REGIONAL— The region’s weather roller coaster continued this week as record-setting warmth vanished in a matter of hours, to be replaced by six-to-eight inches of snow and a return to more seasonable temperatures.
The snow system came in fast and hard late on Tuesday, as snow fell at rates in excess of two inches an hour. “It really came down hard,” said Krystal Kossen, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Duluth.
Snowfall reports were relatively scarce from northern St. Louis County, but Kossen said reports from the Virginia area ranged from six-to-nine inches, while Ely reported seven inches. “It was a low pressure system that came from down near the Gulf Coast,” said Kossen. “It came in with a whole lot of moisture and when it met our cold temperatures, it produced a lot of snow.”
Forecasters had originally expected only one-to-three inches across much of northern St. Louis County, but the storm system tracked further west than originally predicted, putting the Iron Range and points north more in the bullseye.
The storm apparently caught plenty of drivers off guard after a week of unseasonably warm weather. The state patrol reported more than 280 crashes, including a dozen jackknifed semis, across the state as a result of the storm, along with 164 spin-outs. About two dozen injuries were reported among the accidents, but none were listed as serious.
The next chance of measurable snow is forecast for Saturday.