Highways reopening in southern Minnesota after closures due to blizzard; Walz activates National Guard
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With shovels, snowblowers and snowplows, Minnesotans got to work Wednesday digging out from a major late-winter storm that walloped southern and eastern parts of the state with heavy snow, howling winds and blizzard conditions.
Gov. Tim Walz on Wednesday declared a peacetime emergency and authorized the Minnesota National Guard to assist local authorities with storm response. Walz’s office said it received a request from the Freeborn County Sheriff’s Office to provide personnel, equipment and facilities to help rescue stranded motorists.
“Minnesota is no stranger to winter weather, but conditions can quickly become unpredictable and dangerous,” Walz said in a news release. “As we work to alleviate the dangerous road conditions, the National Guard is stepping up to provide life-saving support.”
Drifting snow and whiteout conditions prompted the Minnesota Department of Transportation to close many highways across the southwest and south-central parts of the state — including long stretches of Interstate 90 between Luverne and Albert Lea — for much of the day Wednesday.
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MnDOT said those closures — which also included State Highway 60 between Worthington and Mankato — ended at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, though officials were still advising no travel.
“Roads are completely or partially covered with compacted snow and ice,” MnDOT’s District 7 in south-central Minnesota reported early Wednesday afternoon. “Strong winds with blowing and drifting snow are expected to continue through today.”
The Minnesota State Patrol reported nearly 600 crashes, spinouts and vehicles in the ditch along highways across the state between midnight and 12:30 p.m. Wednesday — including 27 jackknifed semis.
Scott Morgan is assistant district engineer for maintenance operations for MnDOT’s District 7. He told MPR’s Morning Edition that Tuesday’s rain created a layer of ice beneath the snow that fell overnight.
“We’ve still got people out in plows trying to get roads opened up again, but it’s an uphill battle. The visibility is really reduced, and as they’re plowing the snow, of course, it comes across, and makes it even worse for them as they’re on the roads,” Morgan said early Wednesday.
“Along I-90 there’s places where it’s glare ice out there,” he said. “We’ve got some drifts that are crossing the road — all the way across — that we’re trying to get broken open, too. It’s just a mess right now.”
Snow emergencies issued
Both Minneapolis and St. Paul declared snow emergencies, meaning special parking rules are in effect to allow plows to fully clear streets.
Mankato, Richfield, Eden Prairie and Plymouth were among the other cities that declared snow emergencies.
Metro Transit suspended bus service in the Twin Cities for about four hours on Wednesday morning due to poor road conditions; it resumed just before 10 a.m., though Metro Transit said there could be lingering delays.
“It is a consequential decision. We know transit’s an essential service for people across the region, so we don’t make that decision lightly,” said Metro Transit spokesperson Drew Kerr. “This morning, we started to pull buses out of the garages, get them on the road — we discovered in doing that, that they were having a very difficult time, as all people that were out on the road this morning would appreciate and know.”
Light rail and Northstar service continued to operate as usual.
Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport reported more than 250 delayed or canceled flights as of 1:30 p.m.
Snow reports
Snowfall reports relayed by the National Weather Service on Wednesday included 13 inches near Dennison and 12 inches in Credit River, south of Prior Lake. There were reports of 11.8 inches of snow in Woodbury, 11.5 inches at Elko New Market, and 11 inches at Stillwater and Owatonna.
The official total at the Twin Cities airport as of noon was 9.5 inches. Prior to this storm, MSP had received only about 16 inches of snow all winter.
No matter how much of the wet, heavy, concrete-like snow fell, strong winds caused a lot of blowing and drifting. North winds gusted in excess of 45 miles per hour.
School delays, closings
Many school districts delayed or canceled classes on Wednesday, or moved to online learning.
School districts closed Wednesday included Anoka-Hennepin, Mankato and Rochester. St. Paul Public Schools moved to online learning. And Minneapolis Public Schools canceled classes for grades pre-K through 5, with e-learning for grades 6-12.
“Middle and high school students must have an e-learning day in order to be sure that MPS meets the state-required instructional hours,” the district reported early Wednesday. Find a full list of school closings and delays below.
Find more forecast information on MPR Weather’s Updraft blog.
Power outages
The combination of wet, heavy, concrete-like snow and those strong winds gusting to 50 mph or greater have led to power outages across the region.
Utility companies in the Twin Cities and points south reported more than 10,000 homes and businesses without power as of 7:15 a.m. Wednesday. That number fluctuated through the morning as crews repaired some outages — and had to respond new ones. It was down to fewer than 5,000 customers by early afternoon.
