A snow storm hit the upper Midwest Sunday dumping more than a foot of snow in some areas. In Minneapolis the storm system dropped 10.6 inches of snow where Menomonie, WI got 13.8 inches and Eau Claire 13 inches by Sunday night. These conditions made roads treacherous and unsafe, leading to at least one fatal crash in Minnesota. This has been Minneapolis' heaviest snowfall since the blizzard two years ago that caused the Metrodome roof to collapse. Stadium officials took precautions and blasted the heat in an effort to melt the snow from the roof as quickly as possible. Minnesota state patrol reported more than 600 crashes by Monday morning, 1,140 spinouts, and 63 other accidents which also reported injuries. Many schools were closed Monday across Minnesota and Wisconsin. Around 150 flights were cancelled on Sunday at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, but flights were operating on time Monday morning. Snowplows worked on clearing highways, ramps, and bridges for drivers, but many crashes still occurred. According to meteorologist Paul Douglas, Every storm is different, and this one was especially fickle, for a
number of reasons. Usually a thick layer of cold air needs to be in
place for a major snowfall. We didn’t have that with this storm,
temperatures aloft fairly close to freezing this morning. But the upward
motion, the vertical velocities associated with this storm are
unusually intense. Not only does this create moderate to heavy snow, but
strong upward motion cools the column of air overhead, preventing a
changeover to ice or rain, which would keep final amounts down. Nevertheless, many people are welcoming the snow because there was not much snow last
winter and it is getting people more into the Christmas spirit!!
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