School closures, power outages reported amid snow, sleet and freezing rain in Minnesota
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A late-season winter storm brought snow, sleet and freezing rain to much of Minnesota on Thursday — with snow-covered roads reported across the central part of the state.
In the Twin Cities and southern Minnesota, temperatures hovered near 32 degrees during the morning hours. Freezing rain left a coating of ice on decks, branches and windshields — with the sound of ice scrapers echoing through neighborhoods during the morning commute.
But with the ground relatively warm, road conditions were generally good — though there were scattered icy patches, especially on bridges.
The wintry weather prompted some school districts to change plans for Thursday — delaying or canceling classes, or moving to online learning.
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Minnesota utilities responded to a few power outages amid the sleet and snow.
Just after 7 a.m., Xcel Energy reported an outage affecting about 2,200 homes and businesses in the Zumbrota area. Power was restored to those customers by mid-morning.
To the west of the Twin Cities, McLeod Cooperative Power reported outages affecting several dozen customers near Stewart. And to the northwest, Lake Region Electric Cooperative reported a few hundred customers without power near Frazee as of late morning.
The precipitation was forecast to continue through much of Thursday, with several inches of snow possible across much of central and northern Minnesota.
Another storm is forecast to arrive in the region later Friday into Saturday — with mostly rain expected in southern Minnesota, and a chance for more accumulating snow across central and northern parts of the state.
School changes for Thursday, April 2
Closed
Lynd
Red Wing
Russell-Tyler-Ruthton
Moved to e-learning day
Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa
Bloomington
BOLD
Browns Valley
Faribault
Goodhue
Marshall
Menahga
Nett Lake
New London-Spicer
Northfield
Prescott, Wis.
Sebeka
Swanville
Willmar
Delayed start
Two-hour delays unless noted
Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City
Becker
Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart
Foley
Hudson, Wis.
Medford
Milaca
New Richmond, Wis.
Pine Island
River Falls, Wis.
St. Cloud Area
St. Croix Falls, Wis.
Sartell-St. Stephen
Sauk Rapids-Rice
Somerset, Wis.
Stillwater Area
Tri-City United
Travel updates
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 social media pages, as well as on its website.
Amtrak provides service updates and advisories on its website.
Is there is snow emergency in effect for St. Paul or Minneapolis? Find out on the City of St. Paul website or the City of Minneapolis website.
Flight updates
If you’re planning to fly from Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport or another airport around the region — or if you are expecting visitors to arrive by plane — airports offer flight status updates online:
