Snow causes difficult travel across Minnesota, snow emergencies issued for Minneapolis and St. Paul

Steady snow that began falling overnight continued across a wide swath of Minnesota Thursday, causing difficult driving conditions and prompting many schools to cancel or delay classes — or end classes early.

Some cities — including Minneapolis and St. Paul – has declared snow emergencies.

Minnesota Department of Transportation reported snow-covered highways across most of the state starting at noon — including the Twin Cities.

Parts of the state had received more than half a foot of snow by midday, with snow still falling — including 7.3 inches near Montgomery; 7.2 inches near Dennison; 7 inches at Holt, New Prague and Kellogg; and 6.8 inches at Bird Island.

Other snow reports released by the National Weather Service as of Thursday evening included 6.5 inches at St. Peter; 6.2 inches in Minnesota City and Victoria; and 6 inches at Millville, Red Wing and Chanhassen.

The official total at the Twin Cities airport at 6pm was 5.2 inches.

By 5 a.m., there were already reports of crashes and spinouts on highways in the Twin Cities — and conditions worsened through the morning rush hour. The State Patrol reported 470 crashes on state roads between midnight and 8:30 p.m. Thursday — 38 of which resulted in injuries. There were also more than 280 spinouts and vehicles off the road, and 30 jackknifed semis.

Metro Transit reported delays on a third of its bus routes in the Twin Cities as of noon, with an average delay of about 10 minutes. That was down from delays on 60 percent of routes earlier in the day.

The snow also caused increasing delays for flights to and from the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. The FAA initially issued a notice of a ground delay at MSP; then, just before 9, it issued a ground stop due to snow and ice. It expired at 10:15

The airport reported more than 170 delayed or canceled flights as of Thursday afternoon.

Beauty ‘to play in’

For some, the snow meant getting to work clearing sidewalks, driveways and stairs.

“I was very happy to see that it’s just the right amount and the right consistency, so the snow thrower takes care of it,” said Jim Ingemunson as he steered his electric machine. “The snow is so thick and heavy and wet so many times. . . You push the snow thrower and it just doesn’t do it, but this is perfect.

Others saw an opportunity to play.

“I’m taking an early lunch break to go out skiing before they plow the roads,” Amy Squire said as she glided across the pristine powder at Cherokee Park in St. Paul.

“It’s actually kind of fun just being able to throw on the skis and go,” Squire said. “I’m the kind of person who loves a good snow.”

Kate Scanlan brought her dog Mel to High Bridge Dog Park on the Mississippi River. He wiggled as he waited for the gate to open.

“He loves it,” she said. “We both do. I mean, this is what we’ve been waiting for. If it gets cold, we need some beauty, something to play in.”

When Scanlan opened the gate, Mel pounced and quickly found three other dogs jumping around as their tethered humans looked on.

Merle Geode brought their Australian shepherd mix, U-jin – who looks like the cartoon character Bluey. U-jin dashed for thrown tennis balls, sometimes losing track of them.

“The scent work is also really stimulating when he has to go through the snow and find it,” Geode said.

Every few throws, U-jin stopped to swallow snow, another advantage of the season.

Snow emergencies

Some Minnesota cities — including Minneapolis, St. Paul and several Twin Cities suburbs — declared snow emergencies, meaning special parking rules are in effect to allow plows to completely clear streets. Find a list of these communities below.

In Minneapolis, snow emergencies last three days. There is no parking on emergency routes with snow from 21.00 Thursday to Friday at 8.00 – or until they are fully ploughed. Find a map showing snow emergency routes here.

From Friday at 8 a.m. there is no parking on the straight side of emergency routes without snow – or on both sides of park roads – until Friday at 8 p.m., or until that side of the street is completely plowed.

And from 8 a.m. on Saturday, there is no parking on the odd-numbered side of snow-free emergency routes until 8 p.m. Saturday, or until that side of the street is completely plowed.

In St. Paul will require vehicles not removed from night plow routes — which include all downtown streets and other streets with “night plow route” signs — by 1 p.m. Find a map of night plow routes here.

Then, from Friday at 8.00, there is no parking on day plow routes – that is any street NOT marked with “night plow route”. Vehicles left on these streets after Friday at 8 a.m. and before they are cleared to the curb, will be ticketed and towed.

The snow emergency remains in effect in St. Paul until Monday at 21.00.

School delays and closings

Brainerd, Fergus Falls, Hutchinson, Little Falls, Stillwater and Waconia were among the school districts that canceled classes Thursday. Several dozen other districts moved to online learning or operated on a two-hour delay. These schools are listed below.

