Top 5 weather events of the 20th Century |
#3 1991 Halloween Blizzard |
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| Pumpkins wearing a snowy costume. Courtesy: Minneapolis Star-Tribune |
Across much of
eastern Minnesota, trick-or-treaters donned snowmobile
suits as snow began to fall during the afternoon of
October 31, 1991. This marked the beginning of a major
winter storm that pounded the eastern half of Minnesota
over a three day period. The storm dropped 28.4 inches of
snow on the Twin Cities, setting a single storm record
for the metropolitan area. Duluth received 36.9 inches,
the largest single storm total in Minnesota history.
Southern Minnesota saw an ice storm especially around
Albert Lea and Austin.
Highway snow removal was hindered by extremely cold
temperatures that followed the storm and transportation
was hampered for many days. Click on image to the right
for a larger labeled line map. |
| Some of the Twin Cities records that were broken by the 1991 Halloween Blizzard were: |
Event 1991 Old Record (1891-1990)
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Most single storm snow total 28.4 20.0 (Jan 22-23 1982)
24 hour snowfall in any season 21.0 18.5 (January 23, 1982)
Most snow on October 31 8.2 .4 (1954)
Most snow on November 1 18.5 3.6 (1941)
Most snow in October 8.2 5.5 (1905)
Earliest 8 inch snow 8.2 8.5 (Nov 8, 1943)
Earliest autumn below zero low -3* -1 (Nov 11, 1986)
All of these records still stand as of 2001.
*-3 on November 4, 1991
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| Last modified: October 18, 2001 |
