The 1941 Ides of March Blizzard

foreign it is March 15 2023 and there's some severe weather in the United States right now another one of those atmospheric Rivers is pounding the West Coast while powerful Nor'easter pounds the East you know that really shouldn't surprise us severe weather often occurs in March in the United States in fact some of the worst blizzards in U.S history occurred in March including the 1888 Great Blizzard and the 1993 Storm of the Century and another one of those terrible March blizzards fast-moving Alberta Clipper that struck the Northern Plains North Dakota Minnesota and Saskatchewan on March 15 1941 moved so quickly that it stranded thousands of people and killed more than a hundred the 1941 Ides of March blizzard deserves to be remembered the storm struck with little warning United academics magazine wrote in 2017 the weather forecast predicted snow precipitation and low temperatures for that night but there were no mentions of an aggravation of the climate conditions let alone a blizzard warning in fact it was a surprisingly pleasant day for the Northern Plains in March drawing people out United academics continues the region awoke with a little taste of the springtime that was about to come the day was cold but shiny and the snow was melting for North Dakota residents it looked like the perfect day to be out of their houses and forget the chill winter and the bombs blowing up all over Europe in 2018 the Dickinson North Dakota press quoted a story about the blizzard told to Connie curpis Henderson of Crookston Minnesota by her father Edward March 15th donned a beautiful warm day hinting at the approach of spring following a long hard winter that would began with the Armistice Day blizzard many had cabin fever and took advantage of the sunshiny day to be out and about little did anyone know that the worst Blizzard of the century was only hours away the Hope North Dakota Pioneer wrote on March 20th 1941 that quite a number of farmers were caught in town some would come to shop others to attend a show so when the storm struck people were simply unprepared and the Pioneer continued striking with sudden Fury and continuing for hours the worst storm in years visited the section of the country Saturday night bringing death and destruction the storm struck hope about eight in the evening following a pleasant day that no indication that a storm was brewing some warning had been given over the radio that a strong wind was coming but not many people paid any serious attention to it as wind is not an uncommon thing in North Dakota meteorologist Daryl Richardson told the Dickinson press because it was a warm day people were not dressed for a winter storm but when the storm came it came fast a personal blog called Saint Vincent Minnesota memories rights at 7 24 pm on Saturday March 15th the wind in Pembina North Dakota was at 36 miles per hour but 10 minutes later it jumped to 58 miles per hour Pembina immediately warmed the Fargo Airport Station of the DraStic change this was the first report Fargo had received that a dangerous storm had arrived in northeastern North Dakota whether historian Bill Murray wrote in a 2014 edition of the Alabama weather blog across North Dakota and Minnesota temperatures dropped 20 degrees in 15 minutes in many places as Arctic air moved in the fast moving storm brought 50 mile per hour sustained winds to a wide area an 85 mile per hour wind gusts were recorded in Grand Forks whiteout conditions recorded as what would be known as The Ides of March blizzard raged the speed of the storm was a result of a specific kind of weather system Readers Digest Canada explains it was a devastating type of snowstorm called an Alberta Clipper a fast-moving cold front swooping in from the Rockies the brough whiteout conditions and ferocious windshields of minus 45 degrees Celsius out of nowhere the website of Farmers Almanac writes that Alberta Clipper is a name coin to describe a fast-moving storm system that sweeps down across the Northern Plains and Great Lakes regions of the United States from you guessed it Alberta Canada or thereabouts anyway Alberta Clippers can actually originate from nearby Manitoba Saskatchewan or even the state of Montana to the South and explains that Alberta Clippers are caused by low pressure systems that form when Warm Winds from the Pacific Ocean collide with the colder air over the Rocky Mountains the term Clipper is a reference to the speed of these storms the almanac continues because of their speed Alberta Clippers often swoop in with little warning the storms take their name from the Clippers Sleek agile Merchant sailing vessels popular during the 19th century and designed for Speed the term is apt and the weather phenomena was well demonstrated in the Ides of March blizzard the website of Prairie Public Radio notes that in Western North Dakota the temperature suddenly dropped from 33 to 70 degrees below zero and winds picked up to 40 miles per hour the Dickinson North Dakota press wrote that as sudden as the dropping of a curtain a black fog of churning dust and snow blinded the Prairies for a thousand miles the wind was the most shocking part of the storm Connie Corpus Henderson told the Dickinson press that her father remembered the winds estimated to 80 to 85 miles per hour sounded like a freight train hitting the house the Regina Saskatchewan Leader Post told the story of a North Side store manager who went to pick up his wife in the storm as he went outside his hat blew off on his way back while driving under the