“Extreme cold has a fairly simple formula” (75), states Laskin. The lack of sunlight in the winter, the phenomenon of cold wind deflecting warmer breezes, the flatness of the Great Plains, and snow’s reflection of sunlight back up into the atmosphere all intermingle to create intense cold conditions. All of those conditions were present at the start of January 1888. It was colder than average, with high pressure from Canada pushing the cold, dense air into the Great Plains.

Laskin points out that the purpose of weather is to create equilibrium in Earth’s atmosphere. Pressure differences try to resolve themselves, temperature differentials try to balance out, and winds move air around to address both of these issues. The irregularity of the planet’s surface adds to the imbalance, creating infinite variables that make a stable, predictable equilibrium an impossibility.

Though storms are the product of this striving for balance, many other factors play into their formation. The sun’s radiation, the ways that geographical formations deflect and guide wind, and the propensity of high and low pressure air systems to form enormous centers with radiating waves of different types of pressure, all combine to create the unique character of every storm.