The the Armistice Day Storm took place in the Midwest region of the United States on 11 November (Armistice Day) and 12 November 1940. The intense early-season "Panhandle hook" winter storm cut a 1,000-mile-wide path through the middle of the country from Kansas to Michigan.
The morning of 11 November 1940 brought with it unseasonably high temperatures. By early afternoon temperatures had warmed in lower to middle 60s over most of the affected region. However, as the day wore on conditions quickly deteriorated. Temperatures dropped sharply, winds picked up, and rain, followed by sleet, and then snow began to fall. An intense low pressure system had tracked from the southern plains northeastward into western Wisconsin, pulling Gulf of Mexico moisture up from the south and pulling down a cold arctic air mass from the north.
The result was a raging blizzard that would last into the next day. Snowfalls of up to 27 inches, winds of 50 to 80 mph, 20-foot snow drifts, and 50-degree Fahrenheit temperature drops were common over parts of the states of Nebraska, South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan.
In Minnesota, 27 inches of snow fell at Collegeville, and the Twin Cities recorded 16 inches. Record low pressures were recorded in La Crosse, Wisconsin and Duluth, Minnesota.
Transportation and communications were crippled, which exacerbated finding the dead and injured.
The Armistice Day Blizzard ranks #2 in Minnesota's list of top-5 weather events of the 20th century.
A total of 154 deaths were blamed on the storm.
Along the Mississippi River several hundred duck hunters had taken time off from work and school to take advantage of the ideal hunting conditions.
Weather forecasters had not predicted the severity of the oncoming storm, and as a result many of the hunters were not dressed for cold weather. When the storm began many hunters took shelter on small islands in the Mississippi River, and the 50 mph winds and 5-foot waves overcame their encampments. Some 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 and drowned.
Duck hunters constituted about half of the 49 deaths in Minnesota. In Watkins, In Lake Michigan, 66 sailors died on three freighters, the SS Anna C. Minch, the SS Novadoc, and the SS William B. Davock, as well as two smaller boats that sank. 13 people died in Illinois, 13 in Wisconsin, and 4 in Michigan.
Prior to this event, all of the weather forecasts for the region originated in Chicago. After the failure to provide an accurate forecast for this blizzard, forecasting responsibilities were expanded to include 24-hour coverage and more forecasting offices were created, yielding more accurate local forecasts.
