The final weekend of 2025 ended with a gusty winter storm that brought widespread blizzard conditions to open parts of Minnesota, with falling temperatures and accumulating snow across the vast majority of the state.
A low-pressure system organized in eastern Colorado on Saturday December 27 and became very intense as it tracked towards Lake Michigan and Michigan by late Sunday. A warm, drizzly, and foggy air mass had been in place over most of Minnesota on Friday and Saturday with much colder air lurking just to the north and west. As the storm passed south of Minnesota, its expanding circulation brought a large plume of moisture into the region while a strong cold front swept through the state.
Waves of sticky, wet, heavy snow developed on Sunday morning, affecting all of western and most of central and southern Minnesota for several hours. Sharply falling temperatures and high winds soon followed, with the snow becoming increasingly powdery through the afternoon and evening, leading to severe blowing and drifting in open areas. Winds gusted from 40 to 55 mph in open areas with Morris in western Minnesota recorded a gust to 60 mph.
The National Weather Service issued Blizzard Warnings for more than 50 counties, generally covering half of Minnesota in the open areas of the northwest, west, southwest and south. Interstate 35 in far southern Minnesota was closed because of excessive accidents and whiteout conditions. In Freeborn County, the National Guard was called in to provide resources and help rescue stranded motorists. The State Patrol reported nearly 900 hundreds accidents and spinouts, nearly 29 jackknifed semis, and at least 31 injuries on roads and highways across the state.
Snowfall totals were generally between 3 and 5 inches over the southern two-thirds of the state, with amounts in excess of six inches from parts of the Twin Cities towards Mankato and Albert Lea. Some of the higher totals as of 9 AM (with reports still coming in) included 9.0 inches near Mankato; 8.0 inches at Madison Lake; 7.5 inches at Le Center and Bunsville; 7.2 inches at Forest Lake; 7.0 inches in Roseville and Shoreview; and 5.8 inches at the Twin Cities airport. The path of the storm and its rapid intensification well east of Minnesota allowed for multiple breaks in the accumulating snow, which kept totals down from what they would have been if the snow had accumulated for its entire 18 to 24-hour duration. The strong winds, however, led to drifts 2-4 feet deep in open areas.
Posted December 29, 2025
KAB