Xcel Energy reported that it had about 500 workers in the field “navigating challenging conditions to safely restore power as quickly as possible.”
”The workers report first to situations that threaten public safety, such as downed wires that are still energized, followed by the restoration jobs that will bring the largest number of customers back online at once. The company expects to have power fully restored to all customers by 4 p.m.,” Xcel reported Wednesday morning.
School delays, closings for March 5
Closed
Anoka-Hennepin
Anoka Technical College
Anoka-Ramsey Community College — Coon Rapids and Cambridge campuses
Austin
Byron
Cannon Falls Area
Chatfield
Cleveland
Comfrey
Dakota County Technical College
Decorah, Iowa
Eastern Carver County
Edina
Fairmont Area
Goodhue
Grand Meadow
Hayfield
Hudson, Wis.
Inver Hills Community College
Kasson-Mantorville
Lanesboro
LeRoy-Ostrander
Lewiston-Altura
Luverne
Mabel-Canton
Mankato Area
Maple River
Minneapolis (closed for grades preK-5; e-learning for grades 6-12)
Minnesota State College Southeast — Red Wing and Winona campuses
Minnetonka (closed for grades preK-5; e-learning for grades 6-12)
New Richmond, Wis.
New Ulm
North Hennepin Community College
Orono
Osceola
Owatonna
Red Rock Central
River Falls (e-learning day for high school and Renaissance Charter Academy students)
Riverland Community College
Robbinsdale Area
Rochester
Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan
Rushford-Peterson
St. Charles
St. Clair (e-learning day for grades 7-12)
St. Louis Park (closed for grades preK-5; e-learning for grades 6-12)
Somerset, Wis.
Southland
Spring Grove
Triton
White Bear Lake Area
Winona Area
E-learning day
Adrian
Albert Lea Area
Alden-Conger
Belle Plaine
Blooming Prairie
Bloomington
Blue Earth Area
Brooklyn Center
Butterfield-Odin
Caledonia Area
Canby
Centennial
Central (Norwood Young America)
Eden Prairie
Edgerton
Ellsworth
Faribault
Farmington Area
Fillmore Central
Fridley
Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop
Glenville-Emmons
Hastings
Hill-Murray
Hills-Beaver Creek
Houston
Inver Grove Heights
Jackson County Central
Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton
Jordan
Kingsland
La Crescent-Hokah
Lake City
Lakeville
Le Sueur-Henderson
Lyle
Mahtomedi
Marshall
Martin County West
Medford
Minnesota State University-Mankato
Mounds View
Mountain Lake
Murray County Central
New Prague Area
New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva
Nicollet
North St. Paul-Maplewood-Oakdale
Northfield
Osseo Area
Pine Island
Pipestone Area
Plainview-Elgin-Millville
Prescott
Prior Lake-Savage Area
Red Wing
Roseville Area
Round Lake-Brewster
St. Croix Falls, Wis.
St. James
St. Paul
St. Peter
Shakopee
Sibley East
Sleepy Eye
South Central College — Faribault and North Mankato campuses
South St. Paul
South Washington County
Spring Lake Park
Springfield
Stewartville
Stillwater Area
Totino-Grace
Tri-City United
United South Central
Waseca
Wayzata
West St. Paul-Mendota Heights-Eagan Area
Westonka
Windom
Worthington
Zumbrota-Mazeppa
Two-hour delay
Cambridge-Isanti
Chisago Lakes
Dawson-Boyd
Hamline University (classes before 10a are online; regular classes resume at 10a)
Hendricks
Heron Lake-Okabena
Hutchinson
Lac qui Parle Valley
Lake Benton (90-minute delay)
Lakeview
Lynd
Minneota
Mitchell Hamline School of Law (opening at noon)
Princeton
Russell-Tyler-Ruthton
Southwest Minnesota State University (campus closed until 10 a.m.)
Wabasso
Watertown-Mayer
Yellow Medicine East
This list will be updated as additional closings and delays are reported.
Forecast updates
MPR News: Live weather blog and real-time radar
National Weather Service: Snowfall reports
Travel conditions
These state transportation departments offer live updates on road conditions and crashes:
For bus and light rail riders in the Twin Cities, Metro Transit offers weather-related updates on its Metro Transit and Metro Transit Alerts Twitter pages and on its website.
Flight updates
If you’re planning to fly from Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport or another airport around the region — or if you are expecting visitors to arrive by plane — airports offer flight status updates online: