154 Midwesterners Died In A Surprise Blizzard 75 Years Ago

By Emma G. Gallegos in News on Nov 11, 2015 9:29PM

People had to abandon their cars (Minnesota Historical Society)

Wednesday, Nov. 11, is not only the anniversary of the Armistice Day in World War I but also the brutal Armistice Day Storm that slammed the Midwest in 1940. The deadly blizzard seemed to come out of nowhere 75 years ago. People lost their homes and businesses, ships on Lake Michigan capsized, Thanksgiving turkeys froze and altogether 154 deaths were blamed on the unseasonable blizzard. Here's a look back at the storm.

The storm caught the Midwest off-guard. The storm was a force to reckon with on its own, but it was particularly deadly because it arrived in an unusually balmy autumn and on what started out as lovely fall day. It was nearly 65 degrees in Chicago before the temperature plunged almost 30 degrees in three hours. All across the Midwest temperatures plunged as much as 50 degrees quickly.

Duck hunters were hit especially hard by the storm. Many people who had hoped to enjoy duck hunting on a beautiful holiday went out dressed for balmy temperatures. Jim Bice, then a 17-year-old duck hunter, stayed at home because the weather was actually too perfect. He told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, "The weather seemed too nice to hunt." His brother and friend did go out. Like many other duck hunters, they got trapped in the storm and had to camp out overnight on an island on the Mississippi. They survived but many of the 49 people who died in Minnesota were duck hunters who froze to death on the Mississippi (the Star-Tribune has a photo of some of the deceased). A few hunters in Wisconsin also died on lakes when the U.S. Coast Guard couldn't get to them.

The storm was one of the worst to hit the Great Lakes. West Michigan, in particular, was hit hard by the storm. The Muskegon Chronicle says 66 sailors died on five ships that went down in the storm. Many other ships were grounded or damaged the storm that lasted 12 hours and had waves as large as 27 feet high. The newspaper reported that people were knocked right off their feet in the winds, buildings collapsed, headstones were uprooted and seven miles of telephone poles were downed.

The war was headline news, but here's the front page of The Chicago Daily Tribune from just a couple days after the storm

The storm led to a change in the way the weather bureau was set up. Up until 1940, Chicago had been the center of weather operations for the entire Midwest. For a swift-moving storm like this (and another one in 1941), that wasn't enough and the the U.S. Weather Bureau faced criticism over the storm. They had forecasted a storm, but not one of this size and scope. The bureau later decided to divvy up more responsibilities to regional centers. The Minneapolis Morning Tribune forecasted "occasional snow" not the 16 inches dumped in the city. Collegeville, Minnesota saw 26 inches of snow, according to the National Weather Service. There were 20-foot drifts in some places.

Meteorologist Paul Douglas says the blizzard still gets talked about today. He told MPR, "Meteorologists shudder when the Armistice Day blizzard subject comes up. I think technology has helped and we would not be caught again with some of the new technology. But certainly there can still be scenarios where we are surprised, where we are caught and that's why this can be such a humbling profession."

Minnesota Historical Society (Flickr)

Here's a photo slide show put out by the Minnesota Historical Society to commemorate the blizzard: