Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Heavy snow in Iowa clips southeastern Minnesota; colder weekend ahead

More than a foot fell in Iowa; In NE Minnesota, Hovland storm total tops 40 inches

Iowa snowfall
Iowa snowfall
Iowa Environmental Mesonet / Iowa State University

Call it snow week in the Upper Midwest.

Two storms this week dumped heavy snow across our region. The second storm dropped more than a foot of snow on parts of Iowa overnight into Friday.

The storm also clipped southeastern Minnesota with some heavier snowfall. Here are some snow totals:

Fillmore County

  • Mabel 9.8 in.

  • 1 N Rushford 8.0 in.

  • Lanesboro 7.0 in.

  • Lanesboro 0.2 SSW 6.3 in.

  • Rushford 6.0 in.

  • Preston 6.0 in.

  • Chatfield 9.0 ESE 5.0 in.

Houston County

  • 6 S Reno 10.0 in.

  • 1 N Sheldon 10.0 in.

  • Caledonia 9.0 in.

  • Hokah 8.0 in.

  • La Crescent 8.0 in.

  • Caledonia 7.0 in.

  • Hokah 4 NW 7.0 in.

Winona County

  • La Crescent 4.0 NNW 5.9 in.

  • Winona 2.0 ESE 3.0 in.

  • 2 SE Winona 3.0 in.

  • 2 NNW Wilson 3.0 in.

  • Winona 1.9 ESE 2.3 in.

  • Winona 2.0 in.

  • 4 WSW Wilson 1.5 in.

  • 3 WSW Wilson 0.5 in.

This second storm of the week steered a little farther north than forecast models suggested Thursday. Forecast models hit the big picture of two storms with heavy snow this week but did not perform so well on the finer details around the edges of this week’s storms.

I’ve always said winter storms in Minnesota are like a box of Cracker Jack. They come with a free toy surprise buried somewhere inside. This week proved that once again.

Meanwhile, additional snowfall along the North Shore has pushed the prolific snowfall total at Hovland to more than 40 inches. That’s amazing but still shy of the all-time Minnesota state snowfall record for a single snowfall event.

There’s much more snow to play in this weekend around Minnesota.

Snow depth
Snow depth
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources

Colder weekend ahead

Temperatures this weekend leave little doubt that we’re still in February. Highs this weekend favor teens in the west and 20s east.

Forecast high temperatures Saturday
Forecast high temperatures Saturday
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Our next snow chance arrives Monday night for northeastern Minnesota. There are also a few models that bring another wave of snow and possible ice farther south Tuesday into Wednesday that could include the Twin Cities.

There are signs of milder air again late next week.

Forecast high temperatures Thursday
Forecast high temperatures Thursday
NOAA

Stay tuned.