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High winds whip the snow across a New York City street during the Great Blizzard of 1888. Easy to see why people called it the White Hurricane! The blizzard caused more than $20 million in property damage in NYC alone and killed more than 400 people, including about 100 sailors, across the eastern seaboard. The snowfall began on the night of Sunday, March 11, and continued until the city was blanketed with 22 inches of snow. Other areas experienced as much as 40 to 50 inches. Sustained high winds and temperatures far below freezing exacerbated the dangerous situation. In New York, winds averaged 40 miles per hour and gusted up to 80 miles per hour. The winds devastated power and telegraph lines and produced snowdrifts as high as 50 feet. The blizzard’s impact was so monumental that, until 1969, survivors met to commemorate the storm’s anniversary. 

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