Freezing rain ices roads, closes schools

Many schools closed and events were canceled Friday across the Northland as a steady rain froze when it hit the ground, making some roads, parking lots and sidewalks more like skating rinks.

Several accidents were reported and calls for people who slipped and fell — until temperatures warmed enough by later in the morning that ice began to give way to just wet. There were no immediate reports of any serious injuries directly related to the ice storm.

Parts of Cass, Itasca and Koochiching counties appeared the hardest hit by the ice, with a half-inch of rain falling, leaving some areas coated in nearly a quarter-inch of ice Friday morning.

The National Weather Service had lifted most warnings for the Northland by Friday evening, although it has continued a winter weather advisory until 4 p.m. today for 3-7 inches of snow in Koochiching, northern Itasca and extreme northwestern

St. Louis counties.

A dense fog advisory remained in effect for the Twin Ports, Carlton County and much of northwestern Wisconsin until midnight Friday.

The Twin Ports are expected to see less than an inch of snow today before skies begin to clear under very windy conditions. Temperatures are expected to drop all day and bottom out around zero, with a high near 10 Sunday and low temperatures early in the week dipping below zero.

Parts of northwestern Minnesota were expected to see up to 8 inches of snow today with high winds.

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