Tuesday's bright afternoon sun will be strong enough to melt the snow and ice on roads and sidewalks for Halloween fun tonight, but the freezing temperatures will ensure that many lawns will remain white overnight.
It'll be cold — but dry — for goblins headed out for Halloween fun on Tuesday night
Roads and sidewalks will be much safer than they were Tuesday morning, when icy conditions led to scores of crashes and spinouts.
October 31, 2023 at 6:43PM
"Bundle up the little ghouls and goblins," the National Weather Service said in a Facebook posting. "Make sure to bring along a winter hat and gloves in addition to the candy bag if you are out trick-or-treating this evening."
Those who do go out will feel winter's chill as temps sink back below freezing around sunset. Winds will die down, said Mike Griesinger, a National Weather Service meteorologist in the Twin Cities. But at 10 to 15 mph, he added, "It won't exactly be a refreshing summer breeze."
Windchill readings in the metro area will register in the mid- to low 20s between 5 and 8 p.m., the Weather Service said. They will drop even lower outstate in Alexandria, Little Falls, Redwood Falls and Fairmont and elsewhere.
The season's first measurable snowfall of the season brought up to 8 inches of snow near Two Harbors along Lake Superior, the most recorded in the state. Metro area totals included 4.1 inches in Coon Rapids, 4 inches in Andover and East Bethel, 3.8 inches in Brooklyn Park, 3.6 inches in Maple Grove and 3.3 inches in Richfield, Ham Lake and Mendota Heights, the Weather Service said.
Two to 3 inches of snow were common across a wide swath of the metro and east central Minnesota and western Wisconsin, according to Weather Service reports.
That was enough to make for a miserable Tuesday morning commute as highways and freeways were littered with spinouts and crashes. At one point, vehicles blocked two eastbound lanes on Hwy. 212 at Powers Boulevard in Chaska, a jackknifed semitrailer truck blocked both eastbound lanes of Hwy. 5 just past Hwy. 41 in Chanhassen, and several vehicles crashed on eastbound Interstate 694 at Snelling Avenue in Arden Hills.
State troopers responded to 181 crashes and 121 vehicles that spun out or went off the road statewide between midnight and 9 a.m. Tuesday. Troopers also responded to 13 jackknifed semitrailer trucks, authorities said.
"It's time to brush up on those [winter] driving skills," the Carver County Sheriff's Office said.
The rest of the week calls for a slight warming trend with highs rising into the mid-30s Wednesday, the upper 30s Thursday and into the 40s over the weekend. There is a 20% chance of rain — but no snow — Friday night through Sunday night, the Weather Service said.
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