Morning Edition’s Mark Heistad interviews Jim Mathews, forecaster at National Weather Service, about the surprising intensity and amount of snowfall. Mathews details some reasons behind powerful storm.
Lore has claimed it as “The Halloween Blizzard,” and Minnesotan memories and tales have only increased with the passage of time. Snow started falling on the morning of October 31, 1991. By midnight, the storm had dumped 8.2 inches of snow at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, breaking the record for the most snow on that date. By the time it was all done three days later, the storm had dumped more than 2 feet of snow in the Twin Cities and 3 feet in Duluth. The North Shore city’s 36.9-inch snowfall set a record at the time as the largest single snowstorm total for Minnesota.
Transcripts
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JIM MATHEWS: Good morning, Mark.
MARK HEISTAD: We had known for a while a storm was on the way. But, at least, I wasn't expecting quite this much snow. What happened here?
JIM MATHEWS: I don't think anybody can expect almost two feet of snow or so. And that's what very well could happen. The snowstorm is very intense for this time of year, more typical of maybe Thanksgiving or March type snowstorm. Very unusual, but we've had anywhere from, at least, six to 12 inches of snow from Fairmont and Worthington, up through the Twin Cities and Saint Cloud, up through the Duluth area and Hibbing area, and Ely area as well. So it's a pretty extensive swath of heavy snow that has fallen during the night.
And we're looking for, as you said, up to 20 inches of snow in the Twin Cities area and up to a foot and a half or so up in the northeastern part of the state.
MARK HEISTAD: One thing I notice that on top of this storm, we've got some fairly significant winds around the region blowing the stuff around.
JIM MATHEWS: Yes. And those winds will be increasing today. The Storm Center is located in Northern Missouri at this time, and it will be tracking northeastward into Southwest Wisconsin and up over Lake Superior tonight. And with that storm system intensifying as it moves northeastward, northerly, and then northwesterly, winds will be increasing to 20 to 40 miles an hour over most of the state.
And that will cause some blowing and drifting snow problems. And we're very concerned about the southwestern portion of the state during the day to day. That's why we basically upgraded the winter storm warning to a blizzard warning for that area, because they will be getting the stronger winds earlier than the rest of the state.
MARK HEISTAD: I'm trying to remember when I've seen a blizzard warning this time of year, and nothing is coming to mind.
JIM MATHEWS: Well, I think we have to go back to Armistice Day, back years ago when we had-- I think the difference in that storm and this storm, we had very warm temperatures back with the Armistice Day storm leading up to that particular storm wasn't even in the morning. Temperatures were very warm. And people were out in shirt sleeves.
But this storm, it's been cold for a while, for a couple of days. And that's why the snow stuck to the ground. Because it was very cold for a couple of days before, and so it allowed the ground to cool off. And so most of the snow would then stick to the ground and not melt as it has in the warmer sections of Southeastern Minnesota.
MARK HEISTAD: Yeah. One thing I do notice also is with temperatures above or below 30 degrees, this is pretty sticky snow. It's rather wet.
JIM MATHEWS: Yeah, it is. If the temperatures are in the even middle to upper 20s, the snow can be quite wet and sticky. Typical of a March type snowstorm or first snow storm of the season. And this isn't, by any means, a powdery type snowfall that you have with very cold temperatures like we have in middle and late winter.
MARK HEISTAD: Yeah. Let's get to the bottom line here. When is the snow going to start to end?
JIM MATHEWS: Well, for the southern part of the state, including the Twin Cities area and points south, the snow should be winding down this afternoon. It will continue. We're looking at most of the accumulation up to noontime. And then after noontime, the snow should be winding down with the winds, though, picking up at that time.
For Northeastern Minnesota, the snow should be falling there throughout the day and into, at least, the evening hours before 10 o'clock or midnight, and then wind down, probably, late tonight after midnight in the northeastern part of the state. So anyone even traveling up there, even though things might improve in the Twin Cities area later this afternoon, a little bit up in the northeastern part of the state. If you're heading up there, it will be snowing quite heavily.
And we should avoid travel here today over most of the state. It's quite a storm. And let's stay off the roads.
MARK HEISTAD: Stay inside and enjoy it.
JIM MATHEWS: Yeah.
MARK HEISTAD: Thanks a lot, Jim.
JIM MATHEWS: OK. You're welcome, Mark.
MARK HEISTAD: Jim Mathews is a forecaster with the National Weather Service in the Twin Cities.