The Blizzard Reference Guide

A fact-checked 11-page guide to what the US National Weather Service means by a blizzard, how the conditions form, and the sourced records of 1888 and 1940, with public-domain photographs. Safety wording is quoted guidance, not a substitute for official local warnings.

What’s inside:

- How to use this guide

- A warning is not a nickname

- How the conditions form

- Nor’easters and East Coast storms

- The Children’s Blizzard, 12 January 1888

- The Great Blizzard of March 1888

- New York and New England after the storm

- The Armistice Day Storm, 11 November 1940

- A contrast, and the limits of this guide

- Credits and sources

Pages: 11 (A4) / 11 (US Letter). Formats: A4 (210 × 297 mm) and US Letter (8.5 × 11 in), both PDFs included in one zip.

Printing: Print at 100% / actual size on A4 or US Letter. Most inside pages use light backgrounds and print well in black and white; the cover is dark, so print that in colour or skip it to save ink.

Every fact is written in our own words and checked on 15 November 2026 against the National Weather Service Glossary; NWS winter warning and safety pages; NWS Heritage, “The Blizzards of 1888”; Homestead National Historical Park; NWS La Crosse and Chicago on the Armistice Day Storm; NWS “What is a Nor’easter?”; NWS Flagstaff; and NWS Baltimore/Washington DC Winters. The sources are listed on the credits page.

All photographs and maps in this pack are in the public domain, resized with no other changes. The historical weather map in the activity pack is a historical weather map, not a photograph.

Safety wording is quoted National Weather Service guidance, and is not a substitute for official local warnings. This pack is independent and is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, the National Weather Service, NOAA, the National Park Service, or Homestead National Historical Park.

Licence: personal use. Print as many copies as you need for yourself and your household. Please don’t resell, re-upload or share it publicly. For club, school or commercial use, please email info@reallybyte.com.

Made by REALLYBYTE, the team behind blizzards.storms.im. Questions: info@reallybyte.com

No pop-ups. No intrusive advertising. Just interesting stuff.

This is a digital download: no physical item will be shipped.

Price: $5.99 USD.