A classic late fall storm moved from Oklahoma to Illinois on November 10th. A narrow band of heavy snow fell with this system over southeast Minnesota, northern Iowa and Wisconsin. The precipitation began late Thursday night on the 9th over Iowa and spread northeast over southern Minnesota during the wee hours of the morning on November 10. Some thunderstorms were mixed in as well with the rain over northeast Iowa and southern Wisconsin. The snow gradually tapered off during the evening over southeast Minnesota.
Enough cold air moved into the system to produce mainly snow in Minnesota. The heaviest snow fell in a swath from 10 to 13 inches from Austin to Rochester, falling at a rate of one to two inches an hour at times. The heaviest amount in Minnesota reported to the National Weather Service was 13 inches near Byron in Olmstead County. The Twin Cities only got a trace.
One promising aspect of this storm is that it brought copious amounts of water to the landscape over south central and southeast Minnesota. Since the ground was not frozen yet, much of the melting snow percolated into the ground. From one half to three quarters of an inch of liquid fell from this storm where the snow was the heaviest. By November 17, most of the snow had melted with only 2 inches left on the ground in Rochester, compared to the 10.5 inches they had on the ground right after the storm ended.
One the negative side, this storm was quite a headache to those who had to travel in it. Some interesting accounts of this winter storm were featured in Bill McAuliffe's Weather Blog Air Mass from travelers on Interstate 94 in Wisconsin.
Tales from the storm Several folks found a way to respond when we asked for accounts of what was happening on Interstate Hwy. 94 near Osseo during Friday?s massive snow. They told of people building snowmen in the median, 5-mile backups, the suddenness of it all the natural and human dramas that storms always bring. Theresa Schousek wrote: I am writing to you from the Holiday Inn in Tomah. Yes, I am spending the night here though I am only 2.5 hours from home at normal highway speeds. I live in Houlton, Wisconsin, just 3 miles from Stillwater, MN. I am traveling from a conference . . .in Milwaukee to home. At the rest stop just before Mauston, I had heard rumors from truckers that there was ice at Osseo and there were a lot of accidents. This seemed surprising given that it was just starting to rain and just cloudy at Mauston. I hit Tomah at 11:30am and there was sleet and whiteout conditions. I couldn?t see the brake lights of the car in front of me and when I started sliding. I decided to exit and eat lunch. . . A lady that came reported that there was a 15 car pile up at Osseo. She said it had been an hour and a half since the accident and they were estimating another hour before the interstate would be clear again. She recommended that I take (Hwy.) 12 to the Twin Cities, if I was willing to travel at 20 mph; otherwise, she said, "Check in, get in the Jacuzzi and give it up for the day." I haven?t seen my daughters in a week and a half. . .Here I am stranded, just wasting my day surfing the web. Meanwhile my husband claims that all is clear at home . . . And from Carl Erickson: My wife Colleen and I spent the past week on our honeymoon in the Dells. We left for home today at noon. There was freezing rain in Baraboo and things gradually got worse. We saw at least 7 cars in the ditch and a van flipped-over in the median. After Hixton, traffic stopped completely. I talked to a trucker who said there was an accident . . . and some people had been waiting 3-hours already closer to the accident. There was a Greyhound bus behind us that people were walking-up to and presumably using the bathroom. . .There were at least 5 miles of cars behind us. We took back roads home for a total trip time of 6.5 hours.Listed below are maps from the National Weather Service depicting the snow amounts.
Listed below are National Weather Service Statements about this winter storm.
PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
109 PM CST FRI NOV 10 2006
SNOWFALL REPORTS FROM OFFICIAL WEATHER SERVICE OBSERVERS THROUGH 100 PM...
LOCATION COUNTY AMOUNT (INCHES)
ALBERT LEA FREEBORN 12
KIESTER FARIBAULT 11
AUGUSTA EAU CLAIRE (WI) 10
MANCHESTER FREEBORN 9
MANKATO BLUE EARTH 8
NORTHFIELD RICE 7
OWATONNA STEELE 7
ZUMBROTA GOODHUE 6.5
RED WING GOODHUE 6
8W FARIBAULT RICE 5.5
STANLEY CHIPPEWA (WI) 5
AMBOY BLUE EARTH 5
WATERVILLE LE SUER 5
WELCH GOODHUE 5
MENOMONIE DUNN (WI) 4.5
EAU CLAIRE EAU CLAIRE (WI) 4.5
NORTH MANKATO NICOLLET 4.5
JANESVILLE WASECA 4
WINNEBAGO FARIBAULT 4
MADELIA WATONWAN 4
CHIPPEWA FALLS CHIPPEWA (WI) 3
FAIRMONT MARTIN 3
WELLS FARIBAULT 2.5
5S FARMINGTON DAKOTA 2
SPRINGFIELD BROWN 1
PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LA CROSSE WI
1129 AM CST SAT NOV 11 2006
...NOVEMBER 10TH SNOWFALL TOTALS ACROSS THE AREA...
