The 1941 Ides of March Blizzard
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- čas přidán 8. 09. 2024
- A fast moving “Alberta Clipper” struck so quickly on March 15, 1941 across North Dakota and Minnesota that it stranded thousands of people and killed more than 100.
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Script by THG
#history #thehistoryguy #Winter
Not since listening to Paul Harvey on the radio as a kid, have I enjoyed history so much. We all know the big story, but true to tradition, The History Guy makes sure we also know “the rest of the story”.
Absolutely agree...and have considered the same similarities with Paul Harvey.
Thank you for remembering the people who lost their lives that day.
🙏😢❣️
I don’t know why this story in particular bothered me but this was probably the saddest episode of the history guy I’ve seen or can recall.
The one brother surviving while all his others died, including his twin, about choked me up.
This story does rank up there for sure. I also this it's the way the history guy retelling of this helps break a persons heart . He can sure tell a story. I have cried over several of the times in the past 3 or 4 years since he started helping us remember forgotten history.
As I head out to clear last night's nor'easter snow from my driveway in Maine, thanks for giving me a reason to think "This ain't so bad." 😀
Karl - I was stationed in Brunswick for 3 years. I remember several storms that were so bad.
THG, my 93 year old mother grew up in southern Minnesota. I have often heard her tell stories about the Armistice Day blizzard of 1941, but have not heard her talk about the blizzard of March 1941. I'll have to give her a call this morning and see what she has to say about it. As far as my blizzard stories, I was in junior high when we had a blizzard in March 1965. It blew and snowed for the better part of 3 days and when it was done we had about 3 feet of snow in the driveway (which I had the chore of shoveling) and drifts as high as 12 feet in locations.
The Armistice Day blizzard was November 1940- these two blizzards occurred over the same winter.
@@TheHistoryGuyChannel Thanks for correcting my faulty memory. Must have been one hell of a winter. By the way, the blizzard of 1965 was locally known as the "St. Patrick's Day Blizzard". As I recall, school didn't reopen for 5 days due to the drifting. There was record flooding in the Minnesota river valley and the Mississippi river below St. Paul that spring.
My 80-something Dad grew up in Brown County, MN, and the Armistice Day blizzard was mentioned to me by him, too. He said we lost some family out in the Dakotas who went duck hunting before it hit. I also had not heard of this one, and wouldn't have heard about the other if I hadn't run across the Children's Blizzard (1888) and the way it dropped with no warning after a thaw and that's scary (expected for the time period but still terrifying) and talked to him about it (he's a retired meteorologist).
11/11
Did your mom remember anything about the March storm?
My great-grandfather was travelling by horse and wagon from town to his farm, in southern Manitoba, when the blizzard hit. He got off the wagon to lead the horses and was blown into a field. He was found alive but died shortly after. His death had a large effect on my father, who told me the story years ago. By coincidence, I referenced this event during my father's celebration of life just two days ago.
I’m sorry to hear about your father. My father is 94, so would be old enough to remember, so I’ll have to ask him about it. He grew up in Chortiz Manitoba
This story is very similar to the February 4-5, 1984 blizzard which also struck the Red River valley with little warning. I was a weather observer at Grand Forks AFB, which serviced the Minuteman missile fields spread over eastern North Dakota. I had left work that day at 7:00 a.m. and the forecast called for some smow and winds in the afternoon. It was not expected to be bad because there wasn't a lot of moisture for heavy snow. The wind wasn't expected to be an issue because the snowpack had hard frozen crust on top.
Shortly after noon on Saturday, the weather station began to hear from the most northern missile control units. The world had disappeared. There was zero visibility. As the reports came in, the forecaster couldn't make sense of it. There wasn't enough energy in the storm to cause such conditions. The winds were higher than geostrophic, the maximum wind one would have if the geography didn't slow it down. That was well, impossible. And where was the snow coming from?
Through the afternoon the storm front moved south. It hit Grand Forks AFB and the city of Grand Forks about 2 p.m. And the same thing happened. One minute there was light winter snow, and the next minute a wall of white. The conditions were reported to the National Weather Service office in Fargo, which didn't issue a blizzard warning until later in the afternoon. They couldn't figure it out either.
The Red River valley is broad and shallow. It had not been considered a weather-affecting geological feature. But what forecasters figured out, later, was that it was enough to channel and focus winds from a particular direction, causing them to go super-geostrophic. As for the blinding snow, most of it was blowing snow, not falling snow. Snow crystals are sharp and abrasive, and enough of them, driven by strong winds, had worn the hard crust covering the pack away, exposing enormous supplies of snow underneath. Because of the wind, the snow accumulated in drifts ditches and ridges, rather than pile up on the flat ground.
