A rather potent Alberta Clipper dumped over a half foot of snow over the already deep snow pack of southwest Minnesota. The newly fallen snow along with gusty winds, caused considerable blowing and drifting snow. I-90 was closed from the South Dakota border to Albert Lea on January 7, and I-90 was still closed west of Fairmont on January 8th. One of the reasons for closing I-90 was due to vehicles blocking the road because of the heavy drifting snow and large snow drifts between Worthington and Adrian in Nobles County. The National Guard was called out to help rescue stranded motorists. State offices in seven southwestern counties were closed on January 7th and reopened at 10am on January 8th. The Twin Cities had a pesky light snowfall, coupled with windy conditions which caused slow travel on the 7th. One of the highest snowfall amounts reported was 10 inches in Ivanhoe in Lincoln County.
This snowstorm added to an already deep snowpack in southwest Minnesota. On January 8th the snow depth at Fairmont was 31 inches, the deepest snow depth seen there since February 1979.
Below are Public Information Statements from the National Weather Service.
PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN 1009 PM CST THU JAN 07 2010 ...PRELIMINARY SNOWFALL TOTALS FROM WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY... THE FIRST LOCAL APPRECIABLE SNOWFALL EVENT OF 2010 OCCURRED ON JANUARY 6TH INTO THE 7TH. AN ALBERTA CLIPPER WEATHER SYSTEM MOVED SOUTHEAST FROM NORTH DAKOTA INTO IOWA AND EASTWARD FROM THERE. THIS PRODUCED SNOW ACROSS THE AREA...OCCASIONALLY HEAVY IN WESTERN MINNESOTA ON WEDNESDAY. STRONG WINDS LASTED AFTER THE SNOWFALL AND CREATED WIDESPREAD BLOWING AND DRIFTING IN OPEN LOCATIONS INTO THURSDAY NIGHT. THE TOTALS BELOW ARE SEPARATED INTO SNOW...AND ICE AND SLEET CATEGORIES...THEN BY AMOUNT...AND ARE NOT NECESSARILY THE FINAL AMOUNT FOR EACH LOCATION. SNOW REPORTS LISTED BY AMOUNT INCHES LOCATION ST COUNTY TIME ------ ----------------------- -- -------------- ------- 6.00 WELCOME MN MARTIN 0658 AM 6.00 DAWSON MN LAC QUI PARLE 1230 AM 5.00 4 N BOYD MN LAC QUI PARLE 0815 AM 5.00 FAIRMONT MN MARTIN 0815 AM 5.00 GRANITE FALLS MN CHIPPEWA 1235 AM 4.50 FARIBAULT MN RICE 0612 PM 4.50 MANKATO MN BLUE EARTH 1110 AM 4.00 RENVILLE MN RENVILLE 0652 PM 4.00 ST JAMES MN WATONWAN 0102 PM 4.00 BLUE EARTH MN FARIBAULT 0815 AM 4.00 MORGAN MN REDWOOD 0700 AM 4.00 MORRIS MN STEVENS 0100 AM 3.50 NORTHFIELD MN RICE 0518 PM 3.40 EAU CLAIRE WI EAU CLAIRE 0612 PM MEASURED AT WQOW TV. 3.10 ST PAUL MN RAMSEY 0139 PM 3.00 BRUCE WI RUSK 0853 PM 3.00 3 SE ALBERT LEA MN FREEBORN 0800 AM 2.70 HAMMOND WI ST. CROIX 0800 AM 2.70 3 SE LAKE ELMO MN WASHINGTON 0800 AM 2.50 WOODBURY MN WASHINGTON 1256 PM 2.50 CLAYTON WI POLK 1010 AM 2.20 MINNEAPOLIS MN HENNEPIN 0612 PM MEASURED AT THE MINNEAPOLIS INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT. 2.00 BLOOMINGTON MN HENNEPIN 0308 PM 1.30 CHANHASSEN MN CARVER 0612 PM MEASURED AT THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE. 1.30 2 W PRIOR LAKE MN SCOTT 0451 PM 1.30 MURDOCK MN SWIFT 0815 AM 1.00 WILLMAR MN KANDIYOHI 0815 AM PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL DATA IN INCHES...FOR SOUTHEAST SOUTH DAKOTA ...SOUTHWEST MINNESOTA...NORTHWEST IOWA...AND NORTHEAST NEBRASKA ...BEGINNING MIDNIGHT WEDNESDAY JANUARY 6 THROUGH 10 AM THURSDAY JANUARY 7 2010. ...SOUTHEAST SOUTH DAKOTA... CANTON 7.2 MADISON 7.0 1 SW BROOKINGS 7.0 WESSINGTON SPRINGS 6.8 DE SMET 6.5 5 NE SALEM 6.0 SIOUX FALLS 5.9 4 NE BRUCE 5.6 PICKSTOWN 5.6 2 SE YANKTON 5.5 MENNO 5.5 MARION 5.2 HURON 5.2 GAYVILLE 5.0 MITCHELL 4.9 GREGORY 4.0 FLANDREAU 4.0 WHITE LAKE 2.5 ...SOUTHWEST MINNESOTA... IVANHOE 10.0 WINDOM 8.0 4 N CURRIE 7.5 2 NNE WORTHINGTON 6.0 MARSHALL 6.0 2 NE LAKEFIELD 5.0 ...NORTHWEST IOWA... SHELDON 7.5 CHEROKEE 7.5 SIOUX CITY 6.6 1 N SPENCER 6.5 AKRON 6.5 SPENCER 6.5 EVERLY 6.0 ROCK VALLEY 6.0 LE MARS 6.0 SIOUX CENTER 5.8 SPIRIT LAKE 5.5 3 NE BATTLE CREEK 4.6 OCHEYEDAN 4.0