IN SOUTHEAST MINNESOTA...
LOCATION COUNTY SNOWFALL
-------- ------ --------
BYRON 4N OLMSTED 13.0
MANTORVILLE DODGE 12.0
ROCHESTER NW SIDE OLMSTED 11.8
KASSON DODGE 11.5
ROCHESTER AP 2NE OLMSTED 10.5
PINE ISLAND 4S OLMSTED 9.5
ROCHESTER KTTC-TV OLMSTED 9.5
ORONOCO 2E OLMSTED 9.2
AUSTIN MOWER 9.0
MINNEISKA 2S WINONA 9.0
ZUMBRO FALLS WABASHA 9.0
THEILMAN 1SSW WABASHA 8.6
WEST CONCORD DODGE 8.5
DODGE CENTER DODGE 8.1
HAMMOND 1S WABASHA 8.0
ELGIN 2SSW OLMSTED 7.9
STEWARTVILLE OLMSTED 7.1
WABASHA WABASHA 7.0
OAK CENTER WABASHA 6.5
CHATFIELD 4W FILLMORE 5.8
GRAND MEADOW MOWER 5.3
LYLE MOWER 5.0
LEWISTON WINONA 4.8
CALEDONIA 6S HOUSTON 4.3
WINONA WINONA 4.2
GOODVIEW WINONA 3.8
FOUNTAIN FILLMORE 3.5
SPRING GROVE 4N HOUSTON 3.3
RENO 3SW HOUSTON 3.2
LANESBORO FILLMORE 3.0
PRESTON FILLMORE 2.8
HIGHLAND 2SE FILLMORE 2.8
CALEDONIA 2S HOUSTON 2.5
IN WESTERN WISCONSIN...
LOCATION COUNTY SNOWFALL
-------- ------ --------
OSSEO TREMPEALEAU 16.5
MEDFORD TAYLOR 13.5
BUFFALO CITY BUFFALO 13.0
LONGWOOD CLARK 12.0
GAD TAYLOR 11.0
MEDFORD 4NW TAYLOR 10.3
OWEN 2N CLARK 10.2
INDEPENDENCE 3NE TREMPEALEAU 10.0
MEDFORD 3N TAYLOR 10.0
MONDOVI 6S BUFFALO 10.0
WITHEE CLARK 9.5
WESTBORO 4E TAYLOR 9.0
GOODRICH 1E TAYLOR 9.0
NEW ROME ADAMS 7.8
ARCADIA TREMPEALEAU 7.4
HUMBIRD 2NE CLARK 6.2
MATHER 3NW JACKSON 6.0
WARRENS 5WSW MONROE 5.8
GALESVILLE 2E TREMPEALEAU 5.3
TOMAH MONROE 5.3
WILTON 3SE MONROE 5.2
BIG FLATS ADAMS 5.0
HOLLAND LA CROSSE 5.0
WEST SALEM LA CROSSE 5.0
NECEDAH JUNEAU 5.0
HIXTON 5W JACKSON 5.0
TAYLOR JACKSON 5.0
ONTARIO VERNON 5.0
ETTRICK TREMPEALEAU 4.8
BLAIR TREMPEALEAU 4.5
CHASEBURG 2S VERNON 4.5
VIROQUA VERNON 4.2
WESTBY 3ENE VERNON 4.2
FRIENDSHIP ADAMS 4.0
LA CROSSE 1SE LA CROSSE 4.0
HILLSBORO VERNON 4.0
HOLMEN 2S LA CROSSE 3.7
LA CROSSE NWS LA CROSSE 3.6
BLACK RIVER FALLS STP JACKSON 3.5
BIG SPRING ADAMS 3.5
FOUR CORNERS MONROE 3.3
HATFIELD JACKSON 3.0
NEILLSVILLE 3SW CLARK 3.0
LA CROSSE AIRPORT LA CROSSE 2.9
MAUSTON JUNEAU 2.8
LANCASTER GRANT 2.0
GAYS MILLS CRAWFORD 2.0
RICHLAND CENTER RICHLAND 1.3
CASSEVILLE 8NE GRANT 1.1
SINSINAWA GRANT 1.0
CUBA CITY 2NW GRANT 0.9
STEUBEN 4SE CRAWFORD 0.5
OBSERVATIONS ARE COLLECTED FROM A VARIETY OF SOURCES WITH VARYING
EQUIPMENT AND EXPOSURE. NOT ALL DATA LISTED IS CONSIDERED OFFICIAL.