Air base leaders knew there were people on the highway between the base and Grand Forks, 12 miles to the east. They sent a school bus from the base, behind a plow, to find people stranded in their cars. At the Grand Forks Airport, a few miles west of the city, drivers had congregated under the lights near the turnoff. At some point in the evening, someone wearing an Air Force parka walked, his hand on the lead car, to town. The rest of the cars followed bumper to bumper. The slow convoy made it to the edge of Grand Forks where the visibility improved. No one knows who was the man who led them to safety.
Cars were trapped in an underpass near the Fargo airport, and four died of carbon monoxide poisoning when their vehicle exhausts became blocked. Altogether 20 died in this storm, which was smaller than the 1941 storm in terms of affected area.
Thanks for this recounting of a storm. The man in the parka brought tears to my eyes.
I use to live in South Dakota we always carried a survival bag in my car in the winter for emergency just in case of situations like this story with blankets and food and warmers
For over a decade I had an artillery shell box in the back of my Bronco with extra clothing, blankets, fire-starting items, a tarp, rope, a hatchet and knife, a (perhaps illegally "procured") military-grade parachute illumination flare, and other cold weather stranding gear.
Since the late 1990's with weather getting generally milder, and cell phones being a thing, my car's emergency kit has shrunk some. Now there are the blankets and spare wool socks, the hand-crank flashlight, a very basic first aid kit, and a hatchet and knife.
I should really check the condition of those items once this winter is over and refresh/reevaluate the contents.
In a real bad pinch, set the auto on fire.
@@MonkeyJedi99 "Hot Hands" hand warmers and water and food like peanuts, candy bars, beef jerky etc. are still must haves too. Don't forget a roll of TOILET PAPER either. LOL. plenty of wool blankets and or reflective "space blankets" are a must have. I live in Iowa and I agree the winters have gotten milder since the 90's but I still make sure my daughter has her emergecy kit, along with a shovel and tow rope.
@@seththomas9105 Heck yes, toilet paper!
A full roll, flattened a bit and sealed in a one-gallon zip-seal freezer bag (freezer bags have better seals and seams).
You need it for the usual reason, plus blowing your nose, and as a fire starting material.
@@soisaidtogod4248 Modern Vehicles 🚗 set THEMSELVES on fire 🔥 for you! No need to expend the effort!
My mother in Bismarck, ND, went through this. Family still live there. While in the Air Force, I was assigned in ND in 1984 - 1985. The advice was the same. Stay in your car, and pack blankets or sleeping bag, water and one or more small candles. The weather is extreme there. Civilians and military always checked on each other in the middle of a storm to make sure everyone was ok.
Every Airman knew of the old "why not Minot" canard.
Thanks for this review of that monster blizzard. I've been living the last 20 years in Fargo, and this past 10 days has been memorable. The wind howls at night, like a freight train rumbling down the tracks...so cold, I have to wear a knit cap to bed at night. I'm well over 70, so in weather like this, I just hunker down and test my patience against that of Mother Nature! All-in-all Fargo is the nicest place I've ever lived, it's just these 6 months of monochromatic winters that gets under our skin. The first green grass of the year causes everyone to smile, as they walk around in a daze with a silly smile on their faces! LOL So far, I'm winning....but that won't always be the case! Keep up the good work!
So many lost when they left their vehicles. The first rule of surviving winter on the prairie is never leave your vehicle. Definitely mush easier to do these days when you can use your cell phone to call for help, although there are still sections where cell service is sparse or totally unavailable. Here in Winnipeg there are gates to prevent drivers from heading out into the open highways when winter storms are forecast to be severe. On Tuesday, March 14, 2023 some highways in the Red River Valley were closed to travel because of strong winds resulting in poor visibility and slick conditions.
Blankets, flashlight, candles, matches, food (energy bars) and a small shovel are a starting point for a winter car survival kit. Even with plenty of gas, you need to check the muffler isn't blocked from time to time, and if using the candles a window has to be opened just slightly.
Thanks
This is one of the most heart wrenching tales of history that I've heard on this channel.
In the upper peninsula of Michigan, we would usually get what we called the St. Patrick’s Day blizzard. Lots of heavy, wet snow that was a bear to shovel. The University usually shut down, but not always. But it was usually one of the worst (if not the worst) storm of the season, and very few of us would venture outside much more than a few feet to clear the driveway.
I lived in a small town in the UP when I was a kid and well remember waking up in the morning to find snow completely covering the first floor and we could climb out a second floor window and jump off into the snow. Much fun was had. People gave up trying to use cars and everyone switched to snowmobiles.
@@KentoLeoDragon You must have lived in the Keweenaw.
@@KentoLeoDragon i grew up in Houghton Michigan, my family has lived there since the early 1800s. Many houses had (2) front doors. One on the ground floor, one on the second. When the snow got so deep, the second floor entry was used. Average yearly snow fall there is 230 inches. 300 was not uncommon. That is over 25 feet. Plus the drifting. We often would tunnel out to the street so we could go to school or to work.
