What were the weather conditions?

This is a more difficult question to answer, but I’ll do my best.

First, you’ll need a basic understanding of certain components of weather. We’ll start with the basic things a blizzard needs. To get one you need three things; cold air at the surface, a lot of moisture, and lift. Just like any other storm you need warm air to rise over the cool air.

Next, you’ll need to understand pressure systems. There are two named types. Low and high. There is no way to measure them, so it is only a relative guess. The air from a high pressure system tends to flow to a low pressure system. In the case of a blizzard, two strong systems, a low and a high, become too close to each other.

The air tries to flow from the high pressure system into the low, but due to the Earth’s rotation the air turns to the right (if in the Northern Hemisphere) and the winds flow around the low pressure system instead of directly toward it.

In January of 1888, cold air pushed over the Canadian Rocky Mountains, bringing a cold wave that engulfed Montana, the Dakotas, and Minnesota. This, combined with an unseasonably mild mass of tropical air traveling from the south, created this terrible blizzard.

The cold wave caused temperatures to drop to -40 F and gale force winds to sweep across the prairies.  This clash of powerful weather systems had caused a monster blizzard.