Top 11 Most Devastating Weather Disasters in Minnesota History

Earlier today, I saw a few posts on social media complaining that it was too cold in Minnesota for kids to go out trick-or-treating.  Ummm...this is Minnesota.  If you didn't plan on the cold weather on Halloween and stashing a few layers of clothing under those costumes, do better next year.  Good chance it is going to happen again.  In 2017, the high on Halloween at the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport was 35 F.  

I also had to laugh a bit at the complaints because there is an entire generation that not only went trick-or-treating during the Halloween storm of '91, we survived it.  I lived in Iowa at the time and our house was without power for over two weeks.  We had giant, mature trees fall from the ice throughout our neighborhood which took out the power lines.  Our house had no way to warm up without power so my family split up and went to various spots and I ended up at a friends' home who had a wood fireplace.

The Halloween blizzard of 91 isn't the only weather disaster that Minnesotans have experienced.  Below are a few others that also made history in the Land of 10,000 Lakes.

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11 of the Biggest Weather Disasters Throughout The Years in Minnesota

Mother Nature is a powerful lady and she has shown her wrath on Minnesota several times in mighty ways.  Fires, tornadoes, floods, blizzards - she has brought it all to the land of 10,000 lakes and unfortunately, many lives have been lost as a result of these natural disasters.

What Town in Minnesota Saw a Boom After It Was Hit By a Tornado?

Back in the 1880s, there were only three hospitals in the entire state of Minnesota that were outside of the Twin Cities area.  And on August 21st, 1883, the lack of medical care in Southeast Minnesota was evident after three devastating tornadoes hit, two that were F-3's and one that was an F-5.  40 individuals lost their lives and there were 200 injuries after the tornadoes hit areas in Dodge, Olmsted, and Winona counties.

That horrific day back in 1883, when an F-5 tore into Rochester, is ultimately what led to the start of the Mayo Clinic.  Today, Rochester is the third largest in the state and Mayo Clinic is a Top-ranked hospital in the nation.