Shot in the Dark

Happy Anniversary!

Nobody who was in Minnesota in 1991 needs to be reminded; today’s the 25th anniversary of the Halloween Blizzard.

I’m not sure if the blizzard caught everyone by surprise, but it sure fooled me.  I remember seeing the first snowflake that morning as I picked my mom up for the airport – she was back from Turkey – against a fairly pleasant-looking October sky.

By that evening, we were thoroughly stuck out at my in-laws, with a 3 month old, a 10 year old, my at-the-time wife and my mother.

For three days.

So yeah, I remember it.

On a more clinical note?  I did not know that the Halloween blizzard was in part a consequence of the so-called “Perfect Storm” of Hollywood fame.

Enjoy the relatively warm day!

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Mitch Berg

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10 responses to “Happy Anniversary!”

  1. Joe Doakes Avatar
    Joe Doakes

    My son went to a Halloween Party at a Lisa P.’s house, a dozen High School boys and girls (parents were home to supervise). Snowed in for three days until the township plow came through. Talked to the Dad later – it was like locusts, ate everything in the house.

  2. bosshoss429 Avatar
    bosshoss429

    I lived in Richfield at the time and the set back of my detached garage, I had a long, wide driveway. With some help from my wife and sister in law, (who decided to stay overnight at our house after she and my wife took our kids out trick or treating and her clothes were soaked), and even though I was in far better physical condition than I am today, it still took almost 2 hours to do it. As soon as I could get one, I broke down and bought a snow blower. I’m still using it today.

  3. Deplorable Swiftee Avatar
    Deplorable Swiftee

    My first year in MN, fresh from Cali. I thought 3 ft. a night was normal, so I jumped into my newly acquired, Minnesota approved winter beater and drove in to work in Minneapolis from St. Francis. Of course when I got there no one was there, so I waited for an hour and drove home.

    The first year I moved to real America, it snowed approx .125″. Drove in the 8 miles to work and it was closed down. It was melted by afternoon, but work stayed closed for two days. You couldn’t find a gallon of milk or a loaf of bread to be had for 300 miles. But we had plenty of beer, and pizza was being delivered.

    I love the South.

  4. Mr. D Avatar
    Mr. D

    Mrs. D and I lived in Chicago then. We had a light mist that day and watched the news reports with amazement.

    We moved to Minnesota exactly a year later, on November 1, 1992. That day, as our van got to our new apartment in St. Paul, we arrived in the midst of a storm that changed from rain to snow in the afternoon and dumped about 6 inches of snow, if I remember correctly. I almost wanted to turn the van around.

  5. jdege Avatar
    jdege

    I remember looking out at the blizzard, about five, and figuring I’d work late to avoid the mess on the drive home.

    Didn’t work.

  6. Scott Hughes Avatar
    Scott Hughes

    If I remember correctly the temperature on Halloween day was in the upper 60 – 70’s. The storm prediction started out a 6 – 8″ of snow, updated to 12-14″, then further updated to 24″+. By the time the storm wound down I had drifts upward of 5′ in my long rural driveway and the snow was of the very heavy wet greasy type. It was 3 days before the county cleared the axis road and my neighbor could get over and dig us out with his old tractor.

    Swiftee: I was only a relatively few miles north of St. Francis, Anoka County cleared the roads way faster than Isanti County was able to. Most of those that tried to get out on the road found themselves digging out of the ditch and returning home before they got to any clear roads.

    I think is was early May before all the snow from that season melted away!

  7. reader15 Avatar
    reader15

    Being fairly new at my job I didn’t even consider taking the next day off. I hopped my usual bus at 44th and France. It went OK until we got to East Calhoun Parkway. Two buses were stuck sideways, completely blocking the road and making it look like an MTC parking lot with my bus and others standing still.

    Because of the long walk to my bus stop I was well dressed. The driver let me off the bus and I walked five miles to my office downtown. In uptown I ran into a few other workers walking to downtown and I joined the small group.

    Few people made it to work that day. The manager called and said lunch and dinner were on him. We stayed late to finish work of those who couldn’t make it and to wait for roads to be cleared.

    All in all it it was a fun adventure. I’m glad I only had to do it once though.

  8. Chuck Avatar
    Chuck

    I graduated from college that year and had my first tiny apartment in Superior, Wisc. Today I wouldn’t mind being stuck at home for 2 – 3 days, but back then I didn’t have a lot to do in that small apartment. So a couple of times a day I’d put on my ski pants and boots, and walk through 4-5 foot drifts to a nearby convenience store to purchase beer and snacks. And just get outside. In hindsight I wish I had taken my camera out and taken photos. Especially when the snow plows started coming through and buried cars parked along the streets.

  9. DMA Avatar
    DMA

    After the storm I was the first one to work. Had to literally dig a tunnel get to the door.

  10. Bill C Avatar
    Bill C

    I went skiing at Wild Mountain that night (with a bunch of other people in a 4WD Chevy Suburban). It was utterly amazing.

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