Some districts originally on a two-hour delay moved to online learning or a closure for the day due to deteriorating road conditions. Some others who did not close decided to end classes early.

Classes were held as scheduled in Minneapolis and St. Paul public schools — but both districts canceled most after-school activities Thursday.

In Minneapolis, it included sporting events, early childhood programs and adult education. In St. Paul included the extended day learning and physical education in middle school. The district said some high school sporting events and community classes may still take place.

Winter storm warnings continue through Thursday night from the Red River Valley south and east to Willmar, St. Cloud, the Twin Cities and Winona. North and south of the warning area, much of the rest of Minnesota is under a winter weather advisory.

The National Weather Service said another 1 to 3 inches of snow is possible Thursday afternoon and evening, on top of what has already fallen.

Find forecast updates on the MPR Weather Updraft blog.

Snow emergencies Thursday-Friday 19-20 December

Check city websites for more information on emergency parking regulations.

• Bloomington

• Brooklyn Park

• Crystal

• Faribault

• Hudson, Wis.

• Le Sueur

• Minneapolis

• Morris

• New Ulm

• Northfield

• Plymouth

• Richfield

• St. Paul

• Wabasha

• Wayzata

School closings and delays on Thursday, December 19

Closes early

• Anoka-Hennepin — middle and high schools end classes early; more info

• Badger — closes at 12:30 p.m

• Caledonia — closes at 1:15 p.m

• Canby — closes at 12.30 (primary school) / 12.45 (high school)

• Dawson-Boyd — closes at

• Houston — closes at

• Lac qui Parle Valley — closes at 12.30 p.m

• Lake Benton — closes at

• Lewiston-Altura — closes at 1:15 p.m

• Lynd — closes at

• Mabel-Canton — closes at

• Minneota — closes at 12:15 p.m

• Mountain Lake — closes at 12:45 p.m

• Murray County Central — closes at

• Ortonville — closes at 12:45 p.m

• Osseo — some schools close early; more info

• Plainview-Elgin-Millville — closes at 1:15 p.m

• Richfield — closes early; more info

• Sleepy Eye — closes at 11:30 am

• Spring Grove — closes at 13.15

• Springfield — closes at

• Thief River Falls — closes at

• Winona area — closes 2 hours early

Minneapolis and St. Paul public schools end classes at their normal time, but have canceled after-school activities

Closed

• Annandale

• Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City

• Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa

• Belle Plaine

• Bertha Hewitt

• Brainerd

• Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart

• Cedar Mountain

• Central Public Schools (Norwood Young America)

• Chokio-Alberta

• Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley

• Dassel-Cokato

• Ellsworth, Wis.

• Fergus Falls

• Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop

• Glencoe-Silver Lake

• Hancock

• Henning

• Hill-Murray

• Hutchinson

• Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted

• Hudson, Wis.

• Jordan

• Kimball area

• Lake Park Audubon

• Lanesboro

• Le Sueur-Henderson

• Little Falls

• Long Prairie Gray Eagle

• Madelia

• Menahga

• New Prague Area (Blended Learning Day for K-5)

• Onamia

• Osaki

• Pelican Rapids

• River Falls, Wis.

• Saint Croix Lutheran

• Sibley East

• Somerset, Wis.

• Stillwater

• Tri-City United

• Wabasha-Kellogg

• Waconia

• The west central area

E-learning day

Two hours delay

• Aitkin

• Alexandria

• Ashby

• Becker

• Great Lake

• Black duck

• Brandon-Evansville

• Buffalo-Hanover-Montrose

• Butterfield-Odin

• Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial

• Maple Lake

• Melrose area

• Minnesota State Community and Technical College – Detroit Lakes, Fergus Falls, Moorhead and Wadena campuses open at

• Minnesota West Community and Technical College — Granite Falls campus opens at 10

• Minnewaska area

• Montevideo

• Monticello

• Northland Community & Technical College — campus opens at 10

• Pequot Lakes

• Pill storage

• Pine River-Backus

• Red Rock Central

• St. Michael-Albertville

• Sauk Center

• Tracy area

• University of Minnesota Crookston — reduced operations until 10a

• Verndale

• Yellow Medicine East

Forecast updates

Travel conditions

These state transportation departments offer live updates on road conditions and accidents:

For bus and light rail riders in the Twin Cities, Metro Transit offers weather-related updates on their Metro Transit and Metro Transit Alerts Twitter pages, as well on its website.

Flight updates

If you plan to fly from Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport or another airport in the region – or if you expect visitors to arrive by plane – airports offer flight status updates online: