Spring storm dumps heavy snow, causes dangerous road conditions in southern Minnesota

[MUSIC PLAYING] NINA MOINI: It's our top story today. You didn't think we'd get through another Minnesota March without a doozy of a snowstorm, did you? I kind of did. While Minnesotans across the state woke up to several inches of cement-like snow on the ground, Minneapolis-St. Paul and surrounding cities have declared snow emergencies, and there's blizzard conditions in southern Minnesota.

Governor Tim Walz this morning authorized the state National Guard to support emergency winter storm operations and help rescue any stranded drivers in Freeborn County. Here with a closer look at the storm and what's next is NPR News Chief Meteorologist Paul Huttner.

Happy snow day, Paul. You've been pretty busy, huh?

PAUL HUTTNER: Yeah, it's been it's been quite a week, Nina. This is why Twin Cities TV news legend Dave Moore used to say, make no big decisions in Minnesota in March, right? Because this can be one of the cruelest months, for sure.

This was a ferocious storm. It turns out it was the biggest snowfall of the snow season for much of the Twin Cities and southeast Minnesota. The airport, Nina, had 7.5 inches. That was an early morning report. That will go up.

But that's the biggest snow so far this snow season. We had 5.5 was the biggest back on December 19. And most of the Twin Cities and southeastern parts of Minnesota into Western Wisconsin had 5 to 12 inches of snow, Nina, and if you want, I can hit some of those highlights.

NINA MOINI: Please do.

PAUL HUTTNER: So Dennison sits just east of Northfield. That's the golden snow shovel so far with 13 inches of snow. Credit River, south of Pryor Lake, a foot. Nerstrand had about that, too. Apple Valley, Stillwater, Owatonna, 11 inches-- Woodbury also.

Eagan and Pryor Lake had 10.5. Edina, Bloomington, Burnsville right around 8.5. Red Wing also in that 8.5 range. And then you get to Eden Prairie, about 7.8. Minneapolis area, I saw a report of 8.6. St. Paul between 7 and 9 around most of the city and suburbs.

And then the Northwest metro got a little less, but still 5 to 8 from Fridley to Excelsior and Coon Rapids. So that's a pretty awesome snowstorm. And with that wind, this was one of the most vicious storms of the season, especially for southern Minnesota.

NINA MOINI: Yeah, it really was, Paul. And this is exactly what you and Sven and everybody forecasted. But for some reason, I didn't believe that it was really going to go down the way it went down.

So there's the snow totals, but it's also just this ferocious wind you've been talking about. Just how strong were those winds?

PAUL HUTTNER: Yeah, we had gusts over 50 miles an hour. And by the way, Nina, nobody believes it's actually going to snow until it does. That's just kind of a thing here in Minnesota. But those gusts over 50, southern Minnesota, that I-90 with the closure we've been reporting about, there's just nothing to stop the wind out there but a barbed wire fence.

It's flat, and so the snow was going sideways even in the Twin Cities last night. And it's just too much for road crews to keep up with. Interesting to note, though, that this 7.5 or more that we had at Twin Cities Airport puts us up to 26.3 for the season. But the normal is still over 41 inches, Nina.

So we're still a good 15 inches below normal for the snow season. Still a snow drought. Here's the great news. The moisture within the storm, the liquid equivalent, as we call it, bit of a drought denter, 1 to 2 inches. Northfield had two inches of liquid moisture equivalent with this snow.

Red Wing about an inch and a half, Twin Cities about an inch to an inch and a half. So this will help dent the drought. It's valuable moisture as we head into spring.

NINA MOINI: Yeah, everyone can start saying, but we really needed it. We really needed it.

PAUL HUTTNER: Exactly.

NINA MOINI: So in March, storms-- I was thinking to myself, it's still pretty cold out. But I'm curious to know what makes these March storms so explosive.

PAUL HUTTNER: Well, we're getting that huge temperature contrast that can drive these storms now because warmer air is starting to push north once again. And we've still got that freezing winter hangover over Minnesota. So temperature contrast fuels storms.

They wind them up. They tighten that pressure gradient which can fuel those winds. And they also create what we call upward vertical velocity, really powerful updrafts that just crank out the snow. And we had some of those snow bursts last night, an inch plus an hour for several hours from the Twin Cities, south and east.

NINA MOINI: Yeah and you mentioned those snow totals and how we're still not where we normally would be. What are you forecasting coming out of this storm? More snow or anything like that?

PAUL HUTTNER: It looks pretty quiet for a little while here. In fact, we're going to melt some snow the next few days. That March sun is getting stronger out there, and it looks like we'll see sun from Thursday right through Sunday and upper 30s. It'll melt slow Thursday, Friday, but 40s this weekend, maybe as warm as 48 by Sunday.

And we could be in the 50s early next week, Nina. So I think much of this snow will be gone by the first part of next week. And the March NOAA outlooks are favoring a little milder, maybe a little wetter than normal, so still some rain and snow chances.

In fact, I was just looking at the medium range forecast model suggests a maybe storm, a maybe rain or snow or both storm along about March 14 and 15. So maybe in about 10 days, another significant shot of moisture. We'll have to keep a watch on that.

NINA MOINI: For everybody's next weekend. And before I let you go, Paul, what's on Climate Cast this week?

