GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. — While parts of southern Minnesota got nearly 5 inches of snow overnight, a fairly light coating wreaked havoc in the south metro Wednesday morning.
MSP airport picked up only 0.1 inch of snow, and most areas in the south metro along I-494 saw 1/2 inch or less. A bit farther south Prior Lake residents have just short of an inch and a half on their lawns.
But while snow amounts were small in the metro, the impact on traffic was large. Dozens of crashes and spin-outs increased drive times dramatically, with traffic maps showing red and MnDOT traffic cams showing plenty of red lights. Stop-and-go traffic was the norm in many areas of the south metro.
The Minnesota State Patrol says statewide between 5 a.m. and 11 a.m. there were 180 crashes, 16 with injury, with an additional 113 vehicles spinning out or going off the road.
Minneapolis and communities to the north and west metro saw nothing.
The "jackpot" snow-wise was southern Minnesota. Fillmore (south of Rochester) received 4.8 inches of snow, and the Rochester airport officially picked up 3.9 inches. Northfield, just an hour or so south of the Twin Cities, saw 2.8 inches.
The weather system creating the snow will continue to track quickly east this morning, dropping several inches of snow across central and southern Wisconsin. Travel along I-94 into Wisconsin will likely be problematic through most of the day.
Of course travel south on 35 will also be slow going, at least early on, with totals of up to 4 inches in the Austin and Albert Lea areas.
After the snow comes the cold. Skies clear tonight and temps will fall into the teens statewide, and for the first time in the metro early Thursday.