In MN, blizzards in March are common-especially on the weekends during the state high school hockey and basketball tournaments.
So tragic. Thank you Sir for bringing this story to life.
as an Albertan I would like to extend a sincere apology to all those that have been affected by the Alberta Clippers. I've never even heard of an Alberta Clipper before today. Thank you for the knowledge, History Guy.
That blizzard took my 74 year old great grandfather's life. He was found frozen not far from his own house.
As Victor Hugo noted - and I know I’m getting the quote wrong - “With every tragedy, humanity realizes that it has been roughly handled, but that it has progressed.”
Grand Forks resident here. Pretty crazy to see my city on the History Guy. We still get intense Alberta Clippers but fortunately we have much more warning these days. When a blizzard hits, best to stay home or stay where you are.
I hate to say this, but his year is starting to remind me of 1997 with all of the snow on the ground, I pray for a slow melt.
@@joshlampe3458 , If memory serves me correctly I think it was 1997 that we had a blizzard that delivered about 10" of snow here in New England in late April.
@@joshlampe3458 There was a lot more snow in 97 than there is now. We'll probably see flooding this spring but not the catastrophic kind.
@@RyanKlapperich Maybe not in GF, but south there is. The Sheyenne and Red basins are loaded, especially after the last three weeks. It's a lot of snow, some of which never made it to GF.
@@joshlampe3458 lol we just got a foot last weekend on top of the snowpack we've had since mid December. We've got lots too. But '97 was a different animal. Grand Forks got 107 inches of snow in 97. Fargo got 117 that year. Whereas this winter Grand Forks has gotten 42 inches so far and Fargo has accumulated 50 inches of snow. The winter of '96-'97 truly off the scales.
Here in Southern New England, we had an April blizzard in the late 1990's that dumped about 10" of snow; The earliest Winter storm we ever had was the so called October Surprise that dumped a bunch of heavy wet snow while the leaves were still on the trees, which led to massive utility line damage and people being without power for 5 to 6 days, including myself.
April Fools Day, 1997, I remember it well .I was almost killed going to work in Middletown on Rt. 195 that morning...
Our family moved back to Massachusetts from living in Phoenix Arizona for three years in 1982 or 83 (?) and the day the moving truck showed up with our stuff started out nice and warm.
Light fall jackets for an October 10th. jeans, sneakers.
During the day, around 10 inches of snow fell, and the schools and bus companies were not ready for it. The ride home took about twice as long as normal, with the bus sliding all over the road. Then the walk to our grandmother's house (where we were staying until our belongings arrived) was a knee-deep slog in the VERY wrong clothing.
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I also recall the April Fool's snowstorm of 1997. That was... funny?
Here in northern new england, 10 inches of snow is nothing
@@ianholmquist8492 , 10" of snow is definitely *something* in late April when farmers are planting or preparing to plant. Also very rough on fruit trees that are beginning to bud and then along comes snow and below-freezing weather.
I remember a blizzard the first week of April 1997. I was living at Minot AFB, North Dakota at the time. We had 8-9 ft snowdrifts on our street. The flight line snowplows were sent to dig out base housing. One got stuck twice in the drifts on our street and had to be pulled out. All I could see of our neighbors minivan was a small strip of its roof.
Spring on the Red River Valley is a tricky time of year. Mid March is a long time away from the end of winter. Ice fishing is still going strong.
Emergency preparedness is often overlooked.
My mom was 4yrs during this storm. She lived in Hallock, MN. She told me her dad, my grandpa, was driving home from Grand Forks, ND and he pulled into a farm house and had to convince them to let him in out of the storm. She remembers that storm. I grew up in the Twin Cities and was always told to never leave my car in a blizzard and to have blankets in the car for safety. I had heard stories of people freezing yards from their homes but now I have the actual storm that goes with the stories.
Thanks for your channel. I really enjoy it.
My mom was from SD. I grew up in SoCal, but we always had blankets, a flashlight and a jug of water in the trunk (good for earthquakes and brushfires too). I was probably the only kid in my class who knew the importance of keeping your tailpipe clear in snow.
It often amazes me how ancient native North Americans lived through hundreds of such events.
Probably, sometimes they didn't either.
Survival being the only program available helped.
Humm well a hundred years ago the average life span was about 35 years. If they or any peoples survived a harsh winter there was plenty other things that killed.
They had lots of practice. All our ancestors survived the ice age.
@@huwhitecavebeast1972 They survive climate change and I'm afraid that we won't survive "battle against climate change" :)
As an Alaskan, videos like this are extremely heartbreaking for me. People dying from preventable conditions. Up here, we survive storms like this every year because we've come to expect them. But when a storm like that hits the lower 48, no one's prepared and its devastating. Always be prepared when you can be!
Come to North Dakota where you get 50 mile an hour winds with the snow. Fairbanks has so little wind that they have air quality issues while anything from Anchorage and south is like a tropical paradise in the winter compared to North Dakota.
