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.
Transcripts
text | pdf |
KATHY LAWRENCE: Well, Mark Seeley from the University of Minnesota joins us for his weekly weather chat. Good morning to you.
MARK SEELEY: Good morning, Kathy.
KATHY LAWRENCE: Yeah. So we were talking about that anniversary in 1975.
MARK SEELEY: Right. Many famous storms in November. And one of the more famous in Minnesota, of course, is tomorrow, the anniversary of the Armistice Day blizzard.
KATHY LAWRENCE: I wasn't around for that one.
MARK SEELEY: No, I missed that too. But no song that I'm aware of about that one. But that one, believe it or not, Kathy, the low pressure center on the Armistice Day storm was even deeper. That is lower than the low pressure center that sank the Fitzgerald, which of course, produced hurricane force winds. So Armistice Day, very nasty storm and took everyone by surprise. Of course, there were a lot of deaths associated with that storm in 1940 as well.
KATHY LAWRENCE: No warnings out at all?
MARK SEELEY: Well, back in those days, the weather service was divided into larger forecast districts. And Chicago, believe it or not, had the forecasting responsibility for Minnesota. In fact, not only Minnesota, several states. They did issue a moderate cold wave warning earlier that day, but they didn't see that the storm would intensify. That is the low would deepen, and then we would get on the snow side of that and get into blizzard conditions. In fact, it snowed, Kathy, about three to four inches per hour--
KATHY LAWRENCE: Wow.
MARK SEELEY: --during that storm, which is close to an all time hourly snowfall rate.
KATHY LAWRENCE: That must have been one of the heaviest snowfalls in on record.
MARK SEELEY: Yes, it still ranks fourth among all Twin Cities snowstorms. It still ranks as the fourth heaviest. And of course, with the 40-degree plunge in temperature, those who were left out are exposed to it were really in serious danger.
KATHY LAWRENCE: Any deaths?
MARK SEELEY: Yeah, there were 49 deaths in Minnesota. A number of them were duck hunters that were caught out in it and couldn't get back. And of course, ice coated the poles and phone lines up to an inch thick. So a lot of those lines broke and fell down.
KATHY LAWRENCE: Wow
MARK SEELEY: A lot of people were stranded for quite a few days.
KATHY LAWRENCE: So it bears repeating, though, Mark, that in the month of November here in our area, anything can happen?
MARK SEELEY: Absolutely. Many of our most famous winter storms have been in the month of November.
KATHY LAWRENCE: You know, well, we can talk about this forever. probably. Let's move on and talk a little bit about snow and winter and that sort of thing, I guess. Your word of the week, let's start with that.
MARK SEELEY: Oh, snow--
KATHY LAWRENCE: snow garland. Yeah.
MARK SEELEY: Snow garland. Yeah, some people think this is the younger sister of Judy, but that's not.
[CHUCKLES]
No, the snow Garland is a feature in the landscape you sometimes see when the temperature is just right. That is around 32 degrees and it's snowing. The snow crystals or flakes get just a thin enough coat of water on them that they adhere to each other. And they'll actually festoon or form in ropes and make these beautiful garlands that will hang from branch to branch.
KATHY LAWRENCE: With about 20 seconds left, how about giving us a weekend outlook because we're looking at another winter storm?
MARK SEELEY: Well, absolutely. If you want to get things done or you have places to go, you better attend to it on Saturday. Because starting Sunday, it looks like we might be in for a fairly significant snowfall and definitely winter-like next week.
KATHY LAWRENCE: We'll check in with you later on. Thanks, Mark.
MARK SEELEY: OK, Kathy.
KATHY LAWRENCE: Have a good weekend. That's University of Minnesota meteorologist and climatologist, Mark Seeley.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
And you're listening to Minnesota Public Radio.