Twin Cities area digging out after record Dec. 10 snowfall

Lyndale Farmstead Park, always a popular sledding destination in south Minneapolis, was packed with children and families Saturday taking advantage of the fresh powder in the aftermath of the season's first major dump of snow.

"He was ready to sled the second he woke up this morning," said Satya Bacich of her 5-year-old son.

Friday's snowfall set a Twin Cities record for Dec. 10, with amounts ranging from 1 to 4 inches north of the metro to 15 to 20 inches in Woodbury and southern suburbs such as Burnsville, Prior Lake and Savage, according to the National Weather Service.

The most concentrated snow was in a band that included the Twin Cities. Depths dropped from under 2 inches to zero moving north of St. Cloud, but ranged from about 7 to 10 inches south of the metro, according to a Weather Service map.

The 11 inches recorded at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport was almost six times the previous record for snow on Dec. 10, which was set in 2016 with 2 inches, said meteorologist Joe Calderone at the Weather Service's Chanhassen office.

Woodbury appeared to have the highest snow total in the metro area, logging an unofficial 20 inches. Other unofficial reports put Inver Grove Heights, Rosemount and Eagan at 18 inches, and Minneapolis close to 9 inches.

About 250 flights were canceled Friday at MSP, or about a third of the daily flight schedule, said Metropolitan Airports Commission spokesman Jeff Lea. The airport was reportedly running fine Saturday as workers cleared the airfield of snow, he said. But 69 departing and arriving flights had been canceled as of Saturday afternoon, and nearly 50 delayed as airlines struggled to get back on schedule.

Parts of Minnesota likely will lose much of the white landscape this week, with temperatures expected to rise into the mid- to high 30s and, in the Twin Cities, reach the low 50s on Wednesday, Calderone said. There's a chance of some light rain and showers Wednesday, but no further precipitation drama is in the immediate forecast, he said.

But there still remained a lot of snow to contend with on Saturday. Settegren Hardware on Penn Avenue in south Minneapolis sold four or five snow blowers within its first 30 minutes of business. Adam Erickson, who works part-time at the store, was asked why people wait to buy snow blowers until widely forecast heavy snow is already on the ground.

"It feels like some people don't want to accept that snow is coming," he said. "I know my mom didn't; she's more of a summer person."

Back at Lyndale Farmstead Park, Bacich and Talisha Lawrow were among a group of friends and their children that gets together every year for a sledding day. Lawrow's 18-month-old daughter had gone home to take a nap, she said, but had been excited to play in the snow for the first time.

"We built a little hill in our backyard today to practice going down the hill," Lawrow said. "She loved it."