Dayton calls out National Guard as snowstorm slams Minnesota

Rapidly falling snow has created treacherous travel conditions across the metro area and made driving nearly impossible across south central Minnesota, where blizzard conditions have prompted authorities to ask motorists to stay off the roads.

Interstate 35W closed between Owatonna and Faribault, and Gov. Mark Dayton called out the National Guard Monday afternoon to assist stranded motorists. The proclamation said the Steele County Sheriff’s office sought the Guard’s help and other southern Minnesota counties were expected to follow suit.

Minnesota National Guard spokesperson Blair Heusdens said they opened the Owatonna Armory on 2323 Bridge Street to help travelers in the area. A team from Red Cross also was on site. As of 4 p.m., Heusdens said no one had arrived yet.

“The weather is pretty bad and if there is any other cities that request [us to open an armory] we can do that,” Heusdens said.

Air travel has been interrupted at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. All inbound flights were being held at their origin until 5 p.m., according to the flight tracking website FlightAware. The site said 498 flights into and out of MSP had been scrubbed and another 153 delayed by 4 p.m., and Twin Cities-bound flights are being delayed an average of 6 hours.

MSP spokesman John Welbes said the airport was shut down for takeoffs and landings just before 1 p.m. to allow crews time to plow the four runways. For several hours, two runways had reopened for incoming and outgoing flights, but were closed again by 4:30 p.m. due to “poor visibility and continued snowfall.” The airport hopes to reopen one runway by 6:30 p.m.

A Delta flight full of Vikings fans was stranded in Philadelphia. After already boarding once, pulling away from the gate and being told the airport had closed in MSP, the plane returned to the terminal. Many fans ended up at a bar in terminal D, where sports were on TV, showing replays of Sunday’s games. Fans commiserated about the sad loss and the ugly conduct of the Eagles fans.

Metro Transit buses were falling behind schedule with 58 percent experiencing delays as of early Monday evening, the agency said.

Minneapolis and St. Paul both declared a snow emergency, with parking restrictions beginning at 9 p.m. Monday.

All Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board recreation centers were closing at 6 p.m., and all adult and youth athletics, programs and meetings are canceled.

Even some retailers closed early. A running shoe store, Run N Fun, closed its Woodbury and St. Paul locations early Monday.

Things are only going to get worse. The storm is expected now dump up to 10 inches of snow across the heart of the Twin Cities metro area with heavier amounts expected in the southern and eastern suburbs, the National Weather Service said.

That’s more than originally forecast as the storm on Monday morning shifted slightly to the north, and with that the heavy snow band was to set up right over the southern suburbs of the metro area, said meteorologist Eric Ahasic with the weather service’s Chanhassen office.

Totals will range from 4 to 6 inches in places such as Maple Grove and Rogers on the northwest side of the cities to a foot or more in places such as Cottage Grove, Cannon Falls and Red Wing. A blizzard warning that has made travel ill advised in seven counties in south central Minnesota was also expanded Monday morning to include Rice and Le Sueur counties to the south and southwest of the metro area.

By early afternoon, conditions were already so bad that many truck drivers have pulled off the road and decided to wait out the storm, said Carol Collins, a cashier at the Holiday Station and truck stop off I-35 and 210th Street in Lakeville.

“It is really bad outside,” she said. “We have quite a few trucks sitting in our parking lot.”

The snow was falling so fast that plows were having trouble keeping roads open across southeastern Minnesota, said MnDOT spokesman Mike Dougherty. There were 102 plows out working around the clock to keep roads open. But plow drivers were fighting an uphill battle, he said.

“It is an intense steady snow,” Dougherty said. Plows come through and a few minutes later “it’s all snowed over.”

Winds and whiteouts

Winds rising across southern Minnesota were creating whiteout conditions. MnDOT was advising no travel in an area from Pine Island west to Windom, especially in south central Minnesota on Hwy. 30 between Woodstock and Westbrook, Hwy. 91 from Lake Wilson to the Nobles County Line and on Hwy. 59 between Hwy. 30 and Fulda. Travel was not advised on I-90 west of Albert Lea or on roads west of I-35, the agency said.

By 1 p.m., 10 inches had fallen in Mankato, 9 inches in Waterville and Owatonna, 4.9 inches New Prague and 4 inches in Red Wing, the weather service said.

In the metro area, it took an hour to make the 24-mile drive from Stillwater to Minneapolis. Traffic on Hwy. 36 was moving slow, with top speeds of about 35 miles per hour at 2:30 p.m. and whiteout conditions.

Traffic in downtown Minneapolis was worse than the worst rush-hour. The roads are choked with accumulated snow that is as much as 6 inches deep in spots. Making it through a stoplight takes patience. Sometimes, no more than a car or two can make it before the light turns red because cars are spinning out in the snow, and fishtailing through intersections.

It took 10 minutes to go three blocks at 3 p.m., in the area around the Armory.

Buses were jammed with riders but bogged down in traffic. Some buses on Hennepin Avenue moved only three blocks in 30 minutes, prompting some riders to get off and walk.

Large school districts such as Burnsville, Prior Lake, Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan and South Washington County had called off classes Monday ahead of the storm. Some, such as Minneapolis and St. Paul, went ahead with school but have canceled all after-school activities. Some St. Paul schools will dismiss students early.

The treacherous conditions caused a vehicle to slide off the road and crash through a fence on Hwy. 52 at 15th Street in Rochester Monday morning. It was one of 33 crashes and 37 spin outs the State Patrol had responded to between midnight and 10:45 a.m. It also said six semitrailer trucks had jackknifed.

Cities such as Mankato and Red Wing have called snow emergencies with more cities expected to follow.

A blizzard warning was in effect for an area south and west of the Twin Cities, including Mankato, St. James and Fairmont, while a Winter Storm Warning was in effect for the metro area and south central and southeastern Minnesota until midnight.