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Minnesota News
Andrew Krueger

Late-season snow leads to power outages, school cancellations in parts of Minnesota

Late-season snow coats trees and a roadway as a vehicle approaches
Late-season snow coats trees and the roadway as a lone vehicle travels State Highway 38 near Marcell, Minn., early Friday.
Minnesota Department of Transportation

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Heavy, wet late-season snow fell across much of northern Minnesota Thursday into Friday, leading to power outages, difficult driving conditions and school closures or delays in the region.

Additional snow accumulations are possible on Friday, with winter weather advisories in effect through Friday night for northeast and parts of central Minnesota, and through early Saturday for northwest Minnesota.

There won’t be as much snow for central Minnesota, including the Twin Cities. But the National Weather Service cautioned early Friday that “numerous brief, but heavy snow showers or snow squalls are expected late this morning into early evening” in the region. “These will result in significant reductions in visibility and slushy accumulations on roads are possible.”

Find forecast updates on MPR Weather's Updraft blog.

Road conditions

The Minnesota Department of Transportation reported snow-covered roads across most of the northern half of the state early Friday.

Authorities were advising no travel in northeastern North Dakota, including Interstate 29 between Fargo and the Canadian border.

Power outages

Minnesota utility companies reported about 2,000 homes and businesses were without power early Friday.

Some of the largest outages were in parts of Becker and Otter Tail counties, where Lake Region Electric Cooperative reported more than 1,000 of its customers had lost power.

The utility said 6 to 8 inches of wet, heavy snow brought trees and branches down onto power lines in that part of the state. It had crews working through the night to repair the outages.

School delays, closures

A few school districts canceled classes Friday, including Perham and Frazee-Vergas. Thief River Falls schools moved classes online.

Districts running on a two-hour delay Friday morning included Bemidji, Fosston, Grand Rapids, International Falls, Park Rapids, Red Lake and Warroad.

The University of Minnesota Crookston campus moved to reduced operations until 10 a.m. Friday.

Here’s how to keep tabs on forecasts, travel conditions and flight updates.

Forecast updates

Travel conditions

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

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