Halloween Bizzard

Halloween Blizzard of �91

October 31st, 1991, a five year olds dream day �Halloween. Every year kids looked forward to putting on their costumes and the best part getting enough candy to last you for the whole year. I remember putting on my superman outfit and my mom telling me that we might not go trick or treating. That phrase is a 5 year-olds nightmare but little to know that the blizzard of ’91 would be one of the most significant winter storms in Minnesota history. In this paper I will analyze and describe how, where, and why of the Halloween Blizzard of ’91.

A blizzard can be defined as a severe winter storm condition characterized by low temperatures, strong winds, and heavy blowing snow. Blizzards are formed when a high pressure system, also known as a ridge, interacts with a low pressure system; this results in the advection of air from the high pressure zone into the low pressure area. The term blizzard is sometimes misused by news media to describe a large winter storm that does not actually satisfy official blizzard criteria. The Halloween Blizzard was caused by a Gulf Low which is an area of low pressure that develops over the Gulf of Mexico and a strong cold front pushed the low towards the Midwest. A high pressure system in eastern United States pushed this low pressure straight north and because of this rare change the upper Midwest never experiences the Gulf Low and in ’91 we all got a feel of it.

The Halloween Blizzard started the morning of October 31st and continued snowing till November 3rd. The snow started in central Minnesota and continued to move towards the Northeast to Minnesota’s Arrowhead. From the picture on the right you’ll see the total snowfall amounts where the heaviest amounts fell around Lake Superior. Duluth received 36.9 in, which at the time was the largest snow amounts in Minnesota history. The twin Cities received 28.4 in. also setting a single storm record in the metro area. Also strong winds came with the heavy amounts of snow reducing visibility along with wind chills around 20 to 30 degrees below zero. After all said and down the storm caused over a dozen deaths and over one hundred injuries.

This storm not only brought large amounts