30 years ago, a blizzard to remember

There are storms and then there are storms. The ones we remember are often tied to other significant events. Think of the Super Bowl blizzards in the 1970s, or the Armistice Day blizzard in 1940.

The Halloween blizzard in Minnesota has properly taken its place in Minnesota weather lore. It's hard to forget trick-or-treating through heavy snow and even by snowmobile. It's hard to forget that in Carlton County we got a break of about just 20 inches of snow, really, compared to more than 3 feet in Duluth and north. There was 45 inches in Superior and more than 2 feet in the Twin Cities area.

It certainly was a different time 30 years ago. There seems to be a dearth of personal photos that people took of the storms and its aftermath. Of course, cell phones with the now ubiquitous cameras were not around. The state was still drunk off the second World Series win for the Minnesota Twins in four years. That was Sunday night. By Thursday afternoon, Halloween, the snow began to fall and didn't stop for three days.

We asked readers to tell us their memories of this legendary storm.

Debb Petersen, Esko

"I was at home waiting for a ride to town to see my new boyfriend. I was mad at my parents for not driving me. He ended up finding a ride from a friend and was stuck at our house for three days. We celebrated 30 years together last week."

Debb lived 12 miles north of Cloquet and was begging her parents to allow her to go into town for the regular Halloween shenanigans a 16-year-old might find themselves involved in. She also wanted to hang out with her new boyfriend, Ron. None of that happened.

Ron found a friend with a four-wheel-drive truck and made it to Debb's house on Nov. 1. He ended up stuck at her house for three days of frolicking in the snow.

They'd been only dating a few weeks and Debb says she had no inkling then that she'd still be with Ron 30 years later. The blizzard is a large part of her family lore. "It comes up a lot," she said. "It's a fun little story."

Linda Erickson, Cloquet

Linda and her sister worked together at an office at the Lumberjack Mall, today's Pine Tree Plaza. In the early afternoon on Halloween, the snow started falling and the employees were told to start heading home. The forecast was dire.

Many of those in the office didn't live in Cloquet, so they left. The sisters decided to stay. They both lived in Cloquet and there was some work left to get done.

"After all, we were northern Minnesota girls and this was just another storm, or so we thought," Linda said.

She went on to relate a comical series of events. The only exit out of the building was the back door to the parking lot. Linda kept opening the door to see how the snow was piling up. She shovelled a few times.

"Somehow, time had gotten away from us," she said. It had been an hour since they last checked the door and now it wouldn't budge. They were trapped in the building.

"We pushed and pushed on the door until just a crack appeared, enough to see out."

Linda's sister said they needed help, so she got the idea of putting a stick out the window with one of her red mittens attached to signal their distress. They had heard snowmobiles going by and they might get lucky.

"She kept waving her red mitten flag while we joked and laughed about being stranded at the office," Linda said.

The ruse worked. A snowmobiler stopped and shovelled out the area around the door. "Our saviour," Linda said. "To this day, I don't know who he was, but he got us out."

They hopped into her sister's car, "swooshed" in the snow and miraculously didn't get stuck, she said. They made it home. Linda even took her son out trick-or-treating, albeit just one stop, at his grandpa's house nearby.

"I wish I knew who the Good Samaritan was that day who saw the red mitten," Linda said. "When Northlanders are in trouble, Northlanders help each other out."

Robert Clark, Cloquet

"We were at home. My wife was a rural mail carrier; in the morning she was bound and determined to deliver mail, even though you could just see a lump in the snow where her car was. She ended up calling the post office and they said the carrier truck couldn't get out of Duluth, so no mail that day. She was dedicated to her job."

Carol Chalberg, Cloquet

She was the supervisor at the post office when the storm whipped in. "What a day. Sitting inside an office you don't realize how much snow has been falling. The janitor, Brent, informed us that it was "a lot." So, sometime during that day we decided to pull the carriers off the street. They all made it in safe and did an excellent job. My drive home (to Culver) was terrible."

Eva Broberg, Cloquet

"It was our first Halloween in our house. A few brave kids came by. I reached into the bowl with both hands to gather up candy. I didn't want to be snowed in with all that sugar. One boy said, 'Wow! I'm coming back here next year!'"

Tim Brigan, Saginaw

"Wife went into labor that afternoon. Tough time making it to the hospital up on the hill but I made it in a rear-wheel-drive Olds. Son was born shortly after midnight and I made it back to 22nd Street."

Joyce McQuiston, Cloquet

"I was 20 and in college. Rear-ended that day by a semi on 27th Avenue West in Duluth. Spun me around and took off my front end too. My Chevrolet Celebrity saved me in the middle."

Nina Swanson, Cloquet

"Trick-or-treating with the kids, then birthday dinner for my son. The next morning I drove to Duluth to work at St. Mary's (hospital) and then was snowed in there and had to work for the next 27 hours because other staff couldn't get to work."

Becky Gergen, Cloquet

"I had just found out about a week prior that my family and I were moving from California to Duluth the following year (1992). We heard about the storm and I asked my family why on Earth we would move somewhere that would produce that much snow. Almost 30 years later and I still ask myself that question."

Jim Boyd, Cloquet

"I recall looking out my classroom window at Washington Elementary School and watching the snow starting to come down with a frenzy. (My students) made mention of getting a snow day the next day. Well, those students got their wish for a day off from their studies and more. The snow had piled up so much by Saturday night that Big Lake Road was inaccessible from Spring Lake Road due to the mound of snow which was over our heads as we ventured out for an evening walk.."

Marian Johnson, Wrenshall

She took photos of the blizzard from her rented home in Mahtowa. "We were thankful that the electricity stayed on. We were stranded for three days before the snowplows came down the driveway and on County Road 4 .... My future husband and I were planning on a date for that day. Needless to say we didn't go on that date but we've been married for almost 30 years now."