@@wildman1978101 I'll pass haha
Thank you for providing much needed historical perspective on our weather patterns.
Thank you.
I went jogging and a quick storm arrived in Atlantic, Iowa. I could barely see three feet ahead of me. That was 1965,1966.
I survived, but it was a good lesson on the speed with which weather can change.
Having grown up in the Great Lakes region and spent considerable time on the plains as an adult, pretty much every big winter storm I can remember was preceded by a warm-up, and the stronger the warm-up, the stronger the winter storm coming right behind it. The Blizzard of '78 is a great example. The freak April of '87 snow storm that dropped over a foot of blowing, drifting snow from the deep South all the way up through the Great Lakes is another good example. I also remember spending one late winter and early spring in Texas. 70 degrees and sunny one day, 6" of snow on the ground the next.
I live in Tucson. We get light snow about every 5 years. Earlier in March (This month) we got 4” at night. I measured it with a tape measure . We don’t get snow in March. A few years ago we had a daytime snow for he first time in recorded history.
Bless all those souls and their loved ones. Thank you for doing such a good job covering this.
This is one of those stores that makes you realize that alot of people had to die for things that we take for granted to be in place.
Today I learned that the History Channel website apparently has articles about history. That's nice because its gone from the on-air programming.
I think a lot of these storms actually help to produce more meteorologist, and with better equipment. And the meteorologists are trained better. It's so sad that so many people lost their lives during that storm. There were others who lost their lives as well in other states during certain snowstorms, Alberta clipper.
I have an idea for an episode for you. A long forgotten and very dangerous job in the USA. Railroad Brakemen. I am old enough to remember the brake wheels on every Box Car and the bars above the tracks with leather or rubber straps hanging down that would hit the Brakeman and get their attention when a tunnel was coming up so they could laydown on the roof of a car or get down between two cars. I had Lionel Train sets that had the bars to put at the entrance of every model tunnel. Toots from the Engineer would tell the Brakemen when to apply the brakes or back them off as they jumped from car to car and ran to the next car. This all went on, regardless of rain or snow. Everyone saw the movie "The Polar Express", but I imagine very few knew what that man was doing on top of the train.
Thank you for this info
We had a storm in our area in 1890 something, in Michigan ! It hit on year's eve, it was 50 degrees during be day and it dropped to 3o below over night! People in Homer were stranded for 3 days all over Homer ! The buggies were froze down and couldn't be moved!
About 3 years ago I was delivering cabinets with my semi. 2nd to last stop was in Bemidji, Mn and last stop was in Cavalier, ND. I headed west on US 2 and started hearing about closings (schools, churches etc.) on the radio. I got past Crookston, Mn and BAM! total white out! It was terrifying! I could barely see the front of my hood. I made it to Grand Forks and stayed at a motel. I 29 was shut down for a day and a half. I never want to experience that again!!
Possible severe weather in store for North Texas tomorrow afternoon/evening. Good morning History Guy and everyone watching....My ex-wife graduated from Dickinson State in North Dakota. This brings to mind the Jim Reeves song "The Blizzard". Give it a listen.
I'm in Connecticut, we've gotten a little over a foot since yesterday. Some places are really slammed, I'm lucky where I am. Can't get my car out, but I won't need to for a few days. I feel for everyone out in this slop.
@@NinjaGrrrl7734 , I'm in central/southeast CT, and we only got 2". We didn't lose power either. The snow has an icy crust on it and the tree branches are weighed down a little bit, but it's supposed to get up to 40 today and so most of it will melt. The roads are already clear, but scraping the cars off might be fun!
I haven't heard that song in ages, and I'm a JimReeves fan. Time to dust off the old records.
I lived and worked in Calgary, Alberta in 1992 and when the chinooks would blow out of the Canadian Rockies the temperature could go up or down 30ﾟin an hour.
I grew up in Montana in the mountains, so when a storm came in it wasn't as nasty as out on the plains, but I still have memories of one balmy April day in 1965. Sun shining, warm air. I lived 10 blocks from the high school, easy walk. I decided to wear a sundress and sandals.
Bt the time I arrived at school, it had clouded over. By the end of our 15 min home room session, it had started snowing. When school let out at 3:45 there was 2 ft on the ground, and it was still snowing. So I walked home through that snowstorm, still just sundress and sandals, and at the end of that 10 block walk, found my younger bro perched on the sofa watching cartoons. He attended Jr high, 2 blocks away. Me, I'm the one who changed into winter gear and went our yo shovel the sidewalks bc my lazy a** brother couldn't be bothered. There was another foot by the time our widowed mom made her way home from work, and I was out shoveling thecwalk again.
I miss living there sometimes, but then I remember that storm and tell myself, never again.
Fortunate for your brother that you were not being vengeful that day, yeah?
