In blizzard's wake, bitter cold grips Minnesota

Updated: 8:01 a.m.

We’ll have a white Christmas after all.

A winter storm blasted through Minnesota Wednesday with winds as high as 70 mph and blowing snow that closed freeways, stranded motorists and grounded flights on one of the most anticipated air travel days since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Late Wednesday, the snowfall began easing, but not the high winds. That means blowing snow will continue to re-cover roadways that may have been cleared by plows. Travel conditions will remain dangerous across Minnesota into early Thursday.

“Crews are making progress,” said Minnesota Department of Transportation spokesperson Anne Meyer. “In terms of road conditions, some lanes are looking better than others, but this is the challenge when temperatures are as cold as it is today, our materials like salt and brine just don't work as well, it takes a little longer for them to active, so we'll be applying that and really be dealing with the slow process today as we try to get our highways in better shape."

Impassable roads, canceled flights

Whiteout conditions and drifting snow led to dozens of stranded motorists and road closures throughout Minnesota. Numerous travel advisories urged motorists to stay off the road and several highways were shut down altogether

Eastbound Interstate 94 was closed between Monticello and Rogers, west of Minneapolis, for three hours due a multi-vehicle crash and pileup.

The Minnesota State Patrol said that through 6 a.m. Thursday, it responded to some 435 crashes, nearly 600 vehicles that ran off the road and nearly 40 jackknifed semis.

Gov. Tim Walz on Wednesday evening ordered the Minnesota National Guard to provide assistance and emergency relief services for stranded motorists during the storm. The Guard was activated in Renville and Martin counties, and opened its armories in Olivia and Fairmont to be used as a temporary shelter.

Meanwhile, flyers traveling for the holidays found plenty of flight cancellations or delays.

The Minneapolis-St. Paul airport had experienced about 300 flight cancellations Wednesday, airport spokesperson Patrick Hogan said. He said many travelers with weather-disrupted plans have been able to rebook different flights, since most planes have empty seats.

Earlier in the day, a large gathering of people showed up at Hector International Airport in Fargo, N.D., only to discover that most of the flights had been canceled due to high winds and low visibilities.

“Today was going to be probably our busiest day since COVID hit or definitely just before Thanksgiving,” said Shawn Dobberstein, Fargo Airport Authority executive director. “Our building was pretty full this morning when American, Delta, United decided to cancel some flights.”

Severe thunderstorm-level winds

Wind gusts as high as 70 mph were recorded near Lake Benton, Minn., Wednesday. Many Minnesota locations reported wind gusts between 50 and 66 mph.

Snowfall totals

The Twin Cities National Weather Service noted it will be difficult to measure snow depth from the storm because of all the high winds and blowing snow. But preliminary reports show a range of about 2 1/2 inches in the Fargo-Moorhead area to 8.7 inches at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport to about 5 inches in Duluth.

Here comes the bitter cold

Winds have diminished some from the extreme high winds the state saw Wednesday, but there are still many parts of Minnesota seeing gusts over 20 and 30 mph. This combination of cold and wind is putting morning wind chills at 20 to 40 below zero Thursday morning. 

A wind chill advisory is in effect for most of Minnesota through the morning.

Highs on Christmas Eve will hover in the single digits above zero.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

• Frigid Friday night with bitterly cold wind chills Saturday morning
• A winter storm with heavy snow is forecast for much of the U.S. this weekend
• A cold first weekend of January on the way
• Even colder Thursday night into the weekend