A sure sign of changing seasons is the first snow of the season. A strong autumn storm brought just that to the Arrowhead region, while soaking a good portion of the state in a chilly rain. A cold front pushing across the state was responsible for the unsettled weather. Rain, heavy at times, fell across much of the eastern and southern portions of the state. Heaviest amounts were observed in a swath from Mankato to the Twin Cities, were rainfall totals ranged from about an inch to just over that. The MSP airport reported 1.01 inches of rain.
As the cold front progressed across the region temperatures fell from 50's and 60's to the lower 40's and 30's. It got just cold enough in the Arrowhead for some light snow to accumulate, making this the first snowfall of the season for Minnesota. Rain changed over to snow in the early morning hours of October 7th in northern St. Louis County. The highest snow total observed was one inch near the town of Celina. Near Orr seven tenths of an inch fell, and in Embarrass half an inch of snow fell. A few other towns saw a trace of snow including Ely, Babbitt, and Wright.
While it may seem early for snow, there is nothing unusual about receiving snow this time of the year in northern Minnesota. The average date of first snowfalls in Minnesota range from late September near the Canadian border to late October near the Iowa state border.
Listed below are preliminarily snowfall totals collected using NWS COOP weather observation stations.
...OCTOBER 6-7 SNOWFALL TOTALS... LOCATION AMOUNT PROVIDER --------------------------------------------------- Celina 2E 1.00 IN COOP Orr 3E 0.70 IN COOP Embarrass 0.50 IN COOP Duluth NWS T IN COOP Babbitt T IN COOP Ely T IN COOP Wright 4E T IN COOP OBSERVATIONS ARE COLLECTED FROM A VARIETY OF SOURCES WITH VARYING EQUIPMENT AND EXPOSURE. NOT ALL DATA LISTED ARE CONSIDERED OFFICIAL.
By: Lucas Graunke