Hundreds of crashes, spinouts reported on snowy highways in Minnesota

The return of winter weather has brought with it a lot of crashes on Minnesota roads — and the difficult driving conditions may last well into Monday.

The State Patrol reported that from 5 p.m. Saturday through 11 a.m. Sunday, there were 261 crashes on state highways. Twenty-six of them resulted in injuries, but officials said there were no serious injuries or fatalities during that time period.

The Patrol also reported 115 vehicle spinouts and four jackknifed semis.

Snow continued to fall Sunday afternoon across much of northern Minnesota, where winter storm warnings remained in effect. A blizzard warning was in effect for the Grand Marais and Grand Portage areas; the National Weather Service said total snowfall may reach well over a foot in the higher terrain of the North Shore.

While light snow has largely ended in the Twin Cities and elsewhere in central and southern Minnesota, strengthening northwest winds may blow snow onto roadways, and plummeting temperatures will cause icy conditions late Sunday into Monday. Wind gusts may reach 45 to 50 mph.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation said to expect difficult travel conditions in some parts of the state through Monday morning.

"Anyone that saw some snowfall might see some blowback due to those strong winds, and potentially some visibility issues. The storm is still going to be around until early Monday morning, so cleanup will continue early into the week," MnDOT spokesperson Anne Meyer said.

Wind chills will drop well below zero late Sunday and Monday.

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