JOHN MYERS
You're probably sick of shoveling it, trying to chip through it, bumping along on it and even reading about it, but the Christmas snowstorm of 2009 was one for the record books.
The 24.4 inches that fell at Duluth International Airport moves the storm into 5th place on the all-time snowstorm event over three or fewer days. And that record book goes way back to 1850.
Had it not been for unusually warm air that blew in with the storm and spurred rain for many hours, snowstorm totals along higher elevations at the head of the lakes may have surpassed 30 inches.
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The snowstorm was unusually selective in where it caused havoc. The most snow that fell in Minnesota was 26 inches at Pequaywan Lake about 30 miles north of Duluth. The Duluth airport recorded 24.4. A station 5 miles north of Two Harbors recorded 24 inches, with 19.5 in Cloquet and similar amounts in Carlton, Proctor and Hermantown. But parts of the Iron Range received as little as 2 inches, while a general 6-12 inches was common across the Northland.
In southern Minnesota, where the heaviest snow had been expected to fall, the highest snow fall total was 16 inches just west of the Twin Cities, with most areas seeing 6-10 inches.
Duluth's top-10 snowstorms and their ending date:
1. 36.8'', Nov. 2 1991
2. 33.1, Dec. 7. 1950
3. 27.1, Jan. 27, 2004
4. 25.9, Jan. 7, 1994
5. 24.5, Dec. 26, 2009
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6. 22.4, Dec. 16, 2005
7. 22.2, March 15, 1917
8. 22.1, Dec. 8, 1969
9. 21.4, March 19, 1965
10. 21.2, Jan. 22, 1982
