The history of the snow myth is a sad and sordid tale.  In the year 1880, two native New Yorkers by the name of Thomas Simmons and Edwin Lansyth conspired to play a practical joke on one of Simmons cousins who had recently gone to California to find his fortune. They fabricated tales of a great "vengeance from God" turning New England into a white frozen wasteland after his departure. To add credence, they purchased several thousand pounds of cotton and photographed it in the streets of New York city. In honor of the farmer who delivered the cotton, an immigrant to Tennessee named Brian Lizzardo, they called the phenomenon a "Blizzard", and the myth was born. Many historians believe it was Lizzardo himself who sent the idea back to Europe in letters to family about the prank.