Old Man Winter made an early appearance with accumulating snows across the Northland and snow flake sightings across central and parts of southern Minnesota. Some of the snow was quite heavy across northeastern Minnesota with 8.5 inches recorded seven miles northwest of Two Harbors. This station is seven miles inland of Lake Superior with an elevation of 1355 feet. Lake Superior has an elevation of 602 feet. The Duluth National Weather Service set a one-day snowfall record on October 27th with 4 inches. The previous record was 3.5 inches in 1919 when the station was closer to the lake in downtown Duluth.

The affect of the still warm waters of Lake Superior were observed with a drive up Highway 1 in Lake County on the morning of October 28. Near the lake there was no snow on the ground. The ground was white about .7 miles inland on Highway 1. At Wolf Ridge with an elevation of about 1280 feet, 2.3 miles inland there were 3.4 inches on the ground. Finally at Lax Lake with an elevation about 1300 feet, 5 miles from Lake Superior there was a hefty 5.6 inches on the ground. A special "thank-you" goes out to Peter Harris of the Wolf-Ridge Environmental Learning Center for this information.

Listed below are some snowfall totals from this event courtesy the National Weather Service.

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DULUTH MN
907 AM CST TUE OCT 28 2003
...SNOWFALL AMOUNTS AS OF 900 AM CST...

NORTHEASTERN MINNESOTA         SNOWFALL/SNOW DEPTH

ATIKIN COUNTY...
ISLE 12 N......................1.5........T
COOK COUNTY...
GRAND PORTAGE...................0.5
GUNFLINT 10 NW..................1.0........1

CASS COUNTY...
LEECH LAKE FEDERAL DAM..........3.4........3
CROW WING COUNTY...
GULL LAKE.......................0.5........T

KOOCHICHING COUNTY...        
INTERNATIONAL FALLS.............5.0........3
LITTLEFORK......................4.1........4
ITASCA COUNTY...
MARCELL.........................5.3.........5
GRAND RAPIDS 5 SE...............3.3

LAKE COUNTY...
SILVER BAY......................3.5
TWO HARBORS 7NW.................8.5........7
PINE COUNTY...
SANDSTONE.......................2.5

ST. LOUIS COUNTY...
AURORA..........................3.0
DULUTH (FORECAST OFFICE)........4.2........4
TOWER 3 S.......................6.0........6
COOK 5 E........................3.5........4
ADOLF...........................7.0........4
VIRGINIA........................5.0........4
MOUNTAIN IRON...................5.8
MCKINLEY........................6.0
CRANE LAKE......................1.5
COTTON..........................3.0
KABETOGAMA......................3.0........3
FLOODWOOD 5 SE..................4.0
NORTHWESTERN WISCONSIN

ASHLAND COUNTY...
ASHLAND.........................1.5
ASHLAND 5 W.....................2.0........1

BAYFIELD COUNTY...
DRUMMOND........................2.2
MASON...........................3.0

DOUGLAS...
MOUTH OF BRULE..................3.0
SOLON SPRINGS...................2.5

IRON COUNTY...
HURLEY..........................3.0........3
UPSON...........................4.0
GILE............................3.0

PRICE COUNTY...
PARK FALLS 20 NE................4.0
PARK FALLS......................2.3

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URL: http://climate.umn.edu/doc/journal/snow031028.htm
Last modified: October 28, 2003