125 years ago, deadly 'Children’s Blizzard' blasted Minnesota (January 11, 2013)

Minn Post ^ | January 11, 2013 | Alyssa Ford

[beaversmom]

Beautiful song. Thanks for sharing.

[silverleaf]

I remember a weekend killer blizzard in North Dakota in the 70’s that buried houses up to the roofs, and B-52’s at Minot had snow drifts up to the wings...they had to clear tunnels for the wheels to roll if there was a launch

We were in a neighborhood of duplexes and could not see the house next door for 2 days.

We never lost power but the guys at the TV station were stranded all weekend and I remember the TV station playing old black and white film reels when the staff was too exhausted to broadcast

after the weekend deer were found wandering with their eyes frozen open

several base workers died when their cars got stranded trying to make it from base to town on the 4 lane highway

I think we were below -70 for the entire weekend, but the lack of visibility was what was awesome - to go outside your front door by even steps was to risk death, so I think I understand what happened to these people

after the blizzard for months we still had dirty drifts of black dirt banked up against all the buildings because the wind was so strong it picked up half dirt and half snow = “snirt” drifts

[beaversmom]

Very interesting about the blizzard you experienced.

[who knows what evil?]

I get a kick out of the Red England-centric media whining about the 'catastrophic' snow 'storms' that roll thru here every few winters or so...you have not lived until you have experienced a high-plains blizzard in one of the Dakotas, Wyoming, or Minnesota. The Red Englanders/New Yorkers would p*ss themselves to death right on the spot. I have a feeling that many areas in Red England will be looking at bare ground within a few days following the warm spell that is heading this way this weekend.

Oh, woe is us!

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

*** because the Army Signal Corps chose not issue a Cold Wave warning the previous night***

Do they really think people living isolated on the land would have gotten word of this? There were no weather warning system in those days. People were expected to be ready for these things as it was WINTER!

I read that people who lived in sod houses survived while those in nicer board and batten homes froze to death. Sod was a good insulator.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***a high-plains blizzard in one of the Dakotas, Wyoming, or Minnesota.***

Those things travel clear down to Southern New Mexico! My folks in NE New Mexico remember cattle freezing during many a storm.

The storm of Jan 1962 socked in the area from Carlsbad NM clear to the Ozarks. The thaw broke up many of the paved roads in those areas.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

I used to have an old picture taken in the 1950s NE New Mexico. In the back ground you could see Capulin National Monument, in the front were herford cattle frozen to death piled up against a barb wire fence.

My grand-uncle remembered seeing frozen Brahma cattle, in that area, froze to death standing up.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

They have forgotten their own New England past! The GREAT Blizzard of New England. Again, 1888.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Blizzard_of_1888

[MARTIAL MONK]

Almost exactly a year earlier in 1887 the "Great Die-up" blizzard hit Montana and Wyoming and killed half of the cattle on the northern plains. People could walk for miles and miles atop cattle carcasses stacked three or four deep on the fencelines and the carcasses dammed rivers. It wiped out all the great herds built up since the cattle drives after the Civil War.

It changed the course of history for both states as the great foreign-owned ranches were wiped out and smaller outfits took over. It set the northern areas back 30 years in development.

[ansel12]

Minnesota is a beautiful place - in the summer.

Yeah, but you don't want to drink too much on that weekend, and miss it.

[beaversmom]

You have all kinds of interesting info. Thanks for sharing.

[Hardastarboard]

LOL!!

[beaversmom]

Excellent. :)