Schools closed or delayed, driving difficult across Minnesota as snow continues to fall

Steady snow that started falling overnight continued Thursday morning across a wide swath of Minnesota, causing difficult driving conditions for the morning commute and prompting many schools to cancel or delay the start of classes.

Brainerd, Fergus Falls, Hutchinson, Little Falls, Stillwater and Waconia were among the school districts that canceled classes Thursday. Several dozen other districts moved to online learning or were operating on a two-hour delay. Those schools are listed below.

Some districts that initially were on a two-hour delay, moved to online learning or a closure for the day due to worsening road conditions.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation was reporting snow-covered highways across the southwest half of the state as of 8 a.m. — including the Twin Cities.

Ahead of the morning rush hour, there were already reports of crashes and spinouts on freeways in the metro area. MnDOT also was reporting crashes and at least one jackknifed semi along Interstate 94 in western Minnesota.

The State Patrol reported more than 130 crashes and spinouts along state highways between midnight and 8:30 a.m. Thursday, along with five jackknifed semis.

Metro Transit was reporting delays on half of its bus routes in the Twin Cities, with an average delay of about 14 minutes as of 9 a.m.

The snow was also causing increasing delays for flights to and from the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. The FAA initially issued an advisory about a ground delay at MSP; then, just before 9 a.m., it issued a ground stop through 10:15 a.m. due to snow and ice.

Winter storm warnings continue through this evening from the Red River Valley south and east to Brainerd, Duluth, Willmar, St. Cloud and the Twin Cities. The National Weather Service says a widespread snowfall of 5 to 7 inches is expected, with locally higher amounts.

To the north and south of the warning area, most of the rest of Minnesota is under winter weather advisories for the possibility of 3 to 5 inches of snow.

Find forecast updates on MPR Weather’s Updraft blog.

School closings and delays for Thursday, Dec. 19

If you don’t see your school listed here, check your district’s website or social media pages to confirm the status of classes for Thursday.

Closed

• Annandale

• Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City

• Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa

• Belle Plaine

• Bertha-Hewitt

• Brainerd

• Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart

• Cedar Mountain

• Central Public Schools (Norwood Young America)

• Chokio-Alberta

• Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley

• Dassel-Cokato

• Ellsworth, Wis.

• Fergus Falls

• Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop

• Glencoe-Silver Lake

• Hancock

• Henning

• Hill-Murray

• Hutchinson

• Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted

• Hudson, Wis.

• Jordan

• Kimball Area

• Lake Park Audubon

• Le Sueur-Henderson

• Little Falls

• Long Prairie-Grey Eagle

• Madelia

• Menahga

• New Prague Area (blended learning day for K-5)

• Onamia

• Osakis

• Pelican Rapids

• River Falls, Wis.

• St. Croix Lutheran

• Sibley East

• Somerset, Wis.

• Stillwater

• Tri-City United

• Waconia

• West Central Area

E-learning day

• Ada-Borup-West

• Benson

• BOLD

• Breckenridge

• Detroit Lakes

• East Grand Forks

• Eden Valley-Watkins

• Frazee-Vergas

• Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg

• Lakeview

• Lester Prairie

• Litchfield

• MACCRAY

• Marshall

• Marshall County Central 

• Morris Area

• New London-Spicer

• New York Mills

• Norman County East

• Parkers Prairie

• Paynesville

• Perham

• Pierz

• Prescott, Wis.

• Red Lake County Central

• Red Lake Falls

• Renville County West

• Rothsay

• St. Peter

• Sebeka

• Swanville

• Ulen-Hitterdal

• Underwood

• Wadena-Deer Creek

• Watertown-Mayer

• Wheaton

• Willmar

Two-hour delay

• Aitkin

• Alexandria

• Ashby

• Becker

• Big Lake

• Blackduck

• Brandon-Evansville

• Buffalo-Hanover-Montrose

• Butterfield-Odin

• Fosston

• Lynd

• Maple Lake

• Melrose Area

• Milroy

• Minneota

• Minnesota State Community and Technical College — Detroit Lakes, Fergus Falls, Moorhead and Wadena campuses opening at 10a

• Minnesota West Community and Technical College — Granite Falls campus opening at 10a

• Minnewaska Area

• Montevideo

• Monticello

• Northland Community & Technical College — campus opening at 10a

• Pequot Lakes

• Pillager

• Pine River-Backus

• Red Rock Central

• St. James

• St. Michael-Albertville

• Sauk Centre

• Tracy Area

• University of Minnesota Crookston — reduced operations until 10a

• Verndale

• Wabasha-Kellogg

• Wabasso

• Waubun-Ogema-White Earth

• Yellow Medicine East

Forecast updates

• MPR News: Detailed updates from MPR News meteorologists

• MPR News: Live weather blog and real-time radar

• National Weather Service: Snowfall reports

Travel conditions

These state transportation departments offer live updates on road conditions and crashes:

• Minnesota

• North Dakota

• South Dakota

• Wisconsin

• Iowa

For bus and light rail riders in the Twin Cities, Metro Transit offers weather-related updates on its Metro Transit and Metro Transit Alerts Twitter pages, as well as on its website.

Flight updates

If you’re planning to fly from Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport or another airport around the region — or if you are expecting visitors to arrive by plane — airports offer flight status updates online:

• Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport

• Duluth International Airport

• Rochester International Airport

• Range Regional Airport

• Falls International Airport

• Brainerd Lakes Regional Airport

• Bemidji Regional Airport

• St. Cloud Regional Airport

• Thief River Falls Regional Airport

• Fargo Hector International Airport

• Grand Forks International Airport

• Sioux Falls Regional Airport

• La Crosse Regional Airport

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