Broad Street Subway he saw a hat resting on the road he stopped and picked it up it was one that he had lost an hour earlier and blocks away the evening Harold wrote that little snow accompanied the terrific win but what there was became packed into rock-like drifts in many places recorded wind velocity included one of 74 miles an hour at Fargo on another 68 miles per hour at Grand Forks both in North Dakota sudden gusts at times raised the Gale as much as 15 miles per hour such sudden winds could be deadly on their own the Hagerstown Maryland Daily Mail reported that North Dakota authorities reported that in a number of instances storm victims were suffocated by the sheer force of the wind their lungs congested with the snow and dirt-filled Air the suddenness of the storm meant that many were trapped unable to travel home the Omaha Nebraska Evening Herald writes that thousands were forced to spend most of the night in theaters and other Amusement places Saturday night because police forbade them to go out in the storm about 3 000 farmers who went to Moorhead Minnesota to hear an address by an Agricultural Adjustment Administration administrator were forced to stay there the night two thousand Spectators attending a basketball tournament at Morehead State had to stay in the junior high school gymnasium and competing teams played throughout the night The Daily Mail reported that theaters hotels and stores and the population centers in the storm area remained open all night to accommodate thousands of farmers and their families marooned in towns many others were trapped in their cars the halleck Minnesota kitson county Enterprise reported that all of a sudden the wind switched to the Northwest and struck with such a violent Fury and within an instant time the entire scene was transformed into a raging blizzard as the thermometer started to plunge downward as though it had been plunged into a cake of ice the fury of the storm was such that persons driving were simply trapped and stopped in their tracks the Buffalo New York news reported that dozens of cars punched into ditches driven there by the wind others slipped from the road as fine snow and dust swirled by the Gale cut visibility to nothing the Winnipeg Tribune wrote that hundreds of automobiles were abandoned Saturday night along highways throughout the stricken area The Hope Pioneer reported that the Hope Junior High basketball team was trapped by the storm H.R Eastman started out with a team and got within two or three miles of Findlay when the storm struck them in an effort to reach Town Mr Eastman had two of the boys walk ahead of the car but little progress was made and this was abandoned the team spent the night out in the car as long as the gas held out the heater kept them from getting cold when their feet started to chill they took their shoes off and sat on each other's feet the team was rescued in the morning but others were not so lucky the website of the History Channel writes that most of the victims of the blizzard were traveling in the cars when it hit Highway 2 running from Duluth Minnesota to North Dakota was shut down that's where highways 75 and 81. attempts to rescue those stranded and their cars came too late in one incident six-year-old Wilbert treichel died from exposure to the cold as his parents attempted to carry him through the blizzard to safety the Buffalo News writes that some of the victims froze to death in their stalled cars others were battered to exhaustion as they sought to fight their way to safety and froze to death on roads and in fields The Daily Mail wrote that Mrs Peter bjerkin about 45 and her son Palmer eight died from exhaustion near Mannheim in Minnesota after they started out from their stalled automobile with a husband and another son who made their way to safety and a companion of Francis Waters about 21 who perished when she started to walk from their stranded car near Kelso North Dakota still was sought today the Buffalo News reported that Sid bonam the Railroad Station Agent in Tilden North Dakota bundled his wife and small child in blankets while he went for Aid after their car slipped from the road Mrs bonam and the child were rescued the next day but Mr banane froze to death stories were almost Legion of men dying to save their families the Buffalo News wrote the Grand Forks Herald also lists the Foss family of Beltrami North Dakota the mail carrier would find the bodies of Mr and Mrs Foss and their 14 year old daughter Rosalind huddled together down in the ditch they had evidently attempted to seek Refuge from the Blustery winds after abandoning their car the Omaha Herald reported that four boys Lee Donald Dicky and Robert Taylor of Daisy North Dakota left their stalled car lost and freezing Lee 17 and Donald 15 buried their twin ten-year-old Brothers in a snow drift hoping to keep them alive and search for help the Buffalo News reported that Robert Taylor was rescued huddled in a snowdrift with his twin brother Dickey who died just after a search party reached them it was a feeble wave of the dying Dickies arms the news writes that attracted Rescuers to the spot after they'd found the bodies of the two other brothers nearby author Larry scratch author of the 1992 book on the blizzard entitled looking for candles in the window the tragic Red River Valley blizzard of March 15 1941 told the Grand Forks Herald growing up we always heard from our parents that if something happens don't leave your vehicle don't leave your vehicle we think it's because of the 1941 blizzard that they