It really depends on how you look at it.
At the time, weather calculations, as said earlier, were not as accurate. Meaning, someone could predict a hot and humid day and end up with one that is rainy and cool. It boils down to technology here. They just didn’t have the tools that we use now.
Even if they had predicted the blizzard, there wouldn’t have been much time to prepare, or even issue a warning. Remember, we are talking 1888, before they had fast cars or televisions or radios. Most of the people in this region were spread out or in small towns out of the way. By the time the message would have gotten to some places, it would have been too late, the blizzard might have already hit. And this is saying they did predict accurately.
Now, there have been some reports of unwise actions that might have cost lives. A few of them being that the teachers told the children, after the blizzard had hit, to get home as fast as they could. It might not have been smart to stay in the school house, but it definitely wasn’t to send the children out. With the freezing temperatures they only lasted minutes.
I hate to disagree with you but IF they had predicted the weather with only a small amount of time, I'm sure they could have sent a messenger around yelling "A blizzard is coming, a blizzard is coming!" kind of like what Paul Revere did with the redcoats. It may not have saved a lot more lives but here, every life is special. Maybe the death rate wouldn't have been as high as it was.
ReplyDeleteSince you made a good point that news wouldn't spread quickly, I will go back to my idea. Instead of one person spreading the news as fast as they can all bundled up in case the store hit him, they could have sent a lot of people in different directions. But I wasn't there so neither was my idea.
As I said before, we cannot change the outcome neither can we change the past. I do wish things had been a better outcome but I believe this tragic event happened for a reason. The reason is unknown to me but it reminds us every day of how blessed we are to advance in technology.