Twin Cities escapes storm’s worst as areas north hunker down for more

The worst of the weekend storm in the Twin Cities and southern Minnesota appears to be over, but light to moderate snow continued to fall the north and west of the metro Monday and will likely continue into Tuesday.

The heavy slushy snow — 6 to 8 inches in a band from the Brainerd Lakes area to Duluth and along the North Shore — has left roads snow and ice covered and was making driving difficult and challenging for the Minnesota Department of Transportation and city crews charged with clearing off the roads.

“They are crushing it,” said Ketzel Levens, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s office in Duluth. She added that the job will be a chore, however, as snow combined with mix of precipitation will continue to fall through Tuesday.

It won’t be any easier for those shoveling and even those with snowblowers. The water-laden snow is what Ketzel calls “concrete snow” that’s hard to move.

“Be careful, take breaks and don’t over exert yourself,” she said as Minnesotans dig out from largest snowfall of the season.

More than 8 inches fell in the St. Cloud area, prompting officials to close the school and shift students to an e-learning day.

Thousands of other students not already on spring break got the day off, too, even in the metro area where the state’s largest school district, Anoka-Hennepin, called off classes. Centennial, Forest Lake, North-St. Paul Maplewood-Oakdale and White Bear Lake also closed for the day.

That was after 8.2 inches of snow fell at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, setting a record for March 24 and making it the largest snowfall of the season in the metro area. Other places saw even more, including 10.3 inches in Blaine, 9.1 inches in Hugo and 8.3 inches in Zimmerman, the National Weather Service said.

Lighter amounts fell across the south metro, but that didn’t make the roads any better. Crashes and spinouts were reported all across the metro area during Monday’s morning commute as mainly wet roads with scattered slippery spots marred the drive.

One vehicle flipped over on its side on southbound Interstate 94 near the Lowry Hill Tunnel early Monday, snarling traffic in downtown Minneapolis for about 45 minutes. The messy and treacherous conditions led the State Patrol to respond to 396 wrecks across that state, and troopers helped 339 motorists who spun out or went off the road from midnight to 7 a.m, the patrol said.

One of the crashes led to a death when 51-year-old Elizabeth Evans of Lakeville slid off Interstate 35E and struck a tree near County Road 42 in Burnsville on Sunday afternoon, the State Patrol said.

MnDOT plow drivers fanned out across Minnesota and will be out in full force all day into Tuesday, said spokeswoman Anne Meyer.

“We are not done yet,” she said. “This will be a challenge all day long.”

The rain was helping melt snow in the metro, but drivers should not let their guard down as scattered slick spots remained, she warned. “It doesn’t take much to create an issue.”

Some suburbs declared snow emergencies, including Plymouth, Brooklyn Park and Richfield. Neither Minneapolis nor St. Paul had called one as of Monday morning.

Operations at MSP airport were affected for a second straight day. By 11 a.m., 38 outbound flights had been delayed and one canceled. Arrivals were not faring as well as 32 inbound flights had been canceled and 21 delayed, according to Flightaware.com.

A winter storm warning remained in effect on Monday for most of the state except for the Twin Cities and southern and southeastern Minnesota, where snow had begun to transition over to rain as temperatures rose above the freezing mark.

Another round of snow and perhaps freezing rain is expected to move into the metro area on Tuesday before the sun returns on Wednesday. By the weekend, temperatures are expected to be in the 40s.

After a relatively dry winter, the precipitation was welcome by Ketzel.

“It’s very much needed,” she said.