25 Years Ago, All Hell Broke Loose On Halloween
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) --Twenty-five years ago, Halloween looked a lot different.
You may remember the Halloween Blizzard of 1991. Strong winds, plummeting temperatures and plenty of snow made trick-or-treating a challenge.
The storm spread from Iowa through Minnesota and into northwestern Wisconsin.
It created havoc on the roadways, sending cars into ditches, and there were efforts to keep snow off the Metrodome for fear it would collapse.
To put this in perspective, the temperature is in the mid-50s for trick-or-treating this year.
It was 32 degrees in 1991.
There were jack-o-lanterns on snowmen, winter coats over costumes, and a whole bunch of frozen candy to boot.
PHOTO GALLERY: 1991 Halloween Blizzard
"I was 10-years-old. I'll never forget it. It was epic," said Arleigh Hagberg. "How could you forget the blizzard of 1991."
Hagberg remembers dressing up as a cat. She had to throw on her mom's fur coat while trick or treating.
Now, as a mother of two herself, it's become a different kind of Halloween tale for her kids.
"My kids are missing out big time," Arleigh said. "I wish they could have that happen."
WCCO Radio meteorologist Mike Lynch remembers having breakfast the morning before the storm hit.
"I had never seen so many birds at my bird feeder before," he said. "It was like the birds knew something was up."
Lynch remembers the low pressure system that turned Halloween into a winter wonderland.
"The key was, number one, the system slowed down," Lynch said. "And, number two, it was strong enough where that afternoon, on Halloween, it was able to draw in some cold air from aloft."
Instead of rain, we got snow.
When it was over, it had dropped 28 1/2 inches in the Twin Cities and about 36 inches in Duluth.
"We've never had that much snow in a single storm in the Twin Cities before or since," Lynch said.
He remembers the blizzard well. He remembers what it did to his daughter's Halloween bag even better.
"Sure as heck the bottom broke out and then all heck broke loose. She was crying," Lynch said. "We were searching through the snow for candy."
It was 65 degrees two days before Halloween in 1991. A couple of days after that, it was four below.
