Weather Update: Horror Stories

Several weather events documented throughout history still cause chills down your spine but the two that stick out in my mind the most are rooted in two very different kinds of weather systems: a Pacific snow storm and a tropical hurricane.

The Donner Party

Extreme weather conditions in the Sierra Nevadas set the stage for a tale of hardship and gruesome reality.

In mid April 1846, a group of pioneers from the Midwest set out on a journey in search of a better life for themselves beyond the Rockies. A sixty-year old farmer named George Donner was chosen as the wagon train’s captain and the expedition took his name, becoming known as the Donner Party.

Before leaving Illinois, the group decided to take a newly discovered route through the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range that was expected to cut as many as three hundred miles off their journey west. In an average year the Sierra Nevada Mountain range along the border of California and Nevada can receive in excess of 72 inches of snow, with a record snowfall of 884 inches (73.7 feet) in 1906. “Sierra Nevada” is Spanish for “snowy range” and has recorded some of the heaviest snowfalls in the world.

As the Donner Party approached the summit of the Sierra Mountains near what is now Donner Lake, formerly known as Truckee Lake, they found the pass to be clogged with new-fallen snow up to six feet deep.

The wagon train splintered into smaller groups, erected makeshift cabins and began to hoard their limited supply of food as the snow reached a depth of as much as twenty feet. Hunting and foraging were impossible and soon they slaughtered the oxen. When the meat was consumed, starvation set in, and with no other remedy at hand, the survivors resorted to cannibalism, consuming the bodies of those who had succumbed to starvation and illness.

Of the 89 people who set out to build a better life for themselves, only 45 reached California.

The Galveston Hurricane

On September 8, 1900, the greatest loss of life from a weather event in the history of the United States occurred in Galveston Texas.

At the time of the storm the highest point in the city of Galveston was only 8.7 feet above sea level. The hurricane brought with it a storm surge of over 15 feet, which washed over the entire island. Over 3,600 homes were destroyed.

Reports of the massive storm came in from ships in the Caribbean via telegraph but without the benefit of radar, no one could be sure of its direction. The director of the National Weather Bureau in Galveston, Isaac Cline, knew the island of 36,000 was in danger.  He took it upon himself to travel along the beach and other low-lying areas to personally warn citizens about possible danger from the approaching storm.

Regardless of his efforts, it is believed anywhere from 8,000 to 12,000 people had lost their lives in the hurricane. Most had drowned or been crushed as the waves destroyed their homes. Many survived the storm itself but died after being trapped under the wreckage of the city. It is said that the rescuers could hear the screams of the survivors as they walked on the debris trying to rescue those they could.

So many died that corpses were piled onto carts for burial at sea, but the gulf currents washed many of the bodies back onto the beach. Funeral pyres were set up on the beaches and burned day and night for several weeks.

The Galveston Hurricane of 1900 remains the deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history.