Two rounds of snow dropped more than a half-foot of accumulation in parts of the Northland on Tuesday, causing difficult driving conditions for much of the day.
One person died in a two-vehicle crash on State Highway 61 near Two Harbors just after 10 a.m., and one person was injured in a three-vehicle crash on Interstate 35 near the Boundary Avenue exit at about 7:45 a.m., the Minnesota State Patrol reported. A rollover crash with injuries was reported along U.S. Highway 53 near Independence just after 4:20 p.m.
Troopers in the Patrol’s Duluth and Virginia districts also responded to 10 property damage crashes and eight vehicles off the road along state highways between 3 a.m. and 3 p.m. Tuesday.
The snow came in two waves on Tuesday - one during the early-morning hours, and a second around midday. The highest snow total reported by the National Weather Service as of Tuesday night was 8.5 inches north of Knife River.
The Duluth airport had received 4 inches of snow as of 4 p.m. - a record for the date. The previous record snowfall for Feb. 7 in the city was 3.6 inches, set in 1937.
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Other snow totals around the region - with snow still falling in some locations - included:
- 7.5 inches - Two Harbors
- 6.3 inches - Payne
- 5.2 inches - Brimson
- 5 inches - International Falls
- 4.5 inches - Cloquet
- 4 inches - Coleraine, Alborn
- 3.5 inches - Gunflint Trail
- 3.1 inches - Aitkin
- 3 inches - Cook, Mountain Iron
- 2.9 inches - Upson, Lakeside (Douglas County)
- 1.5 inches - Moose Lake
Northwest winds in the wake of the snow were slated to usher in cold air overnight, and the Weather Service issued wind chill advisories for Wednesday morning for areas well west and north of Duluth. Wind chills in the advisory area, which included the Iron Range, Grand Rapids and International Falls, were forecast to drop to as low as 30 below zero.
Highs Wednesday are forecast to reach only the single digits above zero in the Northland, with highs near 10 on Thursday, the Weather Service reported. A warm-up is in the forecast for the weekend, though, with highs expected to reach the 30s on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
There’s a chance for light snow late Thursday into early Friday.
Duluth's snowfall for the winter stood at exactly 50 inches as of 4 p.m. Tuesday. That's 6.2 inches below average for this point in the season, but 4 inches ahead of the city's snowfall at this point last winter.
International Falls has received 60.7 inches of snow this winter, a foot above normal for this point in the season.
