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Andy King / AP
Snow-covered trees are seen outside the Mall of America Field at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome before an NFL football game between the Minnesota Vikings and the Chicago Bears on Sunday.
Updated at 10:11 p.m. ET: A potent winter storm pounded the Upper Midwest and Northern Plains on Sunday with heavy snow and strong winds, making traveling treacherous and prompting airlines to cancel scores of flights.
The heaviest snowfall was expected from eastern South Dakota through southern Minnesota. Forecasters said up to 16 inches was possible in the hardest-hit areas, including up to a foot in and around Minneapolis.
A record snowfall of 10.2 inches was set at Twin Cities, MN on Sunday. The old record of 7.4 inches was set in 1961.
The snow, coupled with winds gusting as high as 40 mph, could produce whiteout conditions “making travel nearly impossible,” the National Weather Service said in a statement.
Minnesota State Police said more than 300 car crashes were reported from 9:30 p.m. Saturday to noon Sunday, none of them fatal.
NBC's meteorologist Dylan Dreyer reports.
And it wasn’t just the snow that was a threat. The weather service said temperatures were expected to plummet behind the system to well below zero over western Minnesota, with wind chill readings as low as 20 to 30 below.
“Travel will be very difficult and stranded motorists risk getting frostbite or hypothermia due to the frigid wind chill late this evening and tonight,” the weather service said.
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More than 150 flights at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport were canceled due to the storm, airport spokesman Pat Hogan told The Associated Press.
Delta Air Lines said snow and icing conditions prompted it to cancel about 90 flights on Sunday.
The southern branch of the storm was expected to dump heavy snow in the Central to Southern Rockies, according to The Weather Channel’s Tom Niziol. “As the system continues south, snow will also spread southward across the mountains of New Mexico from Taos through Sante Fe where over a foot of snow is likely for this area,” he said.
Snow, strong winds and cold air were also expected to hit the Great Lakes region late Sunday night into Monday.
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Leave a Comment:
The best thing about leaving WI for the army after graduating 30 years ago... no shoveling, shivering, or ice dangling from my nose. For a little while. Good luck snow folks.
There was shoveling and shivering in south Korea.
Didn't Texas get more snow than Wisconsin last year?
Ya, I suppose there was some cold there. Like I said, for a while. Really? Texas? Wow, packing up for Mexico. :-)
My dad was a lettercarrier back when they didn't miss work. When those dang blizzards would roll through he made me sleep on the couch dressed to go while he stared out the window watching for the plow to come through. He'd wake me up and out I'd go shoveling out the snowbank and drive for the 2 or 3 hours before school... hated that. But it was fun to play in as a little kiddie.
That was in the day that plows were reliable, plentiful, and did a good job. Now, plowing service is pretty lousy and gets worse every year. 2 years ago we had snow that actually got plowed into "mountains" at the street corners. You had to cross your fingers and edge your way out. When the plows came through my St Paul neighborhood, they would leave 2 foot piles across the roads they were plowing against. Just to get out onto a main road, I had to detour several times.
I don't know where you are at Phil, but I'm in northern WI and yes, for the past decade or more, we've been way below norms on snowfall. Today is an excellent example. Since 0630 we've had just a tad over an inch of snow and at present a person has to look closely to see that snow is even still falling.
I no longer need my huge snowblower and I'll be darned if I can find a buyer even at a fire sale price. The drought worsens by the year and lack of snowfall is a factor.
Fox is okay for a dog-and-pony show.
It' beautiful - snowing hard and accumulating in Santa Fe, NM in the last few hours. The roads are in poor driving condition.
Finally beginning to look alot like Christmas!
Cheers!
The majority of the people in Wisconsin, Minnesota and South Dakota voted for Obama, so now they need to get down on their knees and pray to him for deliverance from the storm. He can make the storm move to states that did not vote for him and punish those people, but only if the people in these statesd kiss his a$$ first!
The National Museum of the Retarded is very interested in acquiring you for their permanent collection.
Assuming we can hose the sh!t off you first.
Snow means work up here, sorry he didn't send you any, but thinks for giving him credit.
who did you vote for cactuscat I think you voted for your rifle and for public services to be destroyed
your an Idiot
Cactuscat can not talk right now, he had to take his sheet to the cleaners. And we still have our rifles here in Northern Wisconsin. Feliz Navidad.
OH! The messiah angle again! How original! Actually, the vast majority of people who live in fly over country rely on common sense and integrity. They help each other out and count their blessings while doing the required work. You could learn a lot from those states regardless of how the electorate panned out. By the way, did South Dakota really go Blue?
cactuscat, did you really mean to come across as such a bitter, hateful, and small person? You might want to consider that possibility before future comments.
