MINNEAPOLIS, Updated 2:32 p.m. March 9, 1999 -- In what
meteorologists have billed as our worst March snowstorm since 1985, as
much as 16 inches of snow have been dumped over the metro area during
the last 30 or more hours.
As most of us awoke and were
surprised to see snow still falling, about
14 inches of the fluff already had fallen
by 6:30 a.m. By noon, the official
reading at the Minneapolis-St. Paul
International Airport was 16 inches,
according to the National Weather
Service.
With the snowfall finally tapering off after the lunch hour, that appears to
be close to the figure that will go down in the record books.
The 12.5 inches that fell yesterday more than doubled the previous record
snowfall for March 8, reports WCCO-TV. It's more than double the 6.1
inches that fell Jan. 2 in our last significant snowfall here.
The storm closed schools in Minneapolis and St. Paul, along with hundreds
of other schools across the Twin Cities and the state. Snow emergencies
have been declared in Minneapolis and St. Paul.
The storm came after several weeks of mild weather lulled many into
believing spring was around the corner, and it came just days after the end
of the boys' state hockey tournament and the day the girls' basketball
tourney begins.
It snarled yesterday afternoon's commute, shown, and the same storm
stayed around for our morning commute, too.
In between, there was so much snow falling and being blown around that
the airport was shut down for nearly a half-hour last night. The event was
described as "a rarity" by one airport official quoted by The Associated
Press. Anyone flying out of town today is urged to call their airline seekign
a flight status prior to leaving for the airport.
The last time the airport closed because plows couldn't keep pace was in
March 1996, writes the wire service.
Snowplow drivers continued to do their
work even as morning commuters
struggled to get out of their driveway, up
their neighborhood streets, through city
arteries until finally making their way on
thoroughfares . . . only to find much of
that going slow, stubborn and slippery.
Scores and scores of schools, classes
and events were either delayed or canceled across the Twin Cities and
Minnesota this morning. WCCO-TV uses a "pull away" screen to tick off
school closings, and the station reported this morning that it had 205 closing
or delays in the chute. "We've never had that many on the show before,"
said morning anchor Dave Huddleston.
Many Minneapolis drivers, up and out before 4 a.m., were finding their cars
getting stuck in snow piles pushed high in cross-streets at intersections
where plows had only worked one roadway.
Meanwhile, outstate, the combination of snow, wind and blowing snow
made driving conditions treacherous, yet there were drivers who still didn't
exercise caution. "The troopers are reporting that people are just driving too
fast for weather conditions," said Cathy Clark, spokeswoman for the state
Department of Public Safety.
This all began yesterday morning with light snow and promises that the bulk
of the storm would sweep across Iowa, "just missing" the Twin Cities.
Morning - and even the noontime - forecast for the Twin Cities predicted 3
or 4 inches of snow by day's end.
Snowplows were able to clear freeways, highways and many feeder
streets. But the snow just kept falling. By 3 p.m. it was falling at a rate of 1
to 1.5 inches per hour. And by 11:30 p.m., AAA Minnapolis had answered
930 calls for emergency service, mostly tows, according to a spokesperson.
Meteorologists freely admitted their miscalculation, noting that the front
traveled farther north than they had expected and simply stopped and sat
over the Minneapolis/St. Paul region.
Said WCCO-TV meteorologist Chris Grote at noon today: "I was out
shoveling my [driveway] yesterday at 6 o'clock in the evening. . . . I'm
shoveling and shoveling and my wife came to the door with the baby and
she said in her softest voice: 'That doesn't look like 5 inches [of snow],
honey.'"
