Minnesotans bundled up and shoveled out Saturday in the wake of the season's first snowstorm, which on Friday dumped heavy snow across the northern, western and central parts of the state and abruptly ended the Twin Cities' record-setting growing season.
Roads were still snowy and icy north and west of the Twin Cities, traffic authorities warned. The State Patrol continued to respond to many spinouts and crashes on Saturday, particularly north and west of the Twin Cities.
Across most of the metro area, snow depths were light or nil. But high winds continued to buffet the region, knocking down branches and even trees in some areas.
When, on Friday evening, the temperature dropped to 32 at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport for the first time since April 12, it marked the end of this protracted, balmy autumn.
The late-arriving metro-area frost also handed 2016 a record for the longest growing season ever recorded here, according to the National Weather Service. The longest previous one was in 1900, when the temperature didn't fall to 32 till Nov. 7.
And autumn isn't coming back. Saturday will feel frigid, with the high in the Twin Cities area not even expected to break 30. And more snow is coming next week, just before the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend, according to the Weather Service.
In much of the metro area, Friday's precipitation fell as rain or slushy snow that melted on the roadways. But to the north and west, it was a far more wintry picture, with a bona fide blizzard in some areas, featuring heavy snow and howling winds.
Even after snow stopped falling late Friday, roads remained treacherous in those areas, highway and weather officials warned.