A winter storm Wednesday, Feb. 18, knocked out power for thousands in the Arrowhead and blanketed the Northland in a thick layer of wet, heavy snow. For some, there’s still more coming.
The National Weather Service in Grand Forks reported snowfall totals around 4 inches for most of northwest Minnesota as of 9 a.m. Wednesday. The eastern Highway 2 corridor saw closer to 5 inches, the Iron Range 6-9 inches, the Borderlands 2-4 inches and the North Shore 10-13 inches.
As of 10 a.m., about 3,500 customers were still without power in St. Louis and Lake counties. While impacts are concentrated along the Shore, there are also several smaller outages throughout the Northland, most affecting 1-50 customers each.
The National Weather Service had warned ahead of the storm that the combination of wet, heavy snow and high winds was likely to knock out power. Wind gusts had peaked around 60 miles per hour in northeastern Minnesota on Wednesday.
Minnesota Power had close to 200 outage orders throughout the night, impacting 6,500 customers, caused by broken poles, trees on wires and low wires in gusty conditions.
Lake Country Power said early Wednesday that there was no timeline for restoration, but “crews are working as safely and quickly as able” amid continuing strong winds and heavy snow.
National Weather Service Duluth meteorologist Nathan Lynum said Wednesday that along the North Shore, the weather service is expecting even higher snowfall totals as heavy snow continues.
He said around Grand Rapids and the Iron Range, the weather service estimates another 1-2 inches of snow this morning and up to an additional .5-1 inch this afternoon.
Several Northern Minnesota schools closed, had online classes or started late Wednesday, including:
- Barnum
- Bemidji
- Blackduck
- Carlton
- Cass Lake-Bena
- Cherry
- Chisholm
- Clearbrook-Gonvick
- Cloquet
- Cook County
- Deer River
- Ely
- Esko
- Floodwood
- Grand Rapids
- Greenway
- Hermantown
- Hibbing
- Hill City
- International Falls
- Kelliher
- Lake Superior
- Laporte
- McGregor
- Menahga
- Mesabi East
- Moose Lake
- Nevis
- Northeast Range
- Northland Community
- Park Rapids
- Pine River-Backus
- Proctor
- Red Lake
- Sebeka
- South Ridge
- Tower-Soudan
- Wadena-Deer Creek
- Walker-Hackensack-Akeley
Seth Trobec in Coleraine also captured "thundersnow" Tuesday, the rare combination of a thunderstorm and snowstorm.
Lynum recommended checking road conditions before traveling by calling 5-1-1 or visiting the website.
Because of the high moisture content in the snow, the weather service is also advising that people take it easy while shoveling.
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