PAUL HUTTNER: There's a lot of snowbirds in Minnesota. We know that they head south for the winter, but it turns out a lot more ducks are actually staying here during the winter. They're not migrating because our winters are getting warmer. It takes a lot of energy to migrate. So we'll dig into that a little bit on Climate Cast tomorrow on All Things Considered.

NINA MOINI: All right, Paul, thanks so much.

PAUL HUTTNER: My pleasure. Thanks, Nina.

NINA MOINI: That was NPR News chief meteorologist Paul Huttner. And Paul was talking about it, that wind, that blowing snow. It's still causing problems on the roads, particularly in southern Minnesota. Several highways in the area are closed, including I-90.

A no-travel is advised for most of the state highways in several southern Minnesota counties. So joining us now, we're going to check in on the roads with Brian Lilley. He's a maintenance superintendent from MnDOT in south central Minnesota. Thanks for making time for us, Brian. I'm sure you're very busy.

BRIAN LILLEY: You're welcome. Thank you.

NINA MOINI: Would you give us just the latest, Brian, on what are you seeing in terms of road conditions where you are?

BRIAN LILLEY: We still got down to I-90. That's closed. Part of I-60 is closed. We've got a lot of ice and compacted snow, snow still drifting across. Our visibility is starting to get a little better, but we're still having a few whiteout areas around some bridges.

So we're gaining slowly as the winds start to die. So I anticipate maybe early this afternoon we'll start opening some roads. We still have no travel advisories because it's really slippery in some of these areas. So it's going to take a while.

NINA MOINI: Yeah, slippery, windy, still lots going on even if the snow is not falling. It's blowing around. And Governor Walz even declared this a peacetime emergency we were talking about so that the National Guard could go out and help people in different areas of southern Minnesota.

Not necessarily your area, but I'm sure you've seen something like that happen before. How is that helpful when the National Guard is able to help with those efforts?

BRIAN LILLEY: Sometimes they'll help barricade our roads. It's been a long time since we've seen them down here because since we got our gate closures that we can put up. But they used to come down and help do that. But I haven't seen him during a snowstorm in quite a while.

NINA MOINI: Yeah, so that just kind of speaks to what's going on. And it was kind of rain and sleet. And I wondered if that made it more difficult to clear the roads, or was it getting really icy on you guys, or what was going on there?

BRIAN LILLEY: It started getting a littley icy, but as hard as it was snowing, and the wind picked up so bad, we get 40, 50 mile an hour winds. Even that wet snow goes sideways, and we can't see. And that was the main thing.

And we're getting an inch an hour. It's just hard to keep up with. And that wet snow, it's sloppy. It's slushy, so it's hard to drive in.

I mean, we had a few trucks that slid in also because the snow was so heavy. It pushes them around, especially when we start getting some drifts. But that was the main thing, was the heavy snow and the 50, 55 mile an hour winds.

NINA MOINI: Yeah, so are things starting to kind of quiet down, or when would you think you might be looking at a reopening some of those roads and highways?

BRIAN LILLEY: We're going to meet here in another hour. So we're thinking early this afternoon we'll start opening our interstate up as the winds go down. Right now, there's ice in the air. Like I said, we still have winds blowing around, snow moving. But it's so slippery that we open these up, and these semis are going to start sliding because you can't stay on the road.

But we're treating the roads. They're starting to come around little by little. The sun is starting to come out. We're getting some pavement temperatures to go up. So we should fair pretty soon as the weather goes this afternoon.

NINA MOINI: Yeah, and when it's starting to get warmer in the 20s and above, that is helpful to the way that you treat the roads and the materials you use. Or what is that like?

BRIAN LILLEY: That helps, yes. It'll help get rid of the ice. But now that the pavement temperature is warmed up with this wind going, and it's going to start sticking because the road gets wet. So it's going to start sticking to the road. So we're still going to have some slushy, icy spots as the day and the night goes on until the temperatures drop off where we can get it all off the road.

So we're going to fight. We're going to get rid of the ice, and we're going to gain some snow back on it.

NINA MOINI: That makes sense

BRIAN LILLEY: We're going to fight it all day and tonight. We probably won't get it back until tomorrow 100%.

NINA MOINI: So with that in mind, what would you encourage drivers to do? Some people really have to go somewhere. But generally speaking, what would you-- what's your advice for the rest of the day for folks?

BRIAN LILLEY: Check out 511. See our road conditions and what they say. Know where you're going. Slow down.

I mean it is really icy underneath. Like our trucks are having a hard time staying on the road at times. So slow down, give yourself some time, turn your lights on, and just take your time.

The main thing is speed. That's what we see that's bothering everybody so far.

NINA MOINI: Yeah, people may not know exactly what's going on the roads. So that's a great reminder. And obviously giving those trucks and those plows plenty of space, too, right?

BRIAN LILLEY: Yep. The main thing is you're going to see some-- maybe some spots that aren't icy. But 10, 20 miles down the road you're going to run into them again. So don't run around with your cruisers on because that's just going to get you in trouble. So just take your time.

NINA MOINI: Absolutely.

BRIAN LILLEY: Be patient.

NINA MOINI: Absolutely. Brian, thank you so much for the update. We really appreciate your work and your time.

BRIAN LILLEY: You bet. Thank you.

NINA MOINI: Thank you. Brian Lilley is a maintenance superintendent for MnDOT in south central Minnesota.