Travel was treacherous across portions of the metro area and a large swath of southern, central and northeastern Minnesota on Wednesday, as an early November storm blanketed some areas with 10 inches of snow and caked roads with ice and snow in others.
The State Patrol responded to 253 crashes, 259 vehicles that had spun out or slid off the road, and 17 jackknifed semitrailer trucks between 4:30 p.m. Tuesday and 7:30 a.m. Wednesday. Sixteen people were hurt and one person died in a weather-related mishap in Todd County, according to the Minnesota Department of Transportation.
A semitrailer truck crashed around 2:30 a.m. overnight Wednesday on eastbound Interstate 94 near Clearwater, forcing the State Patrol to close the freeway for several hours. Motorists were detoured at Hwy. 24 and diverted to Hwy. 10 until the lanes reopened five hours later, authorities said.
"Please drive with care as conditions are ice packed/snow," Sgt. Jesse Grabow said in a tweet.
Neither Minneapolis nor St. Paul declared a snow emergency Wednesday, as both cities prepared to clean up 3 to 5 inches of snow. Snow emergencies were declared in Excelsior, Plymouth, Golden Valley, Eden Prairie and New Hope.
The metro area's official snow tally was 5.5 inches at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, the National Weather Service said.
Other metro totals included 5.5 inches in Maple Plain, 5.1 inches in Victoria, 5 inches in Richfield and Delano, 4.8 inches at the Weather Service office in Chanhassen, and more than 4 inches in Shoreview, Apple Valley, Burnsville and Bloomington as of late Tuesday.
Brainerd took the statewide prize for the most snow with 10.1 inches, with Motley right behind at 10 inches. In northeastern Minnesota, Grand Rapids picked up 9.5 inches, the Weather Service said.
