lists of blizzards: armistice day blizzard
- I decided to choose this type of blizzard out of all the other ones, because I thought the information is worth reading. Armistice Day Blizzard, November 10-12, 1940. This took place in the Midwest region of the United States on Armistice Day. This "Panhandle hook" winter storm cut a 1,600-kilometer-wide path, or 1,000 mi through the middle of the country from Kansas to Michigan. The morning of the storm was unseasonably warm but by mid afternoon conditions quickly deteriorated into a raging blizzard that would last onto the next day. A total of 145 deaths were blamed on the storm, almost a third of them were duck hunters who had taken time off to take advantage of the ideal hunting conditions. Weather forecasters had not predicted the severity of the oncoming storm, and as a result, the hunters were not dressed for the cold weather. When the storm began, many hunters took shelter on small islands in the Mississippi River, and the 80 km/h (or 50 mph) winds and 1.5-meter (5 ft) waves overcame their encampments. Some also became stranded on the islands and then froze to death in the single-digit temperatures that moved in over night. Others tried to make it to shore, but they drowned.