For the 100th Anniversary of one of most noteworthy storms in the history of the Midwest, University of Missouri atmospheric science students Brian Crow, Evan Kutta, and Jennifer Power spent hours digging through historical records. They were trying to document the progress of the Great Blue Norther of 11 November 1911, tracking the situation through old newspaper articles and other documents. What they found showed how devastating weather can be when people have no warning, as a beautiful, sunny and warm fall day quickly turned into a deadly winter blast including tornadoes and derechoes.
Using the information about the impact of the storm, along weather data and reanalyses, UM Associate Professor Patrick Market reconstructed the storm and found a relatively close modern analog–29 January 2008. That storm had a slower but similar temperature drop (from 70°F to 15°F) and a similarly intense cold front.
Check out the interactive map the students created that tracks the events of that fateful day 100 years ago
View 11/11/1911 in a larger map