On Sunday, March 11, 1888, the people of Massachusetts were thinking of spring. The weather had been unseasonably warm. Crocuses were up in Boston, and farmers had begun to prepare their fields. The winter had already delivered a news-breaking storm—the great "Schoolhouse" Blizzard that had killed 235 people in Nebraska.

That night a gentle rain began to fall across the state. Early Monday morning, the rain turned to heavy snow. By afternoon whiteout conditions brought life to a standstill in central and western Massachusetts. Moving from west to east, the blizzard reached Boston by nightfall. Monster waves battered the coastline.

As the weather system that spawned the storm stalled off Rhode Island, up to four feet of snow fell on Massachusetts. Howling winds blew it into drifts up to 50 feet high. The snow reached the second floor of many buildings; in some places only chimneys were visible.

With temperatures in the single digits and the wind gusting up to 80 mph, the wind-chill factor was lethal. People who ventured outside became disoriented, or stuck in fast-building drifts; some froze to death. Passengers trapped in stranded railroad cars burned the seats and other wooden components to stave off the cold.