Minnesota Weather: Record-Setting Snow Storm Drops Several Inches Across State
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- It's official -- Tuesday's snow storm is the largest early season storm ever recorded in Minnesota, going back about 140 years.
WCCO Meteorologist Chris Shaffer says this was also the second-largest snowfall in October, following the 1991 Halloween blizzard.
LATEST: Another Half Foot Of Snow Possible For Northern, Central Minnesota Through Thursday
There were were some impressive snow totals Tuesday, with 9 inches reported in Lakeville; 8.9 inches in Ellsworth, Wisconsin; 8 inches in Granite Falls; 8 inches in Red Wing, 7.4 inches at MSP Airport; and 7.1 inches in Woodbury.
Road conditions have improved a lot in the Twin Cities Tuesday evening, but it's certainly not ideal to be traveling pretty much anywhere in the state. The Minnesota State Patrol says there have been more than 1,100 crashes and spinouts on state roads Tuesday, but no reported fatalities.
Xcel Energy said the storm knocked out power for more than 33,000 residents. By late Tuesday night, more than 8,000 Twin Cities residents were still without power.
The snow thinned out by about 8 p.m. in the metro, with most of the region experiencing some light, mixed precipitation. The system will be out of the state by about midnight.
Temperatures won't drop a lot overnight due to cloud cover, so we'll be spared the hockey rink roads Wednesday.
There will be some trace accumulation going forward in northern Minnesota, as well as in northern and western Wisconsin.
Wednesday will bring slightly warmer temperatures, with a high of 38 forecasted in the metro, so the snow won't stick along for long. Wednesday's average high is 56.
We'll get a breather Wednesday, before another storm system will start to pass through northwestern Minnesota early Thursday morning. A band will stretch across the northcentral part of the state, and will drop snow that will stick.
The Twin Cities and southern Minnesota will get rain instead Thursday. There will be some cool sunshine on Friday, with highs in mid-30s.
We'll pretty much stay in the 30s through Halloween, with the exception of Thursday, when we'll reach about 40 degrees in the metro.
Can't get enough of the snow? Shaffer says there's yet another possible storm system heading our way Sunday.