I hope your mother gave your brother what-for!
You were lucky that you made it home alive under those conditions.You've got guts kid.And then you went outside and shoveled all that snow besides.
I think I sailed upon that there clipper from Alberta once, and I'm still here to relate the honest story of it. It a history I personally deserve to remember...
I was a young man hitchhiking out of Cheyanne, Wyoming on a decent, cool but sunny day. I had just left a small truckstop's little restaurant where I had gotten coffee. The waitresses had been hunkering down over by a radio they had down low and were listening to. I'd asked if there was anything important they were hearing and they had said "No". Well, there was a sudden blizzard coming our way but they hadn't told 'long-haired' me. This was in the late 70's. All the people in the restaurant looked buzz-cut and even cowboy. I dripped city boy and wanna-be hippie. I left there on a sunny day in the mid-afternoon and made it down the interstate freeway about 3/4 of a mile before the weather drastically changed for the worse, and I mean worse.
Imagine a young naïve man from a bedroom community named "Eagle Rock" watching as a dark storm suddenly developed over him. The temperature dropped about 70 degrees I found out later. But the wind and blowing thick snow would cover me in mere seconds. I couldn't stand let alone walk. Trucks would roll by slowly every two minutes or so. All I could do was shake the snow off of my m-65 army war surplus jacket and stick out my arm and wave it with my thumb stuck out. The sixth or seventh trucker finally saw me and stopped a ways down the road, and the wind helped me get to his passenger door....
"HEY! I almost didn't see you there, I thought I saw a thumb sticking out but I wasn't sure! I just mostly saw a big pile of snow that kinda looked out of place so I...Hey, are you okay?"
I just kept on shivering and nodded my best, with a smile. I was much too exhausted from shivering/hunkering in the frigid cold snow/wind to even verbally speak. Shivering kind of wears a person out when it's the whole body involved like that. For a while I thought I wasn't going to survive. I knew that I wasn't going to make it probably, and that's how they get the statistics they do. I'll be among the numbers now is all, and suddenly!
I easily pictured me, myself, flash-freezing on the side of the road as I hunkered down in a sudden blizzard that I should have been warned about twenty minutes earlier, but trickily and on purpose I wasn't. The last three words they called out to me in unison were "Thanks! Stay warm!" and it had puzzled me because it was such a nice sunny day, and broke as a joke me only had the single quarter to leave as a tip. Mighta been a dime and the coffee the quarter, I forget. But I'm still here. Nothing to forgive either. Wonder how my friends in Cheyanne' ARE doing these days. That would be fun if I heard back, "Oh, was that you!?"
Such a sad story, I hope everyone learns from this video. Thank You for your report on this story.
For oddities, 12 inches in Boston, Mass on April 12, 1982. The Big One is just FIVE inches---but on May 11, 1977. Did a number on the trees which were fully leafed out--the damage was visible for several decades. The Worcester Hills, both Foot and Regular, got more.
I grew up in that area of Minnesota, and my father used to tell a story about the storm. His father tied a rope from the back door of their house to the outhouse, so they wouldn’t get lost in the storm when nature called. Grandma didn’t allow a ‘thunder bucket’ in the house, not even in a blizzard. Tough old lady!
And another rope from the house to the milking barn.
Thank you, Mr Geiger, for reminding Minnesotans how miserable our grandparents were even back in the olden days.... Methinks the other boot weather-wise is now about to drop, so please continue to provide your historical perspective on what now is appearing acutely inevitable.
Living in a place which has never had a blizzard in recorded history, it's difficult for me to even imagine being just yards away from the safety of shelter and not know it. I honestly don't know how people live in such conditions, but given that covers the majority of the breadbasket of America, I am glad they do.
While still deadly as hell, blizzards are not quite as bad as they used to be. There are a lot more trees than there were in the 40's and they catch a lot of snow. Deaths from exposure were still common until the age of the cell phone.
And don't forget about waaaaay better weather forecasting.
I am too Southern to imagine such cold and snow.
40 degrees feels like the end of the world to me lol
Did you somehow not notice the Arctic Blast just after Christmastime?
Aha, I was just looking on YT for new videos during my work break - and here this one came :D
Thank for the history lesson.
Many people from the North keep candles matches and a metal coffee can in their cars for heat.
In case they breakdown in the winter.
Less likely today with major advances in technology, procedures and safety…..but you still hear about these event’s happening…..same background….ran out of fuel, no blankets, forgot to charge cell phone etc…the same story. I have lived through multiple major storms, including the 1982 spring “NorEaster” and again in fall 2011. Even in North TX we had one in February 2021. The 2021 storm wasn’t so much the snow but the excessive strain on the power grid. Biggest takeaway on that one was……Live near a hospital, they have backup generators for the backup generators!!
THG…..great research and documentation. Good photos and even knowledge of specific individuals that made a difference whether it was victims or rescuers.
