Blizzard Warning For Southern Minnesota, Plows Taken Off Roads
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO/AP) — Blizzard warnings are out for much of western and southern Minnesota where gusty winds are expected to make travel treacherous.
The National Weather Service is posting blizzard warnings for west-central Minnesota into the southwestern and south-central areas of the state through noon Monday.
MnDOT is advising no unnecessary travel in south-central and southwestern Minnesota Sunday night.
Cities under the warnings include Fergus Falls, Marshall, Windom, Worthington, Jackson, St. James, Redwood Falls, New Ulm, Mankato, Austin, Albert Lea, Fairmont, Hutchinson and Waseca.
While only a couple of inches of snow are expected in the blizzard warning area, the weather service says winds gusting up to 45 mph will kick around the fresh snow and snow from last week's winter storm.
The strong winds won't start to let up until Monday morning.
MnDOT officials say plows have been pulled from roads in Beltrami, Northern Cass, Clearwater, Hubbard, Kittson, Marshal, Pennington, Red Lake and Norman Counties. Kevin Gutknecht with MnDOT says that will remain the case until road conditions improve. No travel is advised on those areas, and Gutknecht said plows get pulled off the road when visibility is bad enough that they can't operate safely.
"If snow plows cannot operate on the roads, people should not be driving out there," Gutknecht said.
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