Factors that made the death toll from the blizzard higher than expected Analysis

Factors that made the death toll from the blizzard higher than expected
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The Great Blizzard that occurred on 12th January 1888 and was named the “Children’s Blizzard” was the worst recorded blizzard in the United States. The weather, which started as unseasonably warm on the day, quickly turned into a windy storm with blocks of ice falling and a temperature plunge of below 40degrees, which paralyzed the Chesapeake Bay to Maine. The blizzard caused untold suffering and the deaths of over five hundred people, a death toll so high due to warm weather before the storm, lack of efficient meteorological and warning systems, and bad luck.
The warm weather on this day primarily contributed to the high death toll of the blizzard. On 11th January, a mass of mild tropical air moved from the Gulf of Mexico, sweeping across Texas and Oklahoma. As a result, temperatures rose and what was always a winter month by the morning of 12th January was all sunshine. School-going children abandoned their jackets, gloves, and warm clothes for light and sleeveless ones, while farmers carried out their activities far into the fields dressed only in underclothing. With the warm weather, people went on their lives, oblivious of what would happen later. Consequently, the sunny skies suddenly turned into a nightmare with strong winds and ice crystals blowing over the land at midday. The storm found lightly dressed children going home from school and farmers far deep in the farms unprepared. Hence, most of them succumbed to...