FARGO — The infamous Armistice Day Blizzard suddenly hit this region on Nov. 11, 1940, killing 154 people in the Upper Midwest. Among the dead were 49 Minnesotans, most of them birders, who froze to death after being stranded in heavy snow and plummeting temperatures. 66 sailors drowned in Lake Michigan as several cargo ships and other small boats sank. The storm came suddenly and was not well predicted.

Temperatures in the morning were near 40 degrees, but dropped suddenly as north winds increased to 50 mph and above. Winds of up to 80 miles per hour were recorded. It rained, then turned to sleet, then snow. Central Minnesota was hit the hardest. The heaviest snow fell in Collegeville, Minn., with 27 inches. 16 inches of snow fell in Minneapolis. Only about an inch fell in the Red River Valley, but the wind still managed to trigger blizzard conditions, with temperatures dropping below 10 degrees.

John Wheeler has been Chief Meteorologist at WDAY since May 1985. Wheeler grew up in the South, in Louisiana and Alabama, and credits his family’s move to the Midwest as important in developing his appreciation for weather and climate. In his youth, Wheeler lived in Wisconsin and Iowa. He attended Iowa State University and earned a bachelor’s degree in Meteorology in 1984. Wheeler worked at WOI-TV in central Iowa for about a year before moving to Fargo and WDAY.