remember a lot of people that died in that storm were people that tried to walk off to safety but the few people who stayed in their cars they survived that storm the Omaha Daily Mail reported that in the Fargo North Dakota Moorhead area it was believed prompt action of the police and Highway authorities averted more serious consequences there by halting highway traffic shortly after the storm broke The Binding storm made for a terrifying form of tragedy the Buffalo News notes that in many cases bodies were found only a short distance from shelter Prairie Public reported that out near Wing Emile Dickinson hitched a ride partway home with the neighbor living only two miles from town Erickson got out to walk the last mile the storm came on so suddenly he lost his way and died just 200 feet from his farmhouse the Grand Forks Herald wrote at the time that Mrs Orland Bailey left her family's car with her ailing husband and children inside to check on another stalled car just 20 feet away and the Furious wind swept her away in the swirling blinding blizzard walking some three and a half miles in the storm cold and exhaustion overtook her she sank down into a five or six foot space between two small unused buildings on the mini Ross Farm almost within a stone's throw of the warm house and safety just another hundred yards in Mrs Orland Bailey of Hibbing Minnesota might be alive today the article read the Omaha Herald wrote that Albert Jacobson 73 a farmer and his son Albert Jr 11 were found dead clinging to a barbed wire fence only a short distance from their home near Fort Ransom North Dakota that attempted to follow the fence to their Farm yard for a public rights said Harry Weiner and his wife made it to the driveway of their Farm but when they got out of the car the wind Swept Away the eight-year-old and her parents ran to catcher they lost their bearings but finally came across a fence wander got his wife and children into his sheep barn but Mrs weiner died the Montreal Quebec Gazette reported that 57-year-old Saskatchewan farmer Fred Ebel father of eight froze to death while trying to return home after he had driven to the town of Weyburn to get some medicine for his wife his body was found Sunday morning a mile from home the paper wrote among the six people who died in Canada in the storm Where Mrs John Jansen 43 and her six-year-old daughter found dead in snowdrift some of the deaths were particularly heart-wrenching sisters Katie and Florence howery 21 at 15 years old apparently went out in the storm to search for their mother not knowing that she was safe the two froze to death along railroad tracks near Pembina the Omaha World Herald writes that a train ran over them before their bodies were noticed but in the storm there were some amazing stories of survival the Grand Forks Herald writes that H.A Bond of Edna Minnesota survived the Blizzard after walking some three miles with a group of friends the car the Group of Seven were in went into a ditch in the blinding snow wearing only light jackets they walked through the storm arms locked he told the herald in 2016. we turned around three in front four behind we locked arms and walked towards Langdon it was so bad we couldn't see the ones in front we would hit their heels when we were walking it was a bugger you couldn't see anything the only thing that really saved us was the blacktop road that we were on we get blown off the road and have to work our way back the snow was packed in underneath our jacket so tight that we'd stay warm the group made it safely to a gas station in the town of Langdon the Buffalo News reported that one feat of rescue was performed by A Great Northern Railway crew the train made an emergency stop when they saw a man waving from a stalled car in all the train crew rescued eight people from stalled Vehicles all those rescued went to hospitals the paper reports the Hagerstown Maryland Daily Mail wrote that 10 passengers on the Northland Greyhound bus stalled east of Petersburg North Dakota made their way to a farmhouse and that for University of North Dakota students linked arms to form a human chain and rescued marooned ottoist near their fraternity house they rescued 12 persons the Dickinson North Dakota press wrote in 2018 that the Ides of March blizzard March 15th to 17 1941 was among the worst in Red River Valley history and among the most disastrous ever Nationwide in all 151 people were killed by the storm prior to the storm weather forecasters in North Dakota and Minnesota were under the control of the Chicago weather office in the Alabama weather blog no-tech critics rightfully claimed that the Chicago office was more interested in local conditions than they were about conditions in the places that were affected by the storm After the Storm those local forecasters were given more autonomy and combined with improved weather forecasting techniques today it is much less likely that people can be so blindsided by such a storm I hope you enjoyed this episode of the history guide check out our community on the historyguiguild.locals.com our webpage at thehistoryguy.com and our merchandise at teespring.com or book a special message from the history guy on Cameo and if you'd like more episodes of Forgotten history all you have to do is subscribe [Music] [Applause] thank you [Music]

Channel: The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered

Views: 68,012

Keywords: history, history guy, the history guy

Id: AyBV3rBNamg

Length: 15min 57sec (957 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 15 2023