MPR’s Cathy Wurzer interviews meteorologist Mark Seeley about the Armistice Day Blizzard of 1940. The storm brought strong winds which averaged over 25 mph for a 24-hour period and gusted over 60 mph. Rain turned to sleet and snow in the late morning on November 11th, and worsened to blizzard conditions very rapidly, as snowfall rates approached 4 inches per hour. The air temperature fell by as much as 40 degrees over 24 hours and inch thick ice coated poles and phone lines, breaking many of them. 49 Minnesotans perished; many duck hunters caught off-guard by the storm.

The Armistice Day Blizzard is the defining blizzard of the 20th century in Minnesota and remains the storm against which all other blizzards in this state are compared to. It is infamous for how quickly the temperature dropped, followed by white out conditions and massive amounts of snow. The deaths and havoc from storm were due in part from a lack of accurate forecasting. The forecast structure changed afterward, with a greater emphasis on local forecasting, rather than a regional system.