State High School Boys Basketball Tournament Snowstorm Lore 1913-2011

The snowstorm of March 22-23, 2011 dropped 4.5 inches at the Twin Cities International Airport so far. Thus, this storm is officially a "Tournament Snowstorm" using the guide of four or more inches of snow during the tournament set forth by meteorologist Ron Trenda. The last time four inches or more of snow has accumulated in the Twin Cities during the Boy's Basketball Tournament was in 2005. It snowed 5.3 inches at the Twin Cities International Airport on March 18, 2005. It had been a long time since there was a "Tournament Snowstorm" before that. In 1975, 6.2 inches fell on March 23rd and 24.


How often does it snow 4 inches or more during the State High School Boy's Basketball Tournament? The tournament began in 1913 and in those days was 3 days long. Later the tournament expanded to cover 5 days by the 1990's. Snow events were looked at for each day of the tournament. The number of times 4 inches or more fell during the tournament were noted over the past 98 years. Meteorologist Ron Trenda provided the initial research through 1987 and the State Climatology Office continued the check through the year 2010. Here are the results:

From 1913-2011



The Legend Continues.
In the last 30 years or so, the legend has dropped the "basketball" part and is more commonly known as the "tournament snowstorm." This is because over the years, other tournaments have gained in popularity such as wrestling, girls basketball and boys and girls hockey. The tournament season now lasts over a month and has a much greater chance of seeing a heavy snow event. Thousands of people are affected if heavy snow falls and this makes the snowstorms stand out. In order to have a "real" tournament snowstorm (in the old historic sense) it will have to fall during the basketball tournament. The tournament in 2011 is from March 23-26.