THE SNOW TRAIN STOPPED IN ITS TRACKS....
Over the weekend my area just missed out on a vicious blizzard, arguably one of the worst in many years. The storm, with winds of 60 mph and and snowfall of up to 17" brought havoc to the northwest half of Iowa, southeast MN. and NW Wisconsin. Severe blowing and drifting produced whiteout conditions and shut down travel in much of that area. I-35 from Ames to south of Minneapolis was closed for up to 2 days in spots. Here's some eye opening images from the aftermath of the storm.
The next picture below was taken about 50 miles north of Albert Lee, Minnesota. Wouldn't want to dig this out by hand!
On the left of the next image, you can see snow blocking the entire entrance to the garage of this house in Austin, Minnesota. Drifts are up to the roof and a tunnel to the door.
For some perspective of the size of the drifts, this 35 foot silo has drifts next to it pushing 20 feet. Dang, that's impressive.
This graphic shows where the heaviest snows fell over the weekend. There are pockets within this band with 13-16" totals.
With the addition of this storm snowfall has increased dramatically over the upper Midwest. Rochester, Minnesota currently has a snow depth of 28".
Snowfall in Waterloo has now reached 30.6, an all-time record for February. It's the 4th snowiest here in Cedar Rapids. Lots of places in Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin setting or nearing similar records.
With March knocking on the door there's at least hope the worst of this wild stretch of winter weather is winding down. That may be the case for some, including parts of my area. However, the hard hit areas of the upper Midwest probably won't be so lucky. The EURO Weeklies just in are showing the snows continuing for that part of the region into early April. The EPS control has this for total snowfall through April 12th. Minnesota and far northern Iowa still getting plastered.
Overall, temperatures are expected to be below normal for much of the next 46 days. However, for my immediate area I think this is front loaded as the first 3 weeks are when most of the cold shows up. By late March the tide is turning and I think spring will show its hand, perhaps in a big way. If it's not going to snow, I guess I'm ready for the thaw.
In a nutshell, the next few days look cold with little if any snowfall. The first chance for any accumulating snow does not come until Friday. Even that does not look impressive with only an inch or two expected. That's a wrap for now, roll weather...TS
