The Armistice Day blizzard........

[Ryan Kleinschmidt]

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/200011/10_steilm_blizzard-m/




I pulled this from another site. I'm sure we have all hunted in some very shatty and dangerous weather conditions but I can't imagine what that would have been like. 67 years ago this comming Sunday. Very good read.

[jamesmc]

That is a great story but it really saddens me at all the people that lost their lives. I can't imagine having to go through what they did.

[John Traiforos]

wowzers!!

[Rich Good]

Grandfather said it was the best yet the worst day he hunted his entire life !

[GooseFlocker]

I know this account of a great waterfowl hunt gone bad; it sends chills to my bones...This is something all Waterfowlers should read. This truly happened and we should all be conscience of the winds of November!!

[Wayne Radcliffe]

That is an incredible story.

[Chris Smith]

That is an incredible story.

Ditto!

[Travis Mueller]

Holy cow! I grew up on the river, and cannot imagine seeing somethign like this. Wow.

[Josh Ernst]

Hard to believe those weather conditions. Thank goodness for the technology now. Hopefully we can avoid those situations in the future. Cant imagine that happening on the river.

[Travis Loving]

I will be thinking about the folks that lost their lives as I sit in my river blind tomorrow. Just as they did 67 years ago. :)

[Josh Carda]

Man ive hunted in some bad weather but nothing at all that bad.

Thats really incredible

[Travis Mueller]

Loving, did the higher water help or hinder you?

[duckinFVR]

I've hunted in those sloughs outside Winona, and it sure takes a while to get out of some of those back waters with a quick duck boat, let alone a 5 hp or smaller.

[Travis Loving]

Loving, did the higher water help or hinder you?

Well, seeing how our permanent blind is about 80 yards from the red bouy...it killed us.
Current was to strong for any of our dekes to hold and we had about a foot of water in it.

We put a beating on em down at Odessa during that time though:D

[Travis Mueller]

Yeah, I heard Odessa was decent during the winds as well. Hope all is well, and pray for some weather!!!

[Chad Foster]

My family is from the Winona, MN area and my grandpa hunted in that. Amazing stories is all I can say. I've always had respect for the river because of the stories he's told.

[h2ofwlr]

I put this article together a couple of years ago, it is posted up on a number of sites. Enjoy.


162 people perished today and tomorrow in the Armistice Day blizzard of 1940 in the upper Midwest. Many were duck hunters in MN and WI.

My Dad and GPa lived through this storm.
They had headed out in the Model A Ford with 1 boat on top and 1 on the right side of of those big fenders and headed to Lake Washington in Carver county from Chaska MN, (in same county) An 1 hr drive. When they left, it just started to snow a bit, by the time they got there there was already 4" of snow and drifting and it had been snowing for over an 2 hours there as the storm approached from the west. They thought it best to head back home, it look 6 hrs time, and had to hand shovel through numerous drifts when they got stuck to get through on the roads and helping others too along the way. They were some of the lvery ucky ones. It was white out conditions at the height of the storm. The others guys at the lake that were staying at the farm were stranded at the farm (they generally stayed in the barn) for 5 days before a snow plow finally traveled the county road by the farm. Many farms it was weeks before the roads opened up west of there.

A brief description of the storm-
The Armistice Day Blizzard took place in the United States on November 11 (A legal holiday in the United States; formerly called Armistice Day but now called Veterans' Day since 1954) and 12 November, 1940.

Mild weather ahead of an intense low pressure system tracking from Kansas to western Wisconsin was quickly followed by a raging blizzard. Many people were caught off-guard by the severity of the storm and particularly the plunging temperatures. Sixty degree temperatures during the morning of November 11 were followed by single-digit readings by the morning of November 12. These very cold temperatures and snow amounts were very unusual for this early in the season. Up to 26 inches of snow fell in Minnesota, while winds of 50 to 80 mph and heavy snows were common over parts of the states of Wisconsin, Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa and Michigan. These winds were responsible for whipping up 20 foot drifts. A total of 162 deaths were blamed on the storm, most of which were duck hunters along the Mississippi River. 49 dead in MN another 49 in WI and 59 dead sailors on Lake Michigan. The rest were in IA.


All pics are Courtesy of the Minnesota Historical Society
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c57/mnh2ofwlr/armistice.jpg
Excelsior Boulevard, west of Minneapolis after the Armistice Day Storm

The above picture was in a still rather protected area where woods abounded yet. It was MUCH worse out in the prairies west of there.

This stretch of road kept drifting in all winter long. As with many other roads. After that, how roads were built had drastic engineering changes, they were piked up above the surrounding land so they did not dirift in. Most all modern roads in the northern plains are now build at least 4' above the land around it.


http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c57/mnh2ofwlr/deadhunters1.jpg
2 dead hunters of the many that died, of those that survived, many had severe frost bite.



For a much more descriptive artical and few more pics and radio broadcasts click this link
http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/200011/10_steilm_blizzard-m/

The weather with a few statistics--look at how the temp dropped so fast.
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/arx/events/armistice.php

Video clip about WI
http://www.wisconsinstories.org/2001season/cold/c_video.html

About MI
http://www.carferries.com/armistice/



A great story that Wis Woody had posted up on another site.
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c57/mnh2ofwlr/armday1.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c57/mnh2ofwlr/armday2.jpg








One last thing to consider is this. They did not have the newfangled clothing and boots like we have today. They had cotton and wool clothing only and basic rubber boots. And it started as rain and then went to snow. A bad combination, especially with cotton. Food for thought, even with today's gear, and a storm like this hit, how prepared are you? Do you think you could survive if stranded? I wonder, as today many are not nearly as hardy nor outdoors savvy as the folks were back then. Hmmmm.........

[Travis Loving]

Yeah, I heard Odessa was decent during the winds as well. Hope all is well, and pray for some weather!!!

Been pretty consistant action all season down there for the fellas that got it figgered out :D

The river produced today, though:eek: