Early Snow Storm

By Uncle Hans

Yawn.....     another picture from Cable Lake with a lot of snow in it.  But the date was interesting.  We had an early storm, in November with 15 inches of snow, lots of wind and drifting, and followed by a plunge in the temp..   Big deal.....

     The spooky thing is that 74 years ago, almost to the hour, there was a nasty storm that ended up in the record books as "The Armistice Day Blizzard".  On November 11 1940, it was sunny, even into the mid 60's in many areas.  The duck hunters were giddy, and all piled into their blinds for one last shot at the ducks in shirt sleeves.  This storm hit like a ton of bricks, and totally unannounced. The temp dropped 50 degrees in several hours.  Record low barometric pressures were recorded.  It was  a large area, but mostly Minnesota and western Wisconsin.

  Like ours, snowfall was about 15 inches.  People were stranded, many on islands in the Mississippi river around Lacrosse.  Some drowned and most froze to death because they did not dress warmly (it was in the 60's!).  145 people perished.  I played volleyball last night with someone who's great-grandfather died in Hibbing.  He was hunting, by himself.

  The National Weather Service was centered in Chicago, and made radical changed in the way conditions were reported and forecasts made and distributed after that storm.  We knew about our storm at least 72 hours in advance.  School was out for two days, the first day they called school before the first flake fell.

     And they were right.  strange.

    If we can get the RV out of the garage, we are off to Texas to lay on the beach in a few days.  And veteran's Day is not about a big storm.  It is about remembering those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our way of life......

 

By Uncle Hans