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This year marks the 25th anniversary of one of the most talked-about events in Minnesota history: The epic 

 that brought much of the state to its knees.  

It's still used as the benchmark for all blizzards past and present in Minnesota, and practically everyone old enough to remember it can recall with eerie detail where they were and what they were doing as it unfolded. (I was 9 years old, darting through snow banks in Minneapolis alongside someone dressed as a big yellow chicken. It was glorious.) 

The thing is, the '91 blizzard was a bit of a surprise. 

No, Minnesota, it didn't snow every Halloween when you were a kid

Todd Krause was working as a forecaster with the National Weather Service office in Chanhassen at the time. Leading up to Halloween, Krause said they were anticipating heavy rain, not snow — and certainly not 

"The day before, we looked at everything and thought that there would be an inch and a half or 2 inches of rain. It looked like it was gonna be a cold rain, maybe 37 [or] 38 degrees," he said. 

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Instead, snow began falling by mid-morning on Oct. 31. By midnight, the storm had dropped 8.2 inches of snow at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. And that was just the beginning. 

The storm intensified and snow continued to pile up. By the time it was all done three days later, it had dumped more than 2 feet of snow in the Twin Cities and 3 feet in Duluth. 

Southern Minnesota wasn't spared. While it didn't get quite as much snow as other parts of the state, it was hammered by an ice storm that downed trees and power lines. 

(Un)fortunately, there's no blizzard in sight for Halloween this year. It's looking like we'll have a few showers during the day, but forecasters say it'll mainly dry and mild for trick-or-treating. 

https://twitter.com/NWSTwinCities/status/791388595588370432

Minnesota's '91 blizzard wasn't the only time Mother Nature wrought havoc on Halloween. Here are three other times the holiday was spoiled by frightful storms. 

The same year Minnesota was digging itself out, the East Coast was living through 

. It sank the fishing boat the Andrea Gail, whose story was the basis for both the book and movie also called "The Perfect Storm." 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration described it

 as a storm "created from a collision between a high pressure system, a low pressure system and the remnants from a dying hurricane — (it) sent high winds and Atlantic Ocean waves crashing into the East Coast, from New England to Cape Hatteras, North Carolina."

Ghostly figures (OK, auroras) haunted the night skies during the 

They were so intense that they disrupted communication satellites and power grids, even causing a power outage in Sweden for about an hour. 

Halloween celebrations were canceled or postponed in some communities when a deadly October snowstorm 

Some areas in New England received more than 30 inches of snow and at least 3 million people lost power.

MPR News newscaster Mike Moen contributed to this report.

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Nancy Yang

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The '91 blizzard remains one of the most talked-about events in Minnesota history. Practically everyone old enough to remember it can recall with eerie detail where they were and what they were doing as it unfolded.

It's been 25 years since Halloween scared up a snowstorm

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