Whether you experienced the snow yourself or have just heard stories, the 1991 Halloween blizzard continues to live on.
The three-day snowstorm began mid-morning on Halloween and did not stop for 24 hours straight, dumping more than 28 inches of snow on the metro.
The famous blizzard’s 30 year anniversary brings up memories for many Minnesotans, including faculty members at St. Thomas.
Joe Sweeney
Women’s Cross Country Coach Joe Sweeney was trick-or-treating with his children and coaching a cross country meet that weekend.
“The biggest thing I remember was they called it the Halloween blizzard and I was trick-or-treating with my boys the night when it started,” Sweeney said.
He emphasized how long the storm surged on.
“The next day we woke up and it was still snowing, and then it snowed through the whole day,” Sweeney said. “I don’t remember when it stopped, but when the snow stopped, I believe it was close to 30 inches.”
Because the runners typically run on golf courses, the conference coaches had to scramble to find other places to hold the competitive conference.
“I just got all these phone calls because we were hosting the meet, like ‘what are we going to do? What are we going to do? I don’t know,’” Sweeney said.
Because of the snow, runners couldn’t compete at a golf course like they typically do.
“St. Olaf stepped up and their physical plants said that they could plow a one mile loop on their campus around their athletic fields, and our region meet was going to be coming up within two weeks of the conference meet, so we wanted to get it done as quickly as we could,” Sweeney said.
The runners had to run on frozen ground along with cold weather.
“We really had a great plan but my recollection was that you know, you’re in the heat of a battle with Carlton and now you’re dealing with things you normally don’t deal with, and so we just prepared the best we could,” Sweeney said.
The end resulted in a close race and a tie between Carlton and St. Thomas
“I think it’s so much like Minnesotans to find a way with the weather. I always say if you let weather prevent you from doing something, you won’t do very much,” Sweeney said.
Debra Petersen
Communication Studies Associate Professor Debra Petersen was attending the Speech Communication Association Conference, now known as the National Communication Conference, during the storm.
“We were in Atlanta, and we were watching CNN coverage of the storm in the Twin Cities. It was of course freaking us out,” Petersen said.
Being with Minnesota colleagues, including from St. Thomas and other schools, Petersen was worried about making a flight back home to the Twin Cities.
“Actually our flights were not canceled. My husband and I live in Minneapolis, and my husband was able to drive out and pick me up and as I recall, he drove a couple other people home because their family’s vehicles were still frozen,” Petersen said.
With the snow, Petersen and her husband resorted to cross-country skiing to get around, including to get to their house, which was being renovated in South Minneapolis.
“We lived about three blocks away and my husband cross-country skied over to our house that we were rehabbing to make sure they closed everything in before the storm hit and luckily they did because everything was snowed in and frozen,” Petersen said.
Trick-or-treating stories from the storm continue to circulate her neighborhood when the anniversary hits.
“They like to tell stories in our neighborhood about trying to go out as early as they could and then they started getting rained on and then it started snowing,” Petersen said.
Joe Kreitzer
Economics Professor Joe Kreitzer spent his snowy Halloween taking his kids trick-or-treating.
“It just snowed and just an incredible read of snowfall, and I think we even set out with the wagon and lights and stuff. The kids are tiny at that point,” Kreitzer said.
Trick-or-treating only lasted for a couple of houses with Kreitzer and his kids.
“People are in the middle of the street walking down, skiing, and walking, and bikes and whatever they could do with the snow,” Kreitzer said.
Kreitzer recalled the official total snowfall to be around 36 inches.
“Depending on where you were, you may have gotten a little more or less than that but it pretty much closed down everything for probably two days,” Kreitzer said. “We did get our cross country skis and head out on the road after a while…It wasn’t a tremendous burden.”
Natalie Hoepner can be reached at hoep8497@stthomas.edu.