Weekend Edition’s Jim Wishner interviews Jim Mathews, meteorologist form the National Weather Service, on the present conditions, wind, and snow totals in region. It looks as if Duluth has won the "golden shovel” award from storm, with 30" inches on the ground.
Lore has claimed it as “The Halloween Blizzard,” and Minnesotan memories and tales have only increased with the passage of time. Snow started falling on the morning of October 31, 1991. By midnight, the storm had dumped 8.2 inches of snow at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, breaking the record for the most snow on that date. By the time it was all done three days later, the storm had dumped more than 2 feet of snow in the Twin Cities and 3 feet in Duluth. The North Shore city’s 36.9-inch snowfall set a record at the time as the largest single snowstorm total for Minnesota.
Transcripts
text | pdf |
JIM WISHNER: Well, for a look at present conditions and maybe what we can expect, Jim Mathews, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, joins us now.
First, Jim, could you give us the numbers? What totals do we have for the Twin Cities and Duluth and some of the other cities around Minnesota?
JIM MATHEWS: Well, as far as the Twin Cities area, we've had about 28.3 inches of snowfall from the storm. The snow depth is about 23 inches. Duluth picked up an additional four inches of snow since midnight, raising their total snow to 30 inches. And it appears that they have won the golden shovel award for the most snow from this storm, thus far.
There will be a little bit more snow falling, mainly over the northern portions of the state during the day today, and lesser amounts in the south, just occasional light snow and flurries beginning later this morning and continuing during the afternoon hours with just a little accumulation, maybe a dusting or so. And possible another three to six inches up in far Northeastern Minnesota.
But the strong winds will continue today. We've had gusts in excess of 40 miles an hour during the night tonight over much of Western Minnesota. Just talked with a reporter from Ortonville, who reported that he had a gust of 62 miles an hour during the evening. And the strong winds will cause considerable blowing snow over the areas that have received the most snow from the storm during the day today. And near whiteout conditions are expected over areas, especially open areas.
So it may not look too bad in town. But as you drive outside of town, visibilities will be reduced to near zero at times.
JIM WISHNER: Could you outline for us, which areas of the state got hardest hit? We know there was big snow in the Twin Cities and in the Duluth area. But where's the snow band go in terms of the heavy snow?
JIM MATHEWS: Well, roughly from Fairmont, up through the Twin Cities area, then towards Duluth, Fairmont at last report, they were about 14 inches of snow as of yesterday. They didn't have too much snow overnight, additional snow. And, of course, about 28 inches here in the city is up to Duluth. We've had about 30 inches.
So that was the main band from Fairmont to Minneapolis to Duluth and out in Western Minnesota. Generally, around 10 inches of snow until you get out into the extreme South Dakota-North Dakota border, where they have received very little, if any, snow so far.
JIM WISHNER: Now, the National Weather Service has a blizzard warning in effect for Western and Southern Minnesota for today. Would you call the present conditions in those parts of the state blizzards right now?
JIM MATHEWS: Well, at the reporting stations right now, it's marginal. The visibility is a little bit better than a quarter of a mile in some of the cities where the observing sites are.
So right now, it's a little bit marginal. But again, outside of the cities and towns, the visibility is frequently near zero in places like Marshall, Fairmont, Jackson, through Wilmer in that area, and even outside of the Twin Cities metro area. I think during the day today, the visibility will be dropping.
And I think, as well as, the winds, I think will pick up frequently in the 30 to 50-mile-an-hour range with higher gusts during the day today, I think there will be more widespread whiteout conditions developing.
JIM WISHNER: Yeah. A lot of people are comparing this storm with two previous ones. One in the early '80s and, of course, the Armistice Day storm. The one in the early '80s was actually two storms. We had one was in January, one on one day. And then two days later, another one giving us about 30 inches of snow, which leads me to ask, what's coming up next? Anything else in terms of precipitation coming towards Minnesota?
JIM MATHEWS: Well, it appears that we'll be in for a little bit of a drying trend, if you will. Although, it will remain fairly cold for this time of year. I think the snow could linger in the northeastern part of the state into Sunday a little bit. But then, basically, dry weather, Monday and Tuesday. And high temperatures finally warming into the 20s to near 30 degrees by Tuesday.
JIM WISHNER: So the snow, though, is going to be with us for a while.
JIM MATHEWS: Well, I think so. We don't see any immediate meltdown, if you will.
JIM WISHNER: All right. Well, Jim, thank you very much. We'll check in with you a little bit later. And we'll continue to watch the weather situation.
JIM MATHEWS: OK. You're welcome.
JIM WISHNER: Appreciate your time. Jim Matthews, a forecaster with the National Weather Service.