Winter storm continues into the night

The snow certainly has been piling up. At 5:30 p.m., I measured 6.2 inches in my Minneapolis driveway. There were reports of around 8 inches in Bloomington and Burnsville. Rosemount in Dakota County reported 9 inches.

In and near the metro area

One change in the storm during the afternoon was that the band of heaviest snow shifted farther north than I expected in my morning forecast, from around Le Sueur to St. Paul to around New Richmond, Wis. Here is a single frame from the Twin Cities National Weather Service radar:

Feb 2 - radar 5p
The heaviest snow was falling in a fairly narrow band around 5:00 p.m.

Several more inches of snow will fall in the metro area this evening, especially on the south side. Snow will then taper off and mostly end during the night. Storm totals are likely to be around 6 to 8 inches in the northern suburbs, 7 to 9 inches in Minneapolis, 8 to 10 inches in St. Paul, and close to a foot in Scott and Dakota counties on the south side where the heavy band should persist the longest.

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Winds have been increasing in the metro area and I am seeing more drifting. Gusts will continue all night and diminish just a bit during the day tomorrow

The winter storm warning for the metro area remains in effect until 6 a.m. Wednesday.

Minneapolis and St. Paul, and probably many other cities, have declared snow emergencies.

Southern Minnesota

The storm's greatest impact has been across southern Minnesota. Many roads in southwestern and south central Minnesota, including a stretch of I-90, are either closed or impassable due to whiteout conditions. This area is mainly west of I-35 and south of a line from Owatonna to Mankato to New Ulm to Pipestone. Travel conditions there are likely to deteriorate further this evening because the wind will increase after sunset and enhance the blowing and drifting.

A blizzard warning remains in effect for southwestern Minnesota until 4 a.m. Wednesday and for south central Minnesota until 6 a.m.

A winter storm warning remains in effect until 6 a.m. tomorrow for southeastern Minnesota including the Rochester area where a few more inches of snow will fall overnight.

Feb 2 - mpx evening story
Blizzard warnings (red0 and winter storms warnings (pink0 remain in effect overnight. Twin Cities National Weather Service

Winter storm warnings are also in effect across most of Wisconsin to Green Bay and then Upper Michigan.

20-year anniversary

On this date in 1996, the National Weather Service cooperative observer in Tower measured the coldest official temperature recorded in Minnesota when that thermometer registered minus 60. The Twin Cities bottomed out at 32 below zero that same morning.