The cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis have declared snow emergencies after a winter storm hit Friday afternoon and continued into much of the night, dropping about 5 inches of snow at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
Both cities’ snow emergencies take effect at 9 p.m. Saturday.
In St. Paul, that means cars must be removed from Night Plow Routes by 9 p.m. That includes downtown and all streets with signs posted as “Night Plow Route.” On Sunday morning, beginning at 8 a.m., plows will clear Day Plow Routes, which are streets not marked as Night Plow Routes. Any cars left parked on streets where plows are scheduled to work are subject to ticketing and towing.
While the 24-hour snow emergency operations begin at 9 p.m. Saturday, the city said crews would be working during the day Saturday to plow the drive lanes of day plow routes (primarily east-west residential streets) in order to minimize snow compaction. Day plow routes will be cleared again on Sunday during that phase of the snow emergency.
This is St. Paul’s third snow emergency of the season. Here is the city of St. Paul snow emergency information page, which includes a map.
Here is the city of Minneapolis snow emergency page.
West St. Paul also declared a snow emergency Friday night as the storm hit.
The Minnesota State Patrol and Minnesota Department of Transportation said road conditions had deteriorated across much of the southern two-thirds of the state.
The State Patrol said that through 5 p.m. Friday, 129 crashes had been reported statewide, along with 89 vehicles that had either spun out or gone off the road. Two semi trucks had also jackknifed. From 5 p.m. Friday to 6 a.m. Saturday, 89 crashes had been reported statewide, along with 141 vehicles that had either spun out or gone off the road and four semis that jackknifed.
Twenty-five injuries were reported overall, including one serious.
There were also scores of flight delays and cancellations at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
Delta Air Lines issued a weather waiver for MSP travelers, allowing them to change their itineraries at no charge.
In Chicago, the Federal Aviation Administration halted all flights in and out of O’Hare Airport on Friday due to the storm.
The snowstorm is expected to be followed by gusty winds and temperatures dropping on Saturday.
Temps will stay in the single digits through Monday, dropping just below zero at night. Wind chill values could hit -22 Sunday night. By Tuesday, highs will be in the 20s, rising continually through the rest of the week, possibly reaching a high of 38 by Thursday, according to the National Weather Service.
In the Twin Cities, winds are expected to gust as high as 30 mph. Farther west, blizzard conditions are possible in open areas of western into southern Minnesota. If the forecast winds of 40 to 45 mph remain on track, blizzard conditions are likely Saturday across western and southern Minnesota.