I wish we'd get a big snow storm before Christmas here in southern Michigan :(
It is beautiful, I just wish I didn't have to drive in it. Ah, to be a kid, again, tonight! Playing outside, hoping for a snow day tomorrow... back when snowmobiles weren't regulated and people could drive them in the neighborhood, cut through each others yards (with permission) to get to the lake. I grew up in a great time and in a great state for winter activities.
Went south of me, we are still brown, may get some tonight when lake effect kicks in.
jeffer your a dumb A$$ who cares what you say
Snow? In the Midwest? In December?
Save us, Al Gore, you're our only hope!!!
What does Al Gore have to do with winter weather?
He thinks he is funny. He has no idea how he really comes across.
there are supposed to blizzards and numbing cold for these games, that's what the black and blue division is about...it's been that way since the beginning of time...
how is this such a big deal? this is daily weather in alaska
Wow a snow storm in December in the midwest now that is big news those of us that have lived here all our lives would never expect that. I don't how we survived in the past
Since you don't understand why anyone might be interested in this article, I don't know how YOU survived long enough to learn how to eat without stabbing yourself to death with a fork.
Or maybe your caregivers only trust you with a spoon.
I remember a very huge blizzard around Chicago in 1962 also. Took almost all day to drive from Chicago to Springfield and lots and lots of semi's that slid off the road.
I'm sure it had to do with climate warming.If not today,wait until they verify your fact and someone will write a study claiming so.
For all of you "climate warmers",the State of NY just released a report published in 1978,warning of a huge storm in the nest 30 years.So,before the climaticist move in,the weather people in the federal government already were already aware of potential large and deadly storms like Sandy.Just another example of mass hysteria that has engulfed America and parts of the world. What do you have to say now,climaticist?The world temperature rose 1.39 degrees from the beginning of the industrial revolution to 1963.Since then, temps have stabilized with minimal increases.The predicted temps are as predicted with no increase.You are drawing on known historical evidence to prove your point when the point had already been proven.That's bad science and bad methodology in any scientific study.But what are a few facts in the way of your theory, when you know you are right!Right?
wrong
If you knew any facts, we might listen to them. Nothing you said was both true and relevant to the debate.
For the voters for Obama,I hope the snow builds up over the top of your chimney to the point ,your fireplace becomes a stream into your house.Then you will see where the love is.We are broke,we can't help anyone.You are own your own.It would not have mattered had Romney won.America is broke.Fifty percent(50%) of the population doesn't pay taxes and gets tax rebates.The rest pays .So if you are one of the payers,your funds are already spent on all the current handouts.I don't think America,anywhere, will agree to spending more money on entitlements.
apparently you have issues... good luck with that!
Not to worry -- I'm sure the large contingent of Liberetardians over there are hard at work salting, sanding, shoveling and plowing the snow. But only in front of their own houses.
We have a 10-1/2" of snow here in Savage, MN.
No big deal.. Life goes on.
Is it my imagination or is this not heavy snow?
Hmmm.......... It snows somewhere in the winter-time and it makes headlines. How boring and robotic the news organizations and those of us who comment on them have become. People flush their toilets many more times than a winter storm (BTW - this one was named Caesar by those eggheads at the Weather Channel) occurs, so why don't toilets get more press time?!
Gee, how silly of the news media to report stuff that goes on.
Flushing toilets doesn't close higheays.
It is interesting that many of you actually graduated from HS. I think the majority of you never took one chemistry class in your entire life. Yes, the chemicals we are mixing into the environment WILL interact with the O2, Nitrogen, and Water molecules that we breath in and out every day. I guess with most of you, if you can't see it, than Oxygen and Nitrogen is just a big ole Myth created by eggheads!!! Geesh, you people are stupid.
It gets up to 25 feet deep in the hills around my place. Live in the mountains and you will learn what real snow is.
sure it does... and the last time there was 25 ft of standing snowpack in those hills was... ?
Hey Scoot - "very small winter snow" - do you live in MN? I do. Suffice it to say, I cut my winter driving teeth here so while being cautious, it wasn't too bad. Having over a foot of snow fall throughout all of Sunday in Minneapolis is something we had not seen since 2010 (how quickly they forget). It was the wet snow that is great for snow balls, snow forts and snow men - not so much for driving around in a car. The idiots with 4 wheel drive vehicles think they are Superman, which creates problems for others. The commute to work this morning wasn't too bad as the plows and sand/salt trucks were out all night. Come on up/over and let's see what you got.