As the shortwave aloft rounded the base of the broad trough and approached the Southern Plains, it aided the development of an area of surface low pressure along the sharp temperature gradient near the Texas Gulf Coast. By October 30th, the cold front had reached the Texas shoreline with the Gulf of Mexico and stalled in that location. Meanwhile, morning lows were much more frigid to the north - in the single digits across Montana and Wyoming, and in the teens (with snow) in the Dakotas.Ī broad upper level trough, or low pressure area, was in place over the western US at this time, with one particular shortwave (a disturbance, or small area of low pressure aloft) lifting northeast through the Dakotas, and another digging to the southeast into the Intermountain West. Abilene, Texas, was reporting a temperature of 40, while Dallas came in at 64 - a 24 degree difference over about 180 miles. At 6 AM CST, the temperature in Amarillo, Texas, had plummeted to 22 degrees with a stiff northerly breeze. The contrast between the two air masses was stark, and by the morning of October 29th, the cold front was already about halfway through Texas. Meanwhile, high temperatures did not crack 20 degrees across most of Montana and Wyoming. On October 28, 1991, temperatures in advance of the cold front were quite pleasant as high temperatures reached into the 70s from the Mid-Mississippi River Valley south into North Texas, and into the 80s across much of central and southern Texas. The "Halloween Blizzard" was made possible by a strong Arctic cold front that surged south through the central United States several days prior. Notice the 3-hour period of 2" per hour snowfall rates between 1PM and 4PM. This graph shows the snow accumulation at KDLH on November 1, 1991. Total Snowfall, Halloween Storm, October 31-Nov 3, 1991 Visbility in Duluth was less than a mile for 26 hours during the storm, including an 11-hour stretch with visibility 1/2 mile or less on November 1st.Visibilities were frequently near zero across much of the region. Winds regularly gusted to between 30 and 40 MPH. Blowing snow was reported in Duluth for 33 consecutive hours, starting at 2 PM on November 1st.Moderate to heavy snow fell in Duluth with as much as 2 inches per hour from about 11:00 am on November 1st to about 2:00 am on November 2nd - about 15 hours.Snow began in Duluth at about 1:00 pm on October 31st, and did not end until 1:00 pm on November 3rd, meaning that snow fell continuously on the city for about 72 hours.At the time, the 36.9" of snow that fell at Duluth set the state record for storm total snowfall.In addition, winds gusting to to 40 mph created huge snowdrifts and zero visibility. At times the snow fell at a rate of two inches per hour and was accompanied by thunder and lightning. A large area of more than 20 inches of snow covered most of the northwest quarter of Wisconsin from Bayfield to River Falls and near the eastern half of Minnesota. It continued to snow for two more days, with final totals of 36.9 inches at the Duluth Airport and 45 inches in Superior. To have two exceptional storms impacting the continental United States at the same time is quite rare.ĭuring the height of trick-or-treating the storm began as rain, then changed quickly to freezing rain and before the evening was over, it was snowing. Moreover, the "Perfect Storm" was beginning to wind down in the Northeast on Halloween, around the same time that Minnesota was starting to see heavy snow creeping in. In fact, this storm was set up, in part, by the weather patterns that caused the " Perfect Storm" that struck the East Coast of the United States, and was famously depicted in Sebastian Junger's book. The snowstorm that hit parts of the Northland starting around Halloween (October 31 - November 3) in 1991 was an impressive storm in many respects, and it is still remembered by many people across the region.
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