MPR’s Chris Roberts reports on the varied feelings and reactions to the impact of large snowfall and blizzard conditions in the Twin Cities. Interviews include a bus driver, local residents, retailers, and individual needing shelter.
Lore has claimed it as “The Halloween Blizzard,” and Minnesotan memories and tales have only increased with the passage of time. Snow started falling on the morning of October 31, 1991. By midnight, the storm had dumped 8.2 inches of snow at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, breaking the record for the most snow on that date. By the time it was all done three days later, the storm had dumped more than 2 feet of snow in the Twin Cities and 3 feet in Duluth. The North Shore city’s 36.9-inch snowfall set a record at the time as the largest single snowstorm total for Minnesota.
Transcripts
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CHRIS ROBERTS: On 5th Street leading into downtown Minneapolis, several MTC buses were stranded in banks of snow that had been plowed by road crews, looking as helpless and immovable as beached whales.
A bus driven by Steve [? Satri ?] a 10-year MTC veteran driver, was stuck next to another bus, which had been temporarily abandoned by its driver.
[? Satri ?] sat reading a book waiting for help to arrive.
[? STEVE SATRI: ?] What happened is I got into a little bit of soft snow trying to avoid that bus, and I had to stop for the light and I could feel it just sink down. And that was it. And then I knew there was going to be a problem.
CHRIS ROBERTS: Not everyone downtown felt the anxiety, even the misery of the early winter storm. Amy Murphy Sullivan had taken the opportunity to walk her husband, an attorney, all the way from their apartment near the University of Minnesota campus to his downtown office, and was looking forward to the walk back.
AMY MURPHY SULLIVAN: I love it. I couldn't wait for it. I didn't think it was going to come for another couple of weeks, So now, I'm in all my glory. It's not too cold out. You can play. You can fall. It doesn't hurt. You can throw snowballs. It's fun. Go cross country skiing. It's fun.
CHRIS ROBERTS: If Murphy Sullivan had wanted to stop on her way to go to the bank or go shopping, she would have found most banks and stores closed. Retailers like Neiman Marcus, a relative newcomer to Nicollet Mall and to Minnesota weather, had trouble deciding whether to stay open or to close.
Neiman Marcus opened its doors at 10:30, but an hour later, Store Vice President Bill Brobston was beginning to change his mind.
BILL BROBSTON: For us, of course, the key was whether we had enough employees to open, first of all. And it looks like we've got about 30 people in this morning. But right now, we're concerned about our employees getting home safely, the ones that are here.
We have had some customers in the store. Apparently, there's a convention over in the Marquette Hotel, so those individuals have come over. But my guess is we just heard that Dayton's is closed downtown. And being a newcomer to the Twin Cities, I think we're probably going to take their lead and look to close sometime in the next couple of hours.
CHRIS ROBERTS: In the Skyways, the amount of pedestrian traffic was below normal, but hadn't slowed completely. Some workers had been forced to stay downtown, when the storm's intensity grew last night.
Others, like Vicky of Minneapolis, had been given the choice to stay home. But came to work instead. Vicky says she chose work for a simple reason.
VICKY: Because my kids are home. Serious. My kids don't have school. I don't want to be home today.
[LAUGHS]
I'll take a day off when they're in school.
CHRIS ROBERTS: For some Skyway establishments that stayed open, the blizzard was a blessing. Larry Rosenberg works at Romo's Pizza, and he says it was a good day to do business.
LARRY ROSENBERG: There are a lot of people stuck in the buildings who have to work, AT&T, Dain Bosworth, the commodity guys are still working because the country is still running. Minnesota may be shut down, but not the rest of the United States.
Chicago is underwater, under siege with water, but s still running, too. So these people come down here. They work. They've got to have food. And they came here.
CHRIS ROBERTS: The storm forced Minneapolis officials to call only essential personnel into work, meaning, police, firefighters, of course, snow crews. Across from city hall, the Hennepin County Government Center was closed with the county courthouse also closed, except for hearings involving those already in custody.
Hennepin County Medical Center was closed as well, except for its emergency room. The storm was probably most difficult for welfare recipients who were trying to pick up their first of the month welfare checks.
Jerome [? Feldt, ?] who traveled all the way from a shelter in Saint Paul to pick up his general assistance check for $122, found the office closed.
[? JEROME FELDT: ?] Well, I know I'm going to go hungry today. All right. I know I'm not going to have nothing today. Nothing. And look, my feet are wet. PSP got my clothes locked up. I ain't got no way to get them to Saint Paul. And they closed because of a blizzard. I want to go home. I want to go home right now. I'm a decorated veteran.
CHRIS ROBERTS: [? Feldt ?] says, he went to the medical center to seek shelter, but they turned him away, referring him instead to a crisis center, which referred him to another walk-in shelter in Minneapolis, a few miles away.
[? Feldt ?] says he had heard of the shelter, but he didn't have enough money to get there.
This is Chris Roberts.