Winter Storm Drops Several Inches Of Snow Across Minnesota
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Some of the heaviest snowfall Monday was seen in the west-central part of Minnesota.
The snow fell steady and hard throughout the day in Milaca.
Farther north, our Weather Watchers near Wadena are reporting more than a foot of snow.
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The story northwest of the Twin Cities is the wind. We've seen gusts up to 30 mph Monday night and that could be why the snow totals have varied so much in places like St. Cloud, where it ranges from 3 to 9 inches.
Looks can be deceiving. That's what drivers along I-94 discovered as they slid into each other.
In Maple Grove, with just a few inches of new snowfall, the State Patrol was called to a head-on collision in the middle of the westbound lanes.
Just south of St. Augusta, the driver of a large SUV lost control and hit another truck before landing in a ditch.
Freezing rain mixed with a few inches of wet snow made the roadway slippery.
Drivers lowered their speeds along Highway 10 between St. Cloud and Little Falls.
The wind whipped up the snow along streets as people still got out for a walk in downtown Little Falls.
Night driving proved to be a challenge even to experienced truck drivers who saw the visibility drop and wind gusts continue to pick up.
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"The wind is, it's blowing, it's really weird to see the snow coming in sideways," Ken Kipp said.
Before settling in for the night, people in one St. Cloud neighborhood fired up their snow blowers one more time.
"This is the really heavy stuff, so even if it doesn't look like a whole lot of accumulation, even if it's just a few inches it's the really, really heavy stuff that makes you have to work really, really hard," Kipp said.
What's falling now is freezing rain and some snow. It's also getting noticeably colder. The temperature is dropping.