Blizzards are so crazy. People often cant picture actually getting lost 20 feet from their car, just thinking they'll walk back. Ill follow my tracks! Easy, right?
Until you realize you cant see your tracks in the fluffy fresh windwhipped snow, the sky darkened and no shadows hinting at direction.
The winter of '47 was epically bad, but the one I remember in my lifetime was the Boxing Day Blizzard in the winter of '61/'62. You couldn't get out of our estate, to our local village for days. There was still show on the ground well into March, I remember the daffodils growing out of the drifts.
This was in The UK.
Snow shovel out is put out at Thanksgiving and put away May first. My kids were instructed to not touch it, if it falls over, walk around it. In 1993, we had over three feet around our house, 1994 we had two feet of snow. Keep a survival bag in car, just in case. I learned from the blizzards of the past history.
In MN we don’t even THINK about moving the snow brush and scraper to the trunk (or the way back) till May or June.
My parents told a story of a wedding in May. Short sleeves, no jackets, women in high heels on the way into church. About 3” of snow on the way out.
Another excellent episode concerning a tragic weather situation!!!🙏😢🌬️❣️
Regarding March storms, my parents always talked about the boy's basketball tournament blizzard that seemed to happen annually in Minnesota in March during the aforementioned athletic event..
Yep.
I was driving home from college in 1980 or 1981 for spring break on the Saturday of the boys basketball state tournament.
Left St. Cloud in the evening, after performing in a concert, maybe 8:30PM-9:00PM. Just as I thought to myself that I was almost home-only another 40 miles left of a normally 3 hour trip that was already maybe 4-5 hours I fishtailed into the ditch in the median about 50 miles south of Minneapolis.
Too deep to have a chance of getting the car out without a tow. Walked up to the road to flag cars for help. One or two passed me by, but the next stopped. As a small, 20 year-old female, in the dark, in what was now a blizzard, I was relieved to recognize the driver as a gym teacher from my hs. You see there was actually lots of traffic for a blizzard because so many folks were heading home from the tournament.
During the next, very slow, 2-hour drive for those last 40-50 miles home, we picked up 3-4 other folks whose car was no longer on the road.
Thanks to the careful driving of the teacher we all made it home.
I lived for almost 8 years in Grand Forks and I have seen some rough weather. Rule of thumb: in ND in the winter, always plan on getting stranded. It might save your life.
March winds doth blow... I had to go to the cardiologist yesterday. I forgot all about the ides of March. Now it makes sense. The doctor's office is about a 15 min drive, but yesterday I encountered a giant traffic jam on my way home. I'm talking move ten feet and then sit for five mins, then maybe move twenty feet before you have to stop again. According to the radio, there was a wreck on the highway, shouldn't affect me, ain't on my way home, but the road I needed to take also empties onto a main road that goes to the highway. I could see my left that I needed to make, but the traffic wouldn't move. It took me almost an hour to do a 15 min drive. My blood pressure was up, I was cussing... People were driving on the shoulder, passing on the right, and then beeping when nobody would let them sneak in. When I saw my chance, I took it. When nobody was coming the other way, I crossed the yellow line and passed everybody til I could get in my left turn lane. I saw several others in my mirrors doing the same. When I finally got home, there was no half-n-half to put in my coffee, and I wasn't about to go back out anywhere right then. Ides of March. Julius Ceasar got stabbed in the back. I reckon he had it coming, though. It was Karma exacting the revenge of Spartacus. Crassus and Pompey got it too. Funny, I remembered Pi Day on Tuesday, but I forgot all about the ides yesterday. Huh. My dad died in March 1979, but it was towards the end of the month. March came in like a lamb this year, so I suppose that means it will go out like a lion. Looking forward to April.
Another bit of history I have never heard of. I thank you so much for telling these stories. Please keep it up. I always look forward to another post.
The History Guy is a real gem. Thanks history dude.
I had my first Parrish in Pembina with St Vincent across the river folks talked about this storm as it just happened being from the new york city area they gave me lots of advice all of it great but the story of the two sisters was a poignant tell told many times thanks
How you are not narrating on a major network is beyond! I love listening to your story telling.
I know my story will be 'huffed' at by many, but being from Chattanooga, TN, to have a 21 inch snowfall is unusual to say the least. Chatta. is surrounded by high hills and short mountains from the southwest to East and those hills block the worst of the weather. The deepest snow I ever witnessed was 8 inches from 1951 to 1969. Then there was the storm of March 3, 1993. I had never witnessed thundersnow before and I hope I don't again. A tornado snowstorm mixed that had the trees whipping back and forth was a spooky thing to see. I'm sure I'll misspell this, but it was said an El Nienno out of the Pacific started this storm across our southern border, across Texas, Lousiana, Miss., and then southern TN and northern Georgia. The weather channels kept us informed of its progress and all the closings started around noon. By 5pm, you couldn't find a loaf of bread or a jar of peanut butter in any store within a 20 miles radius. The power went out about 8pm and I put every blanket and sheet I had on my bed and slept in my sleeping bag wrapped up like a hotdog. Back then I had a Toyota 4-Runner and for the next 48 hours I shuttled nursing staff to and from the hospital I worked at. It was the first white-out I had ever experienced. 5 days later the power came back on and people started digging out. My heart and prayers go out to the people that live above the Mason/Dixon line. They must be hardy individuals.
