Much of the region is digging out from 3-8 inches of new snow, with 8.3 inches reported officially at Duluth International Airport.
Snow was expected to diminish to snow showers and flurries overnight before the system finally moves out of the area today.
The snow, gusty north winds and slick roads led to many cancellations Tuesday across the Northland, from after-school activities and bingo games to the Bentleyville holiday lights display.
The storm circulated precipitation into the Twin Ports and Arrowhead for nearly 24 hours, from Monday to Tuesday night, much longer than expected, and left higher snowfall totals than forecast. Lighter snowfall was reported near Lake Superior, where higher temperatures kept precipitation as rain until Tuesday morning.
Brian Tentinger, Weather Service meteorologist in Duluth, said small bands of very heavy, lingering snow can set up as storms pass, confounding forecasters with unexpectedly heavy snow. That kind of band set up from the central Iron Range to just west of Duluth into Carlton County for most of Tuesday, adding several inches to forecast snow totals.
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"Sometimes these storms wrap extra moisture around on the backside of the low, and that happened this time," Tentinger said. "We don't fully know how or when those bands will develop, just that the chance is there it will happen."
Temperatures are expected to remain below normal for the rest of the week, with highs only in the teens and lows in the single digits above zero for much of the Northland.
The next chance of widespread snow is Saturday and Sunday.
More than 35 inches of snow fell in Duluth over September, October and November, making it the fourth-snowiest autumn on record. Only the 56.8 inches in 1991, 37.7 inches in 1983 and 37.1 inches in 1985 were snowier.
Meanwhile, Duluth's string of days with at least a trace of snowfall ended Sunday. The 15-day streak -- Nov. 13-27 -- was the longest in 17 years. It snowed for 32 consecutive days from Dec. 17, 1993, to Jan. 17, 1994.
