Winter scene from a Rochester park. January 12th 2012

As odd as this is to say, winter has finally arrive to Southeastern Minnesota in the sense that this is the first time we’ve had a snowpack lasting more then one day since well before Christmas! two things were really noticed today, and that’s the snow and the much colder temperatures. After it was 57.F on Tuesday, Today we had a cold day with highs in the 10s along with snow and blowing snow. To top it off we had gusty northwest winds which was persistent through the day which made wind chills even colder. At my location I had 3.0″ of snow and the high was 18.F which was nearly 40 degrees colder then Tuesday! Today had a real wintery look and feel to it for the 1st time in many weeks here in Minnesota. The newly accumulated snow caused quite a few issues on the roads as car accidents were reported across Rochester, and across much of the area.

Haze caused by falling snow January 12th 2012

This snow has a particularly odd sense to it. The snowflakes were very small and frequent, giving the sky a hazy appearance all day. Visibilities were even fairly reduced at times. This snow was easily blown around by wind which made for a fair amount of blowing and drifting. As I talked about above, the snow did cause a few travel issues across the area but most just took it slow and got to there destination without problems. Most of the area got at least some new snow, but the areas that got the most snow was confined to the far east, where over 5″ were reported in eastern Winona County! The further west you got the less snow was seen. Actually there is a fairly sharp cut off line from where the heavier amounts occurred compared to the area that got nothing but light amounts. That cutoff line caused lesser amounts to be seen in Western Goodhue, Dodge and Mower counties. The cause of the snow was a storm system that broad very widespread snow to all of the eastern half of the Upper Midwest. Our area was on the Northwestern fridges of the main precip area. It will warm up this weekend, but should stay cool enough to keep most of the snowcover on the ground, and we may in fact add to the snowcover on Saturday! Then it looks much colder after that.

Snowfall Reports

Minnesota City 5.20″
Winona 5.0″
 Rushford 4.0″
Lanesbro 4.0″
Preston 3.90″
Spring Valley 3.70″
Altura 3.40″
Kellong 3.0″
 West Downtown Rochester-(My Sta) 3.0″
Wabasha 2.0″
Byron 1.60″
Elgin 1.50″
Austin 0.70″