First time I flew was in March 1998 going from Newcastle (England) to Paris.
It hadn’t snowed much that winter, then it all came that day!
They snowploughed the runway, so our flight was only delayed by 30 mins.
If that happened now, all flights would be cancelled for 2 days.
...that's unlikely. We can clear snow at least as fast as could decades ago. Dude. I'm truly puzzled.
My oldest daughter was born during the onset of 1993 "Storm of the Century". Luckily we were at the edge of the worst of the storm, and only got about 3 inches of snow, in an area that rarely got snow at all.
The Yukon Express makes winters in Minnesota ungodly
The newspaper headline said, worst storm in 20 years….unlike today, where everything is climate change, and the worst storm in a hundred years! I long for the days when folks were realistic and resilient. These poor folks,that passed were tragic. Thank you THG. The best show on you tube, real history and entertainment to boot.
i lived in southern vermont back in 80-90's. first summer we had clipper storm. the main cell, went from burlinton to brattleboro in 45 minutes; where i was it was an hour and a half of rain, thunder, lightning , high winds, hail, lot's of hail. the thunder was so bad, that even though i was sitting on the edge of the bed it rumbled me off of my bed, i thought a tree had fallen. nope, but my landlord felt it too. she had to put on her slicks and a flashlight, it was so dark out, in the middle of day. those clouds were so black, like burnt oil.
what's also interesting is to see what happens when a hurricane hits the east coast during winter time, there's a very scientific name for it. lots of snow. if that doesn't light your cigar then try this. on the east coast especially vermont maine new hampshire new york. it could be a absolutely clear at night. not a drop of rain, and yet you wake up to EVERYTHING covered in ice. (it gets so cold that it draws the moisture out of the air. it made walking , interesting.
I was taught as a boy the dangers of wandering off in a blizzard, even a few feet, and how disorientating that it can be and how folks die just a few feet from their homes. Blizzard conditions were so common where my mother grew up that they didn't even make the news, so if it was the memory of this storm or many others, it is still a necessary lesson in the north.
I remember back in the mid 70's living in Jamestown ND and while we were watching the Weather Reports on TV hearing "Snert" warnings, It happens when the wind sweeps down so fast that it mixed the dry snow with the sand & dirt to create a substance that would sandblast the paint right off your car. It would also freeze any exposed skin and then cause all kinds of damage as it sandblasts your skin. It was scary stuff to say the least, I remember how happy I was when our family moved to Minneapolis MN, Although it was just about as cold, we didn't hear of Snert Warnings anymore!!!
My uncle lives in a small town south of the Cities, and they definitely get blowing snert there. He's mentioned it often enough, and I've seen the little flecks of dirt in the snow when visiting him in the winter.
i love the way we cut the weather off at both the N and S boards as though it stops there.
Its my birthday today.. 27 years this news has escaped me. Thank you for this video and all others you do👍🏼
I grew up in KS in the 50s. It ws still not uncommon for people to die in blizzards, usually farmers who went out to get their stock into a safe place & got lost in the storm. Thankfully, now the forecasts have improved to the point that when a storm is coming, the stock is brought in before it hits.
Another masterpiece.A side note to THG,if you haven’t done a story on Howard Pyle I believe it would suit you just fine as he was a great storyteller and artist and of course don’t all great stories involve pirates or at least the artists and authors of their lives.Thank you ,Tom.
Gives new meaning to "Just remember the Red River Valley."
I would love to see a video about the Blizzard of '39 which happened in southeast Colorado, north of the town of Holly, in which a school bus full of children was caught. There was a story about 25 years ago in the magazine American Heritage. It was an incredible story of survival for some, heroism for others, and death for many.
I've seen (and lived through) some scary weather events, but nothing like THIS...
Thank you sir for teach us about the history
Thank you for your time, research and great narrative of history. I also like the red vest. Shivering black bell thumbs up.
These accounts remind me of the the book "The Long Winter" wherein Laura Ingalls described how Pa got lost in a South Dakota blizzard and managed to survive by sitting it out ensconced in a heavy buffalo robe. When morning came he discovered he was within sight of his farmhouse.
czcams.com/video/eNGn_-msT1M/video.html
@@TheHistoryGuyChannel Thanks, I forgot I had seen your earlier video, but apparently I did give it a thumbs up. 🙂 I know Laura Ingalls Wilder embellished her books, so I can't say with certainty if the story of Pa surviving the night in a buffalo robe is true or apocryphal, but it was entertaining.
