DULUTH — It’s as if the winter of 2022-23 is trying to stick it to Duluth one last time, teasing us less than a half-inch from the snowiest winter record despite six months of shoveling.
Snow continued to fall overnight across parts of Northwestern Wisconsin’s South Shore snowbelt and a small portion of Minnesota’s North Shore, where a blizzard warning is posted through 7 p.m. Monday and where another 6 inches or more could fall Monday whipped by northwest winds gusting to 40 mph.
The National Weather Service in Duluth said snow stopped Sunday evening in Duluth, leaving the city officially with 135.1 inches of snow for the season, 0.3 inches away from the record set in 1996. There’s a chance for rain and freezing rain Wednesday with another chance of snow Thursday.
Brainerd reached its snowiest winter ever with 7 new inches of snow Sunday for a seasonal total of over 84.8 inches. Bayfield also continues to add to its record snowy winter at more than 162.5 inches.
Meanwhile, flooding continues in Duluth’s Fond du Lac neighborhood, where Water Street was inundated, and in Scanlon, with the St. Louis River over its banks. The river appears to have crested, at least temporarily, late Sunday at Scanlon at 13.54 feet and had dropped to 13.4 feet Monday morning as subfreezing temperatures locked up some moisture in the remaining and new snowpack. The river is considered in major flood stage over 13 feet. The river was still running at nearly 33,000 cubic feet per second.
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Dozens of roads remain closed across St. Louis and Carlton counties as low areas are inundated with swollen ditches and streams. Flooding also was happening along the Moose Horn River in Barnum and along Moosehead Lake in Moose Lake, where concrete barriers and sandbags had been placed to keep rising waters out of businesses.
Snowfall totals from Sunday/Monday storm
15 inches - 7 miles NW Phillips, Wis.
14.5 inches - Red Cliff, Wis.
13 inches - 4 miles NW Washburn, Wis.
10 inches - Maple, Wis.
8.5 inches - Brule, Wis.
8 inches - Leech Lake, Chisholm
7 inches - Brainerd
6 inches - Tofte
5 inches - Ely, Hibbing, Cotton
3.5 inches - Duluth, National Weather Service
Where to get local flood information, road closures, sandbags
Ashland County
An interactive map of current road closures can be found at this link .
Bayfield County
Updates on road closures can found at the Bayfield County EM Facebook page .
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Douglas County
Updates can be found at douglascountywi.org at the top of the page.
Road closures can be viewed at this interactive map .
Sawyer County
Updates will be posted on the Sawyer County EM and Public Health Facebook pages.
St. Louis County
Residents who want to request sandbags should go through their local city or township (not straight to the county), from there the local city/town will coordinate with the county.
Find an interactive map of road closures in St. Louis County at this link .
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Floodwood residents can get sandbags for free at the Floodwood City Garage.
Carlton County
Go to the Carlton County website for news flash updates and additional resident resources.
Residents can get sandbags at the Moose Lake Area Fire District station.
This story was updated at 2:15 p.m. April 17 with weekend snowfall totals. It was originally posted at 8:28 a.m. April 17.
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