DULUTH — A messy winter storm continued to impact the Northland at midday Wednesday, with snow continuing in the north, rain in the south and a mixture in between with strong winds pummeling the entire region.
Rain (some freezing), snow and sleet and fog were covering parts of the Twin Ports as of noon Wednesday and were expected to continue throughout the day, with less than 2 inches of new accumulation. Some snow also was falling across parts of Minnesota’s Arrowhead region.
Winter storm and ice storm warnings have been canceled with a winter weather advisory now posted for all of northern Minnesota for Wednesday. There are no advisories in effect in northern Wisconsin.
Several areas reported quarter-inch-diameter hail and some thunderstorms overnight as wind gusts reached 68 mph at the Weather Service office in Duluth and 63 mph at Duluth’s Sky Harbor Airport on the waterfront. Winds gusted to 50 mph in most areas across the Northland, but were starting to slow down Wednesday morning, although speeds were still reaching 40 mph in Duluth.
Most snowfall amounts were much less than expected, with 6.2 inches near Silver Bay; 5 inches reported near Two Harbors; 3 inches near Hovland in Cook County; 2.5 inches in Mahtowa; and around 2 inches near Duluth.
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In northwestern Minnesota and North Dakota, where blizzard warnings had been posted, snowfall totals reached 12 inches in Roseau and Strandquist and otherwise were generally 6-7 inches as of noon Wednesday.
Many schools and other activities across the reign were closed or canceled Wednesday due to expected snowfall and generally poor road conditions. Many Duluth residential streets were still unplowed and layered in snow drifts during the Wednesday morning commute.
Another round of light snow was forecast for Wednesday evening across the Northland as the low-pressure system finally moves up and out of the region.
After another cool day Thursday, high temperatures are expected to start rising and not stop until highs reach the 60s by Monday and will stay there into at least midweek as spring arrives with some force.
Duluth remains just shy of the all-time-snowiest winter record. The National Weather Service in Duluth officially reported a storm total of 2.3 inches of snow and sleet as of Wednesday morning, bringing the seasonal total to 131.3 inches, good enough for third place on the snowiest winter list, but still behind 131.8 from 1949-50 and just over 4 inches behind the 135.4-inch record from 1994-95.
This story was updated at 12:17 p.m. April 5 to update the local forecast. It was originally posted at 8:38 a.m. April 5.
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