The worst I experienced was in January 1978 in northern Indiana. An Alberta Clipper ran into a Texas Hooker from the Gulf of Mexico. They made a blizzard baby.
Every time a Winter Storm with strong winds comes down from Canada in the Winter it picks up Ptarmigan Birds and drops them on a stretch of Road in Casco, Maine. I’ve seen it several times in my Life, as did my Father before me, who showed them to me.
Similar to the weather here in Northern Mn this week. 55 Monday -4 this morning.
I remember the blizzard of 1993 in Bristol, Pennsylvania. We had to bury our buddy's dad for the funeral that day. Imagine trying to carry a coffin on that day! It was crazy.
Yes, Lance, I did enjoy this episode with all of the tragedy and miracles in one massive storm.
I spent about 3 weeks in March in Dickinson, (thankfully no blizzard) and I was told you should always carry blankets and candles in your car. Our weather isn't that severe, but I still do.
1/29/2024
Having grown up in Cleveland, Ohio, I've experienced several of these storm during my 77 years. I remember one that hit just before noon time. I was in elementary school. The school was only two city blocks from home, usually a 5 minute walk. By the time the school sent us all home, the storm was raging, and I had to crawl. Half way home I found a neighbor girl, older than me, huddled in the storm. I helped her to get home. it took us almost 1/2 hour to go the 2 blocks.
Weather prediction has improved greatly since then, but even today, it is partially guess work. A small shift in the storms direction can make everything to become something very different, such as the storm that hit Atlanta, Georgia in 2011.
What was supposed to stay well to the south shifted north, into freezing temperatures, and created an ice and snow blizzard, which paralyzed the city for a week. ;-)
Ironically, We are under a winter storm warning for tomorrow. (16 March) Here in Minnesota, March blizzards are both common and deadly.
I was stuck on a missile site in South Dakota during the blizzard of winter 1986. Blizzard ain't no joke and ain't no fun. Can't imagine having bee in the 1941 blizzard.
March 15 is my favorite holiday. It's better than the boring green holiday two days later. Everything's green. If it's green, it's not ripe yet.
Beware The Ides of March, a great day to stab someone in the back! Yeah. That's a day for me!
I grew up in Alberta. We always had blankets in the car. I still keep blankets in the car even on the west coast of Canada. Plus a bin of emergency items. Habits for "just in case". Lessons hard learned.
It's such a sad story. Thanks for retelling this story. It's worth remembering.
This winter simultaneously had zero snow accumulation and the coldest temperatures in a decade in southern NJ.
Here in Southern New England it was the warmest Winter on record, and until yesterday we had only gotten 2 snowfalls totalling a foot; I'm fairly close to Long Island Sound and so we only got about 2" of snow and ice last night. Never lost power...
When I heard that most where only a few yards from safety it reminded me of the Jim Reeves song The Blizzard. I wonder if song writer Harlan Howard was inspired by such events like these.
Best youtube channel. Love the content!!!!
I can attest to the shelter of an automobile, 1991 Halloween blizzard St. Paul , Minnesota. Survived until the morning when a elderly gentleman and his wife got hung up by where I was. He said my son lives a couple blocks over, he has a 4 wheel drive pickup and chains, he can pull us out , and that is exactly what happened .
Until you’ve experienced one, you can’t understand what a blizzard is capable of. The reports of the wind hitting the house like a freight train are accurate, and particularly if your home faces due north there can be ice that forms on insulated, interior walls even today!
My mom was born in southeast Minnesota in 1936. Her dad died when she was 3 and they lived very poor in what was I believe a very small mobile home. It might have been this storm in which the wind was so strong that her mother was using a table knife to shove rags in the cracks around the windows, door and other places. The wind was so strong that it was pushing the rags out of the gaps constantly.
l remember in 1993 at my house in Tennessee had 10 foot snow drifts and 31/2 feet of snow on the ground and without power for days.....Thanks
to THG🎀i know of this Storm in 1941 👍
I remember the Halloween blizzard in Minnesota. My entire car was encased in 2 inches thick (minimum) of pure ice. Couldn't get my doors open, so I opened the hatchback and crawled into the main body. Couldn't chip any of the ice away from the windshield, so I just left the car to warm up, only gradually melting the ice in hours. I thought that was bad, but the story in this video was horrific. I gotta get some serious blankets stored in my trunk, and a few gallons of water, Jesus.
Meanwhile, here in the Twin Cities, we got 2 feet of snow, and Duluth got 3. One way or another, nobody was going _anywhere_ on Nov 1 1991!
Splendid, as always.
Thank you for sharing this.
Fascinating. I never heard about this in all my 60+ years. Now I know. Thank You.
I always enjoy your program. I hear stuff. I don't hear anywhere else