A significant winter storm brought impacted Southeastern Minnesota on Thursday bringing with it significant snowfall around 4 to nearly 10" of snow and high winds near 50MPH at some locations which caused travel impacts and blizzard conditions at times. The cause of the storm was a low pressure system which originated in the Southwest U.S, The low moved up through Iowa and Northwest Illinois which pushed heavy snow into Southeastern Minnesota through the night into Thursday. As the low strengthen and moved over the Chicago area it began kicking up winds on its northwest side which brought the blizzard conditions.
This storm was quite large. The National Weather Service offices across the Upper Midwest had Blizzard Warnings covering parts of at least 6 states including our area and nearly the entire state of Iowa, with Winter Storm Warnings and Winter Weather Advisories covering even a larger area. In Iowa where some of the worst impacts were seen snow exceeding 12" were seen in spots coupled with winds of 60MPH at times caused closure of entire start freeway systems. Wisconsin had even more snow, reports of 15 to 18" came in from Northwest of Madison, this was also kicked up by 30-40MPH winds.Chicago and areas southeast had temperatures warming to 50.F with rain and thunderstorms.
Blowing snow from buildings along 2nd street SW just west of Mayo Clinic December 20th
Here in Southeastern Minnesota, we felt this storms impacts in terms of wind and heavy snowfall. The NWS put us under Blizzard Warnings by Wednesday afternoon because of a northwest shift in the storm, which came as a surprise to many, including me. Some schools and business already began announcing closing for Thursday by Wednesday Evening. The snow started here in Rochester after 10:30 Wednesday Night and was heavy at times from about that time to about 6AM, but by 6AM most of the snow had already fallen. The storm total here at my yard in Rochester was 6.0" while 7.0" fell out at the airport. The winds were actually quite calm while the snow was falling but around 10AM the winds began to pick up, and by evening widespread gusts well over 40 to near 50MPH was reported. Significant blowing and drifting snow was a problem. Some impacts by this was the closing of some roads near the Winona area, multiple accidents throughout the region, and cancelled flights into and out of the Rochester International Airport. The impacts were not as bad as they could have been since most people stayed off the roads, and in the city of Rochester most people got to where they needed to be in between the heavy snowfall and gusty winds, so although travel was significant hindered, not many people were stuck. The blizzard condtions were especially a problem in the rural flatland areas around and west of Rochester, and the top of the blufflands near Winona and Wabasha. Temperatures were on a cooling trend during the storm and by morning were in the mid to upper single digits. The low here at my station was 8.F, and at the airport 7.F.
I encourage people to view the NWS La Crosse Page and view their nice summary on the event.
A fairly thick blanket of snow now covers Southeastern Minnesota and this storm delivered us a white Christmas which we did not have in 2011! Snowfall and wind reports show the highest accumulation in the highlands by the Missippi River Minnesota City which a small suburb of the Winona Metro reported 9.70" of snow. Lesser amounts around in western and northern areas where generally 3-4" of snow fell. I was dissapointed by the fact I found no snowfall reports out of Goodhue County.
Minnesota City 9.70"
Spring Valley 8.0"
Grand Meadow 8.0" 43MPH
Mantorville 7.50"
Lake City 7.50"
Wabasha 7.40" 36MPH
Winona 7.0" 37MPH
Oak Center 7.0"
Brownsdale 7.0"
Dover 7.0"
Rochester Airport 7.0" 43MPH
St Charles 6.50"
W. Downtown Rochester 6.0" 49MPH
Emerald Hills 6.0"
Meadow Park 6.0"
Austin 6.20" 40MPH
Preston 6.10" 41MPH
Byron 5.80" 43MPH
Northwest Rochester 5.60"
Dodge Center 5.10"
Claremont 4.30"
Lanesbro 4.10"
Canton 47MPH
Dexter 45MPH
Cannon Falls 36MPH
Red Wing 31MPH
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