Heavy Snow Misses Rochester Area

Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News) - The winter storm that blasted southern Minnesota Tuesday is moving out of the state and residents are digging out from several inches of snow.

The National Weather Service had predicted  9 - 12 inches of snow in a band that included Rochester. The most recent reports indicate Olmsted County was on the lower end with totals of 6 - 9 inches.  The NWS station at the Rochester airport reported a storm total of 8.9 inches as of 6 a.m. Wednesday.

Similar totals were reported from around southeast Minnesota. Smaller totals were expected in the Twin Cities area but some southern suburbs are digging out from up to a foot. The Twin Cities airport received a record of more than 9 inches while Bloomington is reporting 12  ½ inches.  

Rochester’s official Groundhog Day total (through midnight) at the airport was 6.7 inches, missing the record for the date by about 2 ½ inches. The total was also a tenth of an inch less than the snow that fell at the airport on December 28th. But it was more than the total for the entire month of January, which was 5.7 inches

The snow and strong winds produced whiteout conditions at times across most of southern Minnesota Tuesday and that led to the closure of a large number of roads, especially in south central and southwestern parts of the state.  The section of I-90 between Albert Lea and the South Dakota border was still closed of of 7:30 Wednesday morning.