at the photo taken by Samuel Winter Thomas, a prominent business entrepreneur and also editor of the Bay Ridge Chronicle, it was apparently even higher in areas of Bay Ridge. Sadly, 400 people perished during that monstrous blizzard.

Some historians refer to the blizzard of March 12, 1993, as the largest snowstorm of the 20th century. Will this one be the worst of the 21st? The current century is much too young for any reasonable person to make that prediction and/or assessment!


 

Congressmember Peter King, chair of the House Sub-Committee on Counter Terrorism and Intelligence, will be the principal speaker at the 115th anniversary dinner of the Cathedral Club of Brooklyn, on Thursday evening, February 5, at the New York Marriott Marquis in Manhattan.

Photo courtesy of office of Congress Member King
Photo courtesy of office of Congress Member King

Prior keynote speakers have included then Senators John F. Kennedy, Daniel Moynihan, Al D’Amato, Joe Lieberman, Lyndon Johnson and Daniel Inouye, Vice President Hubert Humprey, Governors Hugh Carey and George Pataki, Mayors John Lindsay and Rudy Giuliani, Congressmembers Geraldine Ferraro and Thomas Manton, NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly and City Council Speaker Peter Vallone.

For reservations or additional information, call 917-402-9086.


 

Bay Ridge Attorney Matt Daus, former chair of the NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission and Taxi Commissioner, was recently re-elected as president of the International Association of Transportation Regulators (IATR).  Daus is also a partner in the law firm of Windels Marx Lane and Mittendorf.

68th Precinct Community Council President Ilene Sacco announced at the council’s monthly meeting that stalwart Jackie Tirotta has replaced Arlene Keating as the council treasurer.

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