403 Crashes, Road Closures Amid April Snow Storm
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO/AP) -- It's safe to say that, if you don't need to be on the roads right now, you should stay off of them.
The Minnesota State Patrol updated their statewide crash totals, and said that they've tallied 403 crashes from the beginning of Friday through 8:45 p.m. Saturday.
Of those, 47 crashes involved injuries, two of them serious -- one in Brainerd and one in St. Cloud. The State Patrol also reported one fatal incident in Medina involving a pedestrian.
Also, the State Patrol reported 738 vehicle spinouts or vehicles that went off the road, including 16 jackknifed semi trucks.
Highway 52 was closed in both directions for hours Saturday between County Road 46 in Coates and Highway 50 in Hampton due to an injury accident. The highway reopened shortly before 6 p.m., according to State Patrol.
Road conditions are bad and quickly getting worse, and visibility is poor. To check road conditions in your area, visit MnDOT's 511 website.
Authorities advise no travel in much of southwestern Minnesota, where a blizzard warning remains in effect as a major storm system blankets the Midwest.
The Minnesota Department of Transportation has closed several highways in the southwest due to the storm, which is expected to persist into Sunday. Driving conditions are difficult across the southern half of Minnesota.
The National Weather Service predicts 9 to 15 inches of snow across a large swath of southern Minnesota including the Twin Cities before it's all over. More than 2 inches of snow had fallen at the weather service office in Chanhassen by 7 a.m., with over 1 inch at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
The National Weather Service extended the Blizzard Warning to the entire Twin Cities metro early Saturday afternoon.
Saturday's Minnesota Twins game against the Chicago White Sox has been snowed out for the second day in a row.
(© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
