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The Associated Press
Thief River Falls, Minn.

Blizzard dumps 18 inches of snow in NW Minn.

Clearing sidewalks in Rapid City
Employees with G.J. Holsworth & Sons shovel snow from the sidewalk in Rapid City, S.D., Monday, March 31, 2014. A spring snowstorm in the Upper Midwest on Monday shut down public schools, universities and government offices, made travel hazardous and life miserable for cattle ranchers in the midst of calving season. The National Weather Service issued blizzard warnings for much of the Dakotas and part of Minnesota, with the heaviest snow expected in eastern North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota.
Benjamin Brayfield / Rapid City Journal via AP

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Eighteen inches of fresh snow whipped up by winds of 50 miles per hour might seem like a cruel April Fool's joke, but for residents of northwestern Minnesota it's all too real.

Highway 1 from Warren to the North Dakota border was closed and Marshall County sheriff's officials advised against travel as a semitrailer and two other vehicles were stranded in the middle of the road. Polk County officials pulled snowplows off the roads Monday afternoon as conditions deteriorated for the safety of the drivers.

The National Weather Service reported 18 inches of new snow at Thief River Falls and Warren and 16 inches in Salol in Roseau County.

To the south, a tornado caused damage at three farms southeast of St. Leo in Yellow Medicine County, but no injuries were reported.

In North Dakota, the Transportation Department early Tuesday reopened Interstate 94 from Bismarck to Fargo, I-29 between the Canadian border and the South Dakota border, state Highway 13 from Wahpeton to I-29, and U.S. 2 between Grand Forks and Devils Lake.

In South Dakota, many schools are starting late and some are closed for the day. The Monday storm dumped as much as 10 inches of snow in northeastern South Dakota, with lesser but still-significant amounts to the west. It shut down schools, government offices in 16 western and central counties, and roads.