Heavy snow took a major toll on Minnesota's roads and people's travel plans Tuesday, and more was expected through Wednesday, but it appears the worst has passed.
And while this storm packed a wallop, it's not one for the record books.
As January snowstorms go, "it's nothing overly unusual," said Tom Hultquist, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Chanhassen. "Just challenging."
Those challenges were acutely felt on roads — including a stretch of Hwy. 169 in Hopkins that had closed early in the evening — and runways. At Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, the front wheel of a Delta airplane went off the runway at about 6:40 p.m. and got stuck in the snow while taxiing after landing, the Metropolitan Airports Commission said. The 147 passengers were bused to the terminal and no injuries were reported, a spokesman said.
MSP issued a "ground stop" around 7:30 p.m. because of icy conditions. One of the runways reopened at 9:15 p.m. to resume operations, said Jeff Lea of the Metropolitan Airports Commission.
The two-pronged storm resumed early Wednesday and will go into Thursday morning, with 6 to 7 inches of additional snow by the end of the storm in the Twin Cities metro area, according to the National Weather Service. More than 10 inches will have fallen in the area by Thursday.
Other places could see more, including 8 to 16 inches in Redwood Falls and as much as 15 inches in the Marshall area, the Weather Service said.
Snow falling at an inch or more an hour during Tuesday's lunch hour covered pavement and put MnDOT plows through their paces. Poor conditions led the agency to issue no-travel advisories for at least 14 counties in southwestern and south-central Minnesota, which were all lifted by 7:30 p.m.
"We are responding to many reports of vehicles in the ditch and vehicles stuck in the middle of the road," the office said in the alert. "Visibility is reduced and driving conditions are dangerous."
MnDOT had dispatched a full complement of plows to try to keep roads clear of snow in an attempt to keep up with the snowfall, Meyer said.
Along with the snow, wind at times reduced visibility to near zero across south-central Minnesota on Tuesday morning and early afternoon.
MnDOT spokeswoman Anne Meyer pleaded for drivers to lay off cruise control, slow down, keep plenty of distance between them and other vehicles, and give plows ample room to work.
"Staying home is better," she said.
One MnDOT snowplow went into the ditch on Hwy. 60 near St. James, illustrating how treacherous conditions were.
About 15 vehicles got stuck on snow-packed I-394 near the Dunwoody Boulevard exit in Minneapolis Tuesday afternoon, MnDOT cameras showed. Scores of crashes and spin-outs littered metro freeways and highways as the afternoon commute began.
Traffic cameras captured a handful of good Samaritans helping push a car stuck in the snow while trying to get onto Hwy. 100 in St. Louis Park on Tuesday afternoon. The video reposted by Jazz88 KBEM shows people shoveling the deep snow in front of a sedan blocking several cars on the entrance to Hwy. 100 in St. Louis Park.
At Minneapolis−St. Paul International Airport, 5.6 inches of snow fell between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service.
Although more snow is expected, the storm's severity is expected to decrease going into Wednesday and Thursday, meteorologist Ryan Dunleavy said.
"We're kind of in the lull right now," Dunleavy said Tuesday evening. "Timing-wise we'd anticipate the snow to start decreasing in intensity and size and range."
Afternoon readings included 7 inches 2 miles northeast of Montrose in Wright County and 5.4 inches a mile southwest of St. Michael in Scott County. Another 3 to 5 inches are expected for the Twin Cities through noon Thursday, and 4 to 7 inches farther north, Dunleavy said.
Several metro cities declared snow emergencies, including Brooklyn Center, Brooklyn Park, Bloomington, Plymouth, St. Louis Park, Hutchinson and West St. Paul.
The city of Minneapolis decided to not declare a snow emergency Tuesday, citing the fact that the storm is expected to bring more snow Wednesday. The city will re-evaluate conditions Wednesday, according to its Twitter announcement.
As of 6 p.m., St. Paul had not called an emergency.
Some 266 flights were canceled and 265 delayed Tuesday at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, according to the flight tracking website flightaware.com.
Half of Metro Transit buses were behind schedule Tuesday afternoon, the agency said, with delays averaging nine minutes. Light-rail trains were running on time, the agency said.
Lower snowfall totals are expected along the Interstate 90 corridor from Worthington to Albert Lea, where an ice storm warning ended Tuesday afternoon.
Up to a quarter inch of ice was forecast to glaze roads, sidewalks, power lines and trees before transitioning to all snow across southern Minnesota, the Weather Service said.
Across the border in South Dakota, the state's Department of Transportation reopened Interstate 29 from the I-29/I-90 Interchange in Sioux Falls to Brookings. It came about 6 p.m., hours after shutting down 130 miles of I-90 from Chamberlain to Sioux Falls due to high winds causing blizzard-like conditions and extensive drifting.
"Plows are having difficulty clearing roads due to near-zero visibility and accumulating snow, with some plows becoming stuck with the high accumulation of snow on the lanes of traffic," the state Transportation Department said.
