Neolithic Shamanism: Spirit Work in the Norse Tradition - Raven Kaldera 2012

Air
Appendix

The Children’s Blizzard, by David Laskin

This deadly storm was known colloquially as the “Children’s Blizzard” after the high percentage of young people whose lives it took. It is a brutal illustration of the raw power of wind and air. On January 12, 1888, a great storm swept across the northern plains, bringing with it near-instant temperature drops of 18 degrees below zero Fahrenheit and wind so powerful that the snow was pulverized into a powder as fine as sifted flower, which killed people and animals by suffocation before the terrible cold could. The storm front hit with such violence that many witnesses likened the wind’s arrival to the sound of a freight train, a staggering thought in any age, but particularly in the late 1800s.

This book is invaluable for students working with wind, air, and weather. With our greatly improved homes, automobiles, and clothing, there is a tendency among modern folk to lose sight of just how much at the mercy of the wind we can truly be.