Accurate details in Wilders novel include the blizzards frequency and the deep cold, the Chicago and North Western Railway stopping trains until the spring thaw because the snow made the tracks impassable, the near-starvation of the townspeople, and the courage of her future husband Almanzo and another man, who ventured out on the open prairie in search of a cache of wheat that no one was even sure existed. The October blizzard brought snowfalls so deep that two-story homes had snow up to the second floor windows. No one was prepared for the deep snow so early in the season and farmers all over the region were caught before their crops had even been harvested, their grain milled, or with their fuel supplies for the winter in place. By January the train service was almost entirely suspended from the region. Railroads hired scores of men to dig out the tracks but it was a wasted effort: As soon as they had finished shoveling a stretch of line, a new storm arrived, filling up the line and leaving their work useless. There were no winter thaws and on February 2, 1881, a second massive blizzard struck that lasted for nine days. In the towns the streets were filled with solid drifts to the tops of the buildings and tunneling was needed to secure passage about town. Homes and barns were completely covered, compelling farmers to tunnel to reach and feed their stock.
January 2016 United States blizzard January 20–23, 2016
February 2016 North American storm complex February 1–8, 2016
February 2017 North American blizzard February 6–11, 2017
March 2017 North American blizzard March 9–16, 2017
Early January 2018 nor’easter January 3–6, 2018
March 2019 North American blizzard March 8–16, 2019
April 2019 North American blizzard April 10–14, 2019

2020 to present
December 5–6, 2020 noreaster December 5–6, 2020
January 31 – February 3, 2021 noreaster January 31 – February 3, 2021
February 13–17, 2021 North American winter storm February 13–17, 2021
March 2021 North American blizzard March 11–14, 2021
January 2022 North American blizzard January 27–30, 2022

Canada
The Eastern Canadian Blizzard of 1971 – Dumped a foot and a half (45.7 cm) of snow on Montreal and more than two feet (61 cm) elsewhere in the region. The blizzard caused the cancellation of a Montreal Canadiens hockey game for the first time since 1918. Saskatchewan blizzard of 2007 – January 10, 2007 Canada

United Kingdom
Great Frost of 1709
Blizzard of January 1881
Winter of 1894–95 in the United Kingdom
Winter of 1946–1947 in the United Kingdom
Winter of 1962–1963 in the United Kingdom
January 1987 Southeast England snowfall
Winter of 1990–91 in Western Europe
February 2009 Great Britain and Ireland snowfall
Winter of 2009–10 in Great Britain and Ireland
Winter of 2010–11 in Great Britain and Ireland
Early 2012 European cold wave

Other locations
1954 Romanian blizzard
1972 Iran blizzard
Winter of 1990–1991 in Western Europe
2008 Afghanistan blizzard
2008 Chinese winter storms
Winter storms of 2009–2010 in East Asia

See also
Cold wave
Lake-effect snow
Noreaster
European windstorm
Whiteout (weather)
Blowing snow advisory
Ground blizzard
Severe weather terminology (Canada)
Snowsquall
Blowing snow
List of blizzards

References
External links

Digital Snow Museum Photos of historic blizzards and snowstorms.