Burst of snow leads to spinouts, crashes across the area

By KAALTV

(ABC 6 News) – A burst of snow Monday afternoon led to slick roads ands crashes across the area.

Snow began around 2:15 p.m. in Rochester and shortly after crashes began. Around 4 p.m. there were a number of vehicle spin outs and crashes leading to backups on roads including highway 52 near 37th street exit.

The Minnesota State patrol responded to over 200 crashes statewide and 171 vehicles off the road and 4 jackknifed semis from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Light snow carries on through about 10PM on Monday. Up to 2″ and slippery roads can be expected.

A major winter storm/blizzard is expected for the end of the week, along with dangerous cold. Wednesday evening through early Saturday morning is the timeframe with major impacts expected. Travel in this timeframe should be avoided. It may be impossible at times too.

There is a disconnect from the snow and strongest wind. We’ll pick up the most snow, anywhere from 4-10″ area wide Wednesday afternoon to Thursday afternoon. The strongest wind begins to arrive at the tail end of that period and continues through early Saturday morning. Even if we pick up a fraction of the totals, the strong wind will still mean blizzard conditions in the open as winds gust up to 55 mph at times. Travel will be extremely difficult, dangerous and in some cases, impossible all across the Midwest. It is best to change travel plans to outside the aforementioned window.

Dangerous cold settles in with that strongest wind. Sub-zero temps are expected Thursday night through Saturday afternoon. With the wind, the wind chill may drop to the -35 to -45° range at times. To risk being caught out in these conditions is unnecessary and very dangerous.

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