Question for Fans of Laura Ingalls Wilder

[Once Again]

I've loved her books since childhood. We've been working through the series with my oldest, and just finished "The Long Winter". Rereading it as an adult has made me wonder about her descriptions of the blizzards. Do they really start as abruptly as she describes and maintain white out conditions for days at a time? Or was this just for dramatic purposes?

[Elizabeth in MN]

From what I've read it was a realistic description of that year.

[OrganicAnn]

Given where she lived, I think it is not unreasonable. I've seen winter storms come up quickly. Some winters are just harsher than others. We're so used to snow ploughs and good roads. It probably wouldn't have taken much to snowbound people back then.

[cathmom]

Yes, I've done some reading about the Dust Bowl recently, and the books described winter storms that came up suddenly like that on the prairies.

[Caitilin]

I live about an hour and a half from where she lived, and yes, it's believable. It would have to be a very hard winter, but it's believable. Remember, too, that there were very few trees, let alone buildings, out here then to break the wind, and the wind, as in Oklahoma, does come sweeping down the plains. Winter in the Dakotas, especially in rural areas, is nothing to sneeze at. :)

[DianeW88]

Yes, they do! Particularly during that year. Google it and see some of the descriptions.....apparently that was one of the worst winters on record! BTW, that is one of my favorite LIW books!

 

Diane W.

married for 22 years

homeschooling 3 kiddos for 16 years

[Julie Kirkwood]

I'm reading The Long Winter now, too and was wondering the same thing. I bought LIW's first two books to use for read alouds to my kids during the coming year and could not put them down, so now I'm working my way through the series as a grown up. :001_smile:

[GoVanGogh]

I've not read the book, but was born and raised in the midwest. (And moved south as soon as I could!)

I remember being caught on the interstate between towns in a blizzard when I was 18-years-old and a fairly new driver. That storm came up so quickly that I didn't even have a winter coat with me.

The midwest had a terrible time last winter, with multiple blizzards back-to-back. My brother and his family were snowed in for over a week during one of the storms, as the county couldn't even get to their road. They had to climb out a window at one point (needed to get out for farm chores), as they couldn't get their doors open due to the amount of snow blown up against it.

[Gooblink]

Yes, I recently read the series, too. :)

 

I lived in the U.P. of MI and one winter night went to bed under clear skies, woke up to my car being buried under snow and my front door blocked nearly to the top.

 

When blizzards were predicted, we usually left work way before it was expected to arrive - conditions deteriorate very rapidly.

 

It seems that the long winter she writes about was an exceptionally bad one.

[JFSinIL]

Yes, and not just because it was a very bad winter, but also on the plains, with not much to see but land and sky in the first place, a heavy blowing snow could make white-out conditions easily.

 

I am on a street full of homes, and we have had times during storms when the houses across the street almost disappeared.

[kalanamak]

Remember, too, that there were very few trees, let alone buildings, out here then to break the wind,

 

When I lived in Kansas, we were hit by the pressure front that was so dramatic, the lightbulbs burst in the house. The air was a different color, and you could see a wedge of it plowing towards us from the NW. The whole house boomed, too. Rather dramatic.

[JustGin]

I have no experience with this, but I highly recommend the book "The Children's Blizzard" by David Laskin. Though this event took place 8 years after the year of the "Long Winter", the author does an excellent job of describing the weather conditions of and storm patterns of that region and time.

[Jeanne in MN]

I'm from SW MN-and the winter of '96-'97 was horrible for storms. They were frequent, carried a lot of snow and it was constant trying to move it and keep cleaned out. My dad farms and had hogs at the time. If my folks ever went away overnight, someone had to stay overnight at the farm in case it stormed so someone could be there for the livestock.

 

My brother and sil had such a hard time getting snow cleaned out at their acreage that they finally gave up, would park their cars at a neighbors on the highway and they'd take a snowmobile back and forth to their home. The day the giant Caterpillar came to clear their roads of snow in the spring, my brother called in excitement to tell us.

 

I remember there being so much snow, we had to get up on my dad's barn roofs and scoop off the snow because they were caving in. We got one roof cleared off in time, part of one barn did cave in and a nearby brother lost half of his machine shed due to the roof caving in. My dad even bought a snow blower to help clear the snow off the roofs because there was so much snow and it needed to get off quickly.

 

Craziest winter I'd ever seen and this was only 13 years ago. I can't even begin to imagine what it would've been like in LIW's time without weather forecasts, tractors, snow blowers, snowmobiles, snow plows, etc. to at least help.

[Jeanne in MN]

That is one of the saddest books I've ever read because of the children, and one of the most fascinating because of the weather.

 

I have no experience with this, but I highly recommend the book "The Children's Blizzard" by David Laskin. Though this event took place 8 years after the year of the "Long Winter", the author does an excellent job of describing the weather conditions of and storm patterns of that region and time.

[mom2abcd]

It's totally possible. Nebraska has a long history of storms like the one described in that book. If you travel along the interstate in Nebraska today you will see that they have gates that can close the interstate at a moment's notice. I have been on the interstate in white-out conditions that came up suddenly. The old-timers have all kinds of stories of danger and God's provision. I remember a winter where the snow drifted so deep that when they cut through to the road, there were 6' walls on either side of the road. This is wind-packed snow. They carried off the snow that was ON the road.

 

I've spent winters in Montana, too, where plowed snow regularly reached 6' deep along the street, but the Nebraska prairie winters and the harsh snowstorms are the worst I've ever experienced.

[duckens]

We're so used to snow ploughs and good roads. It probably wouldn't have taken much to snowbound people back then.

We're also very used to weather reports available 24hours/day online, and several times a day on tv. We can know days in advance whether it will be sunny, rainy, cold, or hot. If the weather is expected to be bad, we can run to the grocery store early to make sure that we have enough bread and milk.

 

There is also the ribbon of cancellations/delays along the bottom of the tv screen that occur in the hours before a big storm is fully upon us.

 

In recent flooding in our town, the city website gets an A+ from me because they posted and updated often which roads were flooded out. If one had to leave the house, one could plan one's route...or just cancel appointments (because we knew we COULDN'T get out). Due to several broken watermains, the website also posted a boil-water alert and regular press notices within a couple of hours.

 

Those who were at risk for flooding received automated phone calls from the city in the middle of the night to pack up and move out within the hour.

 

Due to instantaneous communications and a well-coordinated emergency system (police/fire/ambulance/hospital), we did not see any of the tragedy that occurred simultaneously in Pakistan.

 

Weather forecasts, instantaneous communication, mass media (the news), and modern roads/snowplows have made extreme weather manageable.