Image Credit: T. Weller.
After a mostly ho-hum winter, and following a week of warmth with record-high temperatures at times, a major winter storm produced strong winds and heavy snow in northern Minnesota with rain changing to snow elsewhere. Near the north shore of Lake Superior, powerful winds off the lake produced a ferocious blizzard with much stronger winds and much heavier snows than were observed in other parts of the state, including some of the highest snowfall totals ever recorded in Minnesota.
Timeline and Description
The storm began on Tuesday February 17th, as an elongated low-pressure system slid into Minnesota from the west. Rain and isolated thunderstorms blossomed in southern Minnesota during the evening and overnight, as bursts of heavy to extreme snowfall, along with occasional thunder and 50-65 mph winds hammered areas near Lake Superior. Visibility dropped below 1/4 mile frequently. A larger area of generally moderate snow blanketed the rest of northern Minnesota. By Wednesday morning, snowfall totals of 3-6 inches were common across the north, with 6-12 inches along and uphill from the lake shore, with additional rounds of heavy snow still moving in.
During Wednesday a secondary, somewhat unusual and snaking band of moderate to heavy snow with gusty winds wrapped into the south side of the low pressure and worked across western and southern Minnesota, expanding into the Twin Cities during the late morning and afternoon. Within this snow band, an additional area of blizzard conditions developed near the upper Minnesota River thanks to very strong winds and moderate to heavy falling snow. This blizzard was not as severe as the one near Lake Superior, but did lead to some whiteout conditions in open areas. The main focal area of snow and wind remained near Lake Superior, especially in Cook County, where extreme snowfall and intense winds continued.
The snow was scarce in far southern Minnesota, as well in east-central Minnesota between St. Cloud and Pine City. Snowfall tapered off in the northern Twin Cities on Wednesday evening, although the southern Minnesota snow band constricted and continued through the night over the central and southern Twin Cities area. Winds off of Lake Superior continued producing waves of snow in northeastern Minnesota, and Snow ended over all but northeastern Minnesota on Thursday; there, snowfall of varying intensity continued off and on throughout the day.
Snowfall Totals
The snowfall totals made an odd geographic pattern with three apparent focal regions for significant accumulations and a gap of little or no snow in east-central Minnesota. The most important snowfall area by far was near Lake Superior, where reports of 16 to 25 inches were common from just east of Duluth, all the way up the shore to Grand Portage.
Embedded within this area of very heavy snow near the north shore were some isolated extraordinary totals. An observer in Hovland in Cook County measured some of the heaviest snow ever recorded in Minnesota, with a three-day total of 40.4 inches, making it the second-highest known storm total in Minnesota's recorded history, and the largest in 32 years.* The observer's supplemental notes indicated the snow fell at rates rates of 3-4 inches per hour for multiple hours on end on Wednesday February 18th, and it appears likely that well over 30 inches of snow fell within a 24-hour period. The current all-time, statewide record for 24-hour snowfall is 36.0 inches at the Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center on January 7, 1994, which also holds the storm-total record of 46.5 inches from the same event. That station also got hammered by extreme snow from this incredible storm, with a total of 29.2 inches.
A secondary area of enhanced totals was found near the Red River east of Grand Forks, where 7-12 inches accumulated. Otherwise, totals in northern Minnesota were generally between three and seven inches, with isolated higher amounts.
In southern Minnesota, a third area of heavy snowfall totals stretched from the southern and central Twin Cities, westward through Hutchinson. Totals in these areas included 8.8 inches near Prior Lake, 8.5 inches at Shorewood, 8.1 inches in Bloomington, and 7.6 inches officially at the Twin Cities International Airport.
Note: the small area of heavy snow in far southeastern Minnesota shown on this map is actually from a separate winter storm that affected that region and southwestern Minnesota on Thursday night and early Friday morning.
Snowfall Enhancement by Lake Superior
This storm carried with it between 0.25 and 0.75 inches of total moisture over most of Minnesota, and as a result, precipitation totals were typically between a quarter and three-quarters of an inch. The exception was near Lake Superior, where totals of 1-3 inches were common, with some stations reporting even more. Easterly winds blowing off the lake transported significantly more moisture to areas near and just inland from the shore, enhancing both the intensity and the duration of snowfall. Additionally, the moisture-bearing winds had to rise over the Sawtooth Mountains just inland from the shore. Rising air motions always increase relative humidity or enhance precipitation. In this event, the combination of lake enhancement and forced rising over the higher terrain increased snowfall totals by 250 to 500 percent. Not all snowfalls are enhanced by the lake or the terrain, but on average, observers near Wolf Ridge, Brimson, Finland, and Duluth see 25-50% more snow annually than stations at similar latitude but farther from the lake.
*The Hovland observer is in the CoCoRaHS network, which has not traditionally been considered for statewide precipitation or snowfall records. The Minnesota State Climatology Office is examining stations within its MNgage network (also not typically considered for records), to see if any of its observers had ever reported comparably large storm totals. The statements about the ranking of Hovland's totals may be changed if additional information warrants.
Feb 23, 2026
KAB