Says Carolyn Lange for the Duluth News Tribune, “The weekend blizzard, which caused church, school and community events to be canceled and kept many people hunkered down Saturday and Sunday, April 14 and 15, dropped record-breaking snow in some parts of the state. This was a ‘historic storm’ for the metro area and some communities south of U.S. Highway 12 — like Montevideo that reported as much as 20.5 inches of snow — said Lisa Schmit, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Chanhassen, Minn.”
Oh, it’s not over. The Star Tribune’s Erin Adler writes: “As plows struggled to keep up with the relentless snow, Minneapolis, St. Paul and Anoka-Hennepin were among the school districts canceling classes Monday. Hundreds of flights were canceled Saturday and Sunday at the Twin Cities airport, which shut down completely for eight hours Saturday. Commuters will get a reprieve for the next couple of days, but a slushy mix, with snow possible, is likely Wednesday. On Sunday, traffic moved slowly and spinouts and fender-benders were frequent. … For some, it was just too much.” For some?
Great. From MPR: “Because we’re full of fun facts here at @NWSTwinCities, as of this evening we’re sitting at 70.3″ of snow at Minneapolis/St. Paul since January 1. This sets a new record for the all-time snowiest start to a calendar year in the Twin Cities! … The 14.9″ at Minneapolis/St. Paul sets a new record for the largest April snowstorm on record #mnwx … Almost lost in the shuffle is that the Twin Cities record for coldest high temperature for this date, 32 degrees, is being taken down to defeat.”
And then there’s this: WCCO-TV reports: “The weekend’s record-breaking snowstorm caused a sports dome in the north metro to collapse. The Vadnais Heights Sports Center dome collapsed Saturday night due to the weight of freezing rain and heavy, wet snow, according to a Facebook post by the North East United Soccer Club. Repairs to the center, which seats nearly 2,000 spectators, are expected to take months.”
In case you missed it: From MPR News: “DFLer Angie Craig will face incumbent Jason Lewis in this year’s race for the Second Congressional District seat. Party delegates chose Craig on the first ballot at their nominating convention Saturday. The former medical device company executive narrowly lost to Lewis in 2016, and faces him again in November in the south Twin Cities metro district. In the west metro’s third district, DFLers chose business executive Dean Phillips to take on Republican Erik Paulsen, who’s also running for re-election.”
Might as well find out early how good you really are. Todd Haislop at Sporting News reports, “The Vikings’ 2018 schedule begins where last season’s ended, as Minnesota is slated to travel to Philadelphia for the season-opener and a rematch of last year’s NFC title game. It’s just one of several intriguing games on the Vikings’ regular-season schedule.”
Only 25 years overdue. Miguel Otarola of the Strib says, “Officials across the west metro are asking state officials for funding to help alleviate traffic congestion at the Interstate 494 and I-35W interchange straddling Richfield and Bloomington. … Both freeways experience hours of congestion each day, and the interchange consistently ranks as having one of the worst crash frequencies in the state. … The interchange, which was built in 1959, was once named one of the worst highway bottlenecks in the country by the Federal Highway Administration.”
Another great moment in airline customer service. Pat Pheifer in the Strib says, “Heather Garnett of Minneapolis and her family were among hundreds of Minnesota travelers whose flights home from Los Cabos, Mexico, were canceled Saturday because of the snow. But they were doubly stranded when they learned that Sun Country Airlines had ended its season Saturday and had no more flights — outbound or returning — from Los Cabos. Other passengers who were supposed to head home from Mazatlan were in the same boat. The airline’s website shows its next flight to or from Los Cabos on June 29; no flights at all are listed for Mazatlan. … The Eagan-based carrier said the flights were the last of the season so ‘we do not have another flight to reaccommodate passengers on.’”
