It was all over in six hours, but a quick burst of heavy snow brings a number of headaches to the morning rush hour in the Twin Cities.
A fast-moving storm system with an origin in the Pacific Northwest moved swiftly across the region and brought heavy snow to central and parts of southern Minnesota during the morning hours of January 30. It snowed from 4am to around Noon at the Twin Cities International Airport, with the heaviest snow between 7 and 10am. The snow fell at rates of an inch an hour at times. In addition, precipitation started out as freezing rain in places like Rochester. By noon the accumulating snow had moved eastward into Wisconsin. The afternoon turned sunny with clear skies. The most snowfall found so far is 6.7 inches near Plymouth in Hennepin County. The Twin Cities International Airport received 6.3 inches and is the largest single-storm snowfall of the 2013-14 winter so far.
The morning rush hour was a crawl with numerous stuck vehicles and crashes. I-35 was closed for a time between Highway 8 and Wyoming, Minnesota in Chisago County due to the number of crashes and spinouts in the area.
Below are Public Information Statements from the National Weather Service.
PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN 210 PM CST THU JAN 30 2014 ...SNOWFALL REPORTS FROM WINTER WEATHER EVENT TODAY... THANK YOU TO OUR SPOTTERS...COOP AND COCORAHS OBSERVERS... THE MEDIA AND THE PUBLIC FOR THE FOLLOWING REPORTS. THE TOTALS BELOW ARE NOT NECESSARILY THE FINAL AMOUNT FOR EACH LOCATION. SNOW REPORTS LISTED BY AMOUNT INCHES LOCATION ST COUNTY TIME ------ ----------------------- -- -------------- ------- 6.70 2 ENE PLYMOUTH MN HENNEPIN 1100 AM 6.30 MSP INTL AIRPORT MN HENNEPIN 1157 AM 6.20 RED WING MN GOODHUE 1115 AM 6.00 NORTH MINNEAPOLIS MN HENNEPIN 1146 AM 6.00 U OF MN ST PAUL CAMPUS MN RAMSEY 1243 PM 6.00 DARWIN MN MEEKER 0108 PM 5.50 NORTHFIELD MN RICE 1116 AM 5.30 NORTH ST PAUL MN RAMSEY 0108 PM 5.20 FRIDLEY MN ANOKA 0835 AM 5.00 EAST FARMINGTON WI POLK 1047 AM 4.70 WATERTOWN MN CARVER 1116 AM 4.70 EDINA MN HENNEPIN 1130 AM 4.60 OWATONNA MN STEELE 1118 AM 4.50 NWS CHANHASSEN MN CARVER 1157 AM 4.50 LAKEVILLE MN DAKOTA 1259 PM 4.50 2 S DEEPHAVEN MN HENNEPIN 1000 AM 4.50 ISANTI MN ISANTI 1259 PM 4.30 1 NE STILLWATER MN WASHINGTON 1014 AM 4.20 MENOMONIE MN DUNN 1230 PM 4.00 CUMBERLAND WI BARRON 1136 AM 4.00 BLAINE MN ANOKA 0906 AM 4.00 MAPLE PLAIN MN HENNEPIN 0741 AM 4.00 LITCHFIELD MN MEEKER 0707 AM 4.00 VESTA MN REDWOOD 1259 PM 3.90 BLOOMINGTON MN HENNEPIN 1047 AM 3.50 MANKATO MN BLUE EARTH 1001 AM 3.50 S MAPLETON MN BLUE EARTH 0910 AM 3.40 NEW HOPE MN HENNEPIN 0700 AM 3.00 5 NE FOREST LAKE MN CHISAGO 0918 AM 3.00 1 E ST MICHAEL MN WRIGHT 0817 AM 3.00 DELANO MN WRIGHT 0645 AM 2.80 EAU CLAIRE WI EAU CLAIRE 1024 AM 2.80 MONTEVIDEO MN CHIPPEWA 0752 AM 2.60 6 NNE WILLMAR MN KANDIYOHI 0752 AM 2.50 9 NNE BIRD ISLAND MN RENVILLE 0752 AM 2.30 GAYLORD MN SIBLEY 0723 AM 2.20 1 ESE MILROY MN REDWOOD 0700 AM 2.00 6 WSW ST PETER MN NICOLLET 0752 AM 1.80 SAUK RAPIDS MN BENTON 0929 AM 1.50 ELK RIVER MN SHERBURNE 0700 AM 1.50 WINNEBAGO MN FARIBAULT 0700 AM 1.40 ST CLOUD AIRPORT MN SHERBURNE 1200 PM 1.40 3 WNW LADYSMITH WI RUSK 0752 AM 1.30 6 NNE BIG LAKE MN SHERBURNE 0752 AM 1.30 FAIRMONT MN MARTIN 0715 AM 1.00 CARLOS MN DOUGLAS 0747 AM 1.00 MELROSE MN STEARNS 0700 AM 1.00 REDWOOD FALLS MN REDWOOD 0630 AM 1.00 KIMBALL MN STEARNS 0604 AM PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LA CROSSE WI 310 PM CST THU JAN 30 2014 ...TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON... ...DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE.... ..REMARKS.. 