The Great Snow of 1717 was a series of snowstorms between February 27 and March 7, 1717 (

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) that blanketed the colony of Virginia and the

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colonies with five or more feet (1.5 or more meters) of snow, and much higher drifts. Snowfall may have occurred elsewhere, but settler population was sparse outside of

at that time. The Great Snow is considered one of the

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storms in New England, often compared to the Great Blizzard of 1888 in severity. The Great Snow, depending on the source, began on February 27 or March 1. On February 27 a typical New England

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passed through, with snow falling on some areas and other places receiving a mix of snow, sleet, and rain.Zielinski and Keim, pg. 181 The first major snowstorm occurred on March 1, with another on the 4th, and a third, the worst among the three, on the 7th. At some points, the snow would lighten and stop, but the sky would remain cloudy, showing no signs of clearing. Some of the oldest Native Americans had said that even their ancestors never spoke of a storm of this magnitude.Perley, pg. 33 Boston received around of snow, while some places north of the city reached up to . In

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, the snow was so deep that people could only leave their houses from the second floor on the

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of the house, implying actual snow depths of as much as or more. Many single-story homes were buried completely, without even the chimney showing. On the larger residences, drifts reached the third-story window on the windward side. Large expanses of snow were deep, with some significant drifts deep. The

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s were impassable until at least March 15, with the mailmen describing snow drifts from Boston to Portsmouth more than a week after the storm. Travel was also impossible for a time from

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to Boston. The geographic scope of the storm is unknown, due to the scarce population and poor record-keeping of the day. Most information is known only from private diaries. The snow was known to be several feet deep around

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and Portsmouth, New Hampshire.Perley, pg. 35

Damage and losses

Many livestock lost their lives, either starving or freezing to death under tremendous drifts of snow. As many as 90–95% of the

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in the area died, either from starvation or predators, leading to many towns appointing "deer-

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" to ensure their preservation.Perley, pg. 34 Many orchards were damaged, since the snow covered even the tops of many trees, and animals would graze among the upper branches where they usually could not.

References

Book references

* * * Thoreau, Henry D. (1894).

Walden ''Walden'' (; first published in 1854 as ''Walden; or, Life in the Woods'') is a book by American transcendentalist writer Henry David Thoreau. The text is a reflection upon the author's simple living in natural surroundings. The work is part ...

. Ticknor and Fields: Boston. * {{DEFAULTSORT:1716120117170301 1717 natural disasters 1717-2 18th-century meteorology 1717 in the Thirteen Colonies 1717 in Connecticut 1717 in Massachusetts 1717 in New Hampshire 1717 in Pennsylvania