Image credit: Minnesota DNR, State Climatology Office
A compact low-pressure area diving in from the northwest produced the first accumulating snows of the season over the Twin Cites and much of central and eastern Minnesota late on Monday October 30th and into Tuesday October 31.
The snow started wet and sticky, but as northerly winds increased, the temperatures dropped and the snow began blowing and drifting. Halloween morning was a wintry scene across much of Minnesota, with matted snow on roads and highways, with numerous crashes, spinouts, and jackknifed semi trailers,
The heaviest snow fell in Lake County, with 6-8 inches reported from the areas up-hill from Two Harbors and eastward towards Finland. The highest totals included 8.5 inches outside of Two Harbors, and 7.2 inches at the Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center. Totals of 2-3 inches, with spotty higher amounts, were common around the Twin Cities, including 2.7 at the MSP airport, where the 0.9 inches of snow on October 30th was a daily record. The 1.8 inches that fell on the 31st, however, was no match for the daily record set on Halloween of 1991, when 8.2 inches of snow fell, as an infamously severe winter storm was beginning.
November 3, 2023