Winter Returns: Storm Dumps 6+ Inches On Southern Minnesota
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A Sunday snow storm capped a week filled with weather ranging from spring like temperatures to tornadoes.
Areas south and southwest of the Twin Cities were hit the hardest. A WCCO news crew was heading south on I-35W towards Faribault when traffic began backing up due to a crash. Along the way there were more than a dozen slide offs in the northbound lanes including cars, semi-trucks and a bus.
According to the Minnesota State Patrol, there were 384 crashes statewide from 12 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. and of those, 25 involved injuries. None of the injuries was serious and there have been no fatal crashes. There were also 142 vehicle spin-outs.
One of the accidents was on I-694 in Fridley and involved as many as 25 vehicles. It happened at about 4:30 p.m.
"Very slippery, white out conditions, visibility is pretty much nonexistent in some spots," said Bill Boyd of Faribault.
He couldn't believe it was only a week ago that temperatures crept in to the 60's.
"I got out and got a little yard work done because there was no snow on the ground," he said. "I just noticed I have some flowers coming up in the yard, I'm sure this (snow) will put a stop to them."
Daryl Woodward of Mankato was in Faribault helping someone whose car had broken down. Seven days earlier he wasn't using his pickup truck.
"I was on my motorcycle, yeah I remember. It was nice," he said. "Welcome to Minnesota."
The snow came down steadily during the Minnesota United Home Opener at TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis this afternoon. The soccer team had to play with an orange ball to keep track of it.
But the weather didn't stop the fans from coming out. More than 35,000 people made it out to the Bank.
It's a state that can also surprise you with a dangerous dose of weather, as it did last Monday in for the form of tornados.
Two of them touched down that day, the earliest ever recorded in a calendar year for the state. The next day it was high winds, then cold, then Sunday's snow.
"Snow is guaranteed in March. They call it 'March Madness' when we have it whether it's a hockey tournament or whatever, we'll get 8-10 inches," said Boyd.
Some areas of that state got that much snow Sunday, like Redwood Falls where it measured around nine inches.
The National Weather Service says more than 6 inches had fallen near Madelia in southern Minnesota by Sunday afternoon. Other snowfall reports include more than 5 inches in Windom, 4.5 inches near Currie and 4 inches in Marshall.
Forecasters say up to 11 inches of snow could fall in an area from west-central to south-central Minnesota by Monday.
But no matter the final totals, it all adds up to another March in Minnesota.
"You can't beat it," said one driver in Faribault. "Do I want (the snow)? No, I'm ready for summer," as he continued scraping the ice from his windshield.