0305 PM SNOW 2 NNE OWEN 44.98N 90.55W 01/30/2014 M3.1 INCH CLARK WI COOP OBSERVER STORM TOTAL SNOW DURATION 24 HOURS OBSERVER LOCATION OWEN 2N 0213 PM SNOW 5 N WESTBY 43.72N 90.85W 01/30/2014 M3.0 INCH VERNON WI PUBLIC SNOW DURATION 24 HOURS OBSERVER LOCATION NEWRY 2W 0233 PM SNOW GOODVIEW 44.07N 91.71W 01/30/2014 M2.8 INCH WINONA MN PUBLIC STORM TOTAL SNOW DURATION 24 HOURS OBSERVER LOCATION GOODVIEW 0216 PM SNOW WINONA 44.05N 91.66W 01/30/2014 M2.3 INCH WINONA MN LAW ENFORCEMENT SNOW DURATION 24 HOURS OBSERVER LOCATION WINONA 0239 PM SNOW 3 NE STODDARD 43.69N 91.18W 01/30/2014 M1.1 INCH VERNON WI PUBLIC STORM TOTAL SNOW DURATION 24 HOURS OBSERVER LOCATION STODDARD 2NE 0215 PM SNOW GRAND MARSH 43.90N 89.71W 01/30/2014 E1.0 INCH ADAMS WI PUBLIC STORM TOTAL SNOW DURATION 24 HOURS 0303 PM SNOW 1 WSW HILLSBORO 43.65N 90.35W 01/30/2014 M1.0 INCH VERNON WI COOP OBSERVER STORM TOTAL SNOW DURATION 24 HOURS OBSERVER LOCATION HILLSBORO WSW PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD 1231 PM CST THU JAN 30 2014 ...TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON... ...DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE.... ..REMARKS.. 0800 AM SNOW 1 NE BROOKINGS 44.32N 96.77W 01/30/2014 M0.9 INCH BROOKINGS SD COOP OBSERVER COOP OBSERVER STATION 2 NE BROOKINGS /BROS2/ SNOW DURATION 24 HOURS 0850 AM SNOW 6 NNE ELK POINT 42.76N 96.65W 01/30/2014 M0.3 INCH UNION SD COCORAHS COCORAHS STATION 2 W WESTFIELD /7227C/ SNOW DURATION 24 HOURS 0700 AM SNOW 1 SE MITCHELL 43.72N 98.02W 01/30/2014 M0.5 INCH DAVISON SD COOP OBSERVER COOP OBSERVER STATION HAM RADIO /MHLS2/ SNOW DURATION 24 HOURS 0800 AM SNOW 2 ENE FORESTBURG 44.03N 98.07W 01/30/2014 M0.5 INCH SANBORN SD COOP OBSERVER COOP OBSERVER STATION 3 NE FORESTBURG /FTBS2/ SNOW DURATION 24 HOURS 0700 AM SNOW MARION 43.42N 97.26W 01/30/2014 M0.6 INCH TURNER SD COOP OBSERVER COOP OBSERVER STATION SIOUX FALLS-27MI.WSW /MARS2/ SNOW DURATION 24 HOURS 0655 AM SNOW CHAMBERLAIN 43.81N 99.33W 01/30/2014 M0.7 INCH BRULE SD COCORAHS COCORAHS STATION CHAMBERLAIN /6960C/ SNOW DURATION 24 HOURS 0900 AM SNOW 1 NNW MARSHALL 44.47N 95.80W 01/30/2014 M2.7 INCH LYON MN COOP OBSERVER COOP OBSERVER STATION MARSHALL /MMLM5/ SNOW DURATION 24 HOURS 1228 PM SNOW 2 S MITCHELL 43.70N 98.04W 01/30/2014 E0.4 INCH DAVISON SD COOP OBSERVER 0800 AM SNOW TRACY 44.23N 95.62W 01/30/2014 M3.0 INCH LYON MN COOP OBSERVER COOP OBSERVER STATION TRACY /TCYM5/ SNOW DURATION 24 HOURS 0800 AM SNOW 3 NW WINDOM 43.89N 95.16W 01/30/2014 M1.1 INCH COTTONWOOD MN MESONET MESONET STATION 2 WNW WINDOM /WDOM5/ SNOW DURATION 24 HOURS 0800 AM SNOW 4 ESE SIOUX FALLS 43.53N 96.66W 01/30/2014 M1.3 INCH MINNEHAHA SD COOP OBSERVER COOP OBSERVER STATION SIOUX FALLS 5.5SE FSD ARPT /JACS2/ SNOW DURATION 24 HOURS 0700 AM SNOW 3 ESE SIOUX FALLS 43.53N 96.67W 01/30/2014 M1.3 INCH MINNEHAHA SD COOP OBSERVER COOP OBSERVER STATION SIOUX FALLS 5SE FSD ARPT /DEMS2/ SNOW DURATION 24 HOURS 0800 AM SNOW 4 SW SIOUX FALLS 43.50N 96.79W 01/30/2014 M1.9 INCH MINNEHAHA SD COCORAHS COCORAHS STATION 4 SW SIOUX FALLS /6971S/ SNOW DURATION 24 HOURS 0800 AM SNOW LAKE WILSON 44.00N 95.95W 01/30/2014 M2.0 INCH MURRAY MN COOP OBSERVER COOP OBSERVER STATION LAKE WILSON /LKWM5/ SNOW DURATION 24 HOURS