MN Snowstorm
Here we'll be sharing a memorable Minnesota Snowstorm, or two from contributors to the site. We all have memories, and hopefully mostly fond memories that is, of past snow storms.
Speaking for myself, I remember every snowfall as pretty significant, when I was a young kid. (Early 1970's - 1980's) Every time it snowed, it came off as a snowstorm to me. Get to go out, and play afterwards, and the snow forts we built occupied our time all day. I can't imagine doing that kind of stuff today, and especially not with my old bones.
Here you'll find below, various MN Snowstorm Reports. Some new, some from long ago. Some contributed from readers, and some from past weather reports.
Armistice Day MN Snowstorm November 11th, 1940
This is probably the most well known snow storm, Minnesota has ever talked about decades down the road. The Armistice Day storm, was actually a blizzard in the technical terms, but none the less, it takes a snowstorm to create blizzard conditions, and this storm did just that.
With little, and in my opinions no warning at all. The morning newspaper mentioned cold, and will continue to get colder, with occasional snow. Within 24 hours, it went from 60 degrees, to single digit temperatures. with 2 feet of snow dropped in most parts of the state, communications went down, people were trapped, and many duck hunters lost their lives that day, taking advantage of the mild weather that day, it started out to be.
At one point, all the roads were blocked in the entire sate. There are a lot of stories to tell on this one, and pretty much everyone imaginable. This storm effected the whole region, is was a multi state storm system that wreaked havoc for days. It was truly the day Minnesota stood still, like that old science fiction movie. The Armistice Day Blizzard goes down in Minnesota history, as the top memorable MN snowstorm of the last century, and is continued to this day. Many who went through the storm are long gone, but their memories of it, has certainly passed on, and remembered to this day. It's not the record snowfall, but as far as disastrous situations go, this storm was just that.
Halloween 1991 MN Snowstorm
The Halloween Snowstorm of 1991, is one storm we all remember. Dumping 28 inches of snow on the Twin Cities. Everything was at a standstill, and came to an abrupt halt. Nursing Homes, and Hospitals had employees working 24 hour shifts. This is the record for a total snowfall, for any snowstorm to hit the state, and still holds the record for snowfall in a 24 hour period.
Schools, and business shut down, traffic was snarled for days, and the streets like a war zone in winter,
The cold air from the gulf, met the cold air from Canada, pretty much right above Minnesota, and from there turned in what a meteorologist would call a "Megastorm".
Eight inches of snow, was on the ground before midnight, and before trick or treating finished up, many of the kids were already walking in shoe deep snow. Domino's Pizza didn't honor the 30 minute guarantee that night either, but struggle to deliver the pizza, just as ambitiously as the postal service struggled to deliver mail.
Duluth got a whopping 37 inches, and things didn't grind to a standstill, they went in reverse for the city.
Southern Minnesota faced more of an ice storm impact, and that caused a crippling effect as far down as Northern Iowa.
In total, 22 people were killed, and well over 100 injured from this storm system. Accounts vary, but every major snowstorm, and especially so forceful, fatalities are bound to occur, especially with older age.