The story Winter Thunder was inspired by the winter storm of 1949. There was also a mega-storm to hit Nebraska in 1888. It was called the schoolchildren's blizzard. It was called this because thousands of school children died when an unexpected blizzard had struck while the children tried to get back from school in the blizzard. On winter thunder while the school children were trying to get home, they got stuck in the snow so they had to try to get back home without a bus. They decided to tie their sleeves together so none of them could get lost. According to omaha.com In the blizzard of 1888 A school teacher named Minnie Freeman had also linked her students with twine and led them through the storm to safety at a farmhouse after winds
