Sherburne History Center Blog

This week marks the thirtieth anniversary of the Halloween Blizzard of 1991.   Memorable to the history of Minnesota and, to a lesser degree, Sherburne County.   We have witnessed Mother Nature and her ability to inflict significant turmoil in our lives, with blizzards, flooding, tornadoes, and other catastrophic events.   Transportation by any means possible during the  1991 Halloween Blizzard.  photo courtesy of Elk  River Star News collection The Halloween Blizzard is one of these events that inflicted significant challenges into the lives of Minnesotans.   Like the Armistice Day Blizzard of 1940, the Halloween Blizzard started as an innocent snowstorm.   Suddenly it erupted into something so much greater.   Record snow fell in 1991.   In a 24-hour period, Duluth recorded more than 24 inches of snow.   Sherburne County recorded an estimated 16 inches.   The Elk River Star News also reported snow drifts as high as fifteen f...

The first snow of each year generates discussion about the multitude of blizzards and snowstorms in Minnesota History.   We have the Armistice Day blizzard in 1940, the Easter blizzard in 1968, the Halloween blizzard of 1991.   And now we have the Super Bowl blizzard on 1975.   The wet snow of January contributed to the challenges of the Supper Bowl blizzard of 1975 Beginning January 9, and continuing for three days, rain, then freezing rain, then snow blanketed Minnesota.   Minnesota football fans christened the storm the Super Bowl Blizzard.   As the three-day deluge began to subside the Minnesota Vikings faced off against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl IX.   Locally, the Vikings loss went unmentioned as local reporters documented the snow storm.   Elk River reported a total of 13 inches of snow and wind up to 40 miles an hour after the three-day storm.   “The first indications of real trouble came when heavy sleet and ice ...

In an earlier time Veteran’s Day was known as Armistice Day.  And on November 11, each year the holiday commemorated the service from veterans and peace marking the end of World War One.  For a generation of Minnesotans, the day also sparks memories of one of the worst snowstorms to ever hit Minnesota: The Armistice Day Blizzard.   Snow began to fall on November 11, and continues into the next day.  In total, 27 inches fell.  Winds blew up to 80 miles per hour.  In some areas of the state 20 foot snow drifts were records.   The snow impeded transportation and threatened lives.  In one report, two locomotives collided in the blowing and blinding snow.  In total, throughout the upper Midwest, 145 people died in the snowstorm.  Locally, in Sherburne County, the memories are fresh.  In the memoirs of Virginia Johnson, she recalls the challenges of getting home from school during the storm.  She wrote, “Two fathers bro...

            Today the local weather reports seem rather boring.   Each day the morning announcers lament the lack of snow in Minnesota .   Around town, however, friends are telling me to just sit back and wait.   When the snow comes, it is going to arrive with a great deal of fanfare.             History has shown that the month of November is a time of unpredictable and often frightening weather. Snow at SHC, November 2010             Only twenty years ago, the Halloween blizzard of 1991 witnessed a snowstorm that delivered more 28 inches in a two day period.   The snow started to fall at noon on October 31 and continue for two days.   It was a heavy, wet snow that stayed.   Trick-or-treaters were forced to climb over snow drifts to reach houses for candy.   In the Twin Cities, children...