Heavy Snow in Eastern Minnesota - November 13-14, 2010
Winter got an early start for eastern Minnesota, with one of the earliest snowstorms in recent years.
A classic winter storm hit eastern Minnesota on November 13th and tapered off in northeast Minnesota on the 14th. This storm left a blanket of snow in a band about a 100 miles wide from western Iowa, though south central Minnesota and the Twin Cities and north to the Minnesota Arrowhead. The highest total reported in Minnesota was 12 inches near Maple Grove in Hennepin County. The National Weather Service Office in Duluth saw 10.6 inches. The Twin Cities International Airport had 8.0 inches from the storm with 7.7 inches falling on November 13. This was the largest snowfall for a calendar day for November in the Twin Cities since 12.6 inches fell with the Post-Thanksgiving Snowstorm of November 29, 1991.
The heavy wet snow stuck to power lines and trees and the heavy weight of the snow caused large tree branches to snap and fall, causing power outages. At one time 70,000 Xcel Energy customers were without power on Saturday, November 13. All but just a few hundred had power restored by the evening of the 15th. Thunder was reported with the snow too during the morning hours of the 13th, with visibilities down to a 1/4 mile in heavy snow at the Twin Cities International Airport.
Just as notable was the amount of precipitation that fell with this storm. Much of eastern Minnesota saw around an inch of liquid precipitation, with places in southeastern Minnesota seeing 1.5 to 2 inches of precipitation. In essence, about a month's worth of November precipitation fell with this storm over southeastern Minnesota. The highest two day precipitation found was near Elgin in Olmsted County with 2.62 inches.