Big March snowstorm

It started snowing last night about 9:00PM and hasn't stopped since. It's hard to tell how much we've had because of the drifting- at least 10 inches. The wind is just right so that it blew up against my garage door and when I opened it this morning there was a 4 foot drift in front of me. It was at least three feet in the rest of the driveway. It took me two and a half hours to shovel in two shifts. Then this afternoon, I went out with the little snowblower I have and blew off another couple of inches.

Virtually all the schools closed and Ben and I stayed home from work. Because I didn't wake him up he slept in a little. Nancy didn't have school today, but the Home Show is still scheduled tonight and tomorrowl. She still might go over and help set up a booth for her program. I doubt that many people will be there and they still might cancel it.


During the Snowstorm

03/18/2005 - STORM OF TWO CENTURIES Andy Brownell, KROC-AM News Today's storm has easily earned the "Storm of the Century" title, but it also appears it will end up the being the biggest snowstorm to hit the Rochester area since local citizens began tracking weather records in the late 1800s. The snowfall total at the Rochester is already around 15 inches and forecasters are predicting another 3 to 6 inches of accumulation tonight, which would easily top the previous 24 hour snowfall record of 15.4 inches set in 1982. The snowfall total is already double the previous record for March 18th and has pushed the total for the month to a new all-time record. The National Weather Service says the storm is now expected to dump 18 to 20 inches in a band that runs from Austin through Winona and into west-central Wisconsin, but accumulations could hit two feet in some areas. Snowfall totals in the region this afternoon range from around a foot to over 16 inches and the snow has been falling at a rate of 1 or 2 inches an hour in many areas. Authorities are recommending against any travel in southern Minnesota and a section of I-90 is now closed from Highway 169 in Blue Earth County west to Luverne. Rochester Police are urging everyone to stay off the roads, which are snow and ice covered, and local towing companies are now being told to refrain from pulling vehicles from ditches until conditions improve. The winter storm has resulted in hundreds of flight cancellations at the Twin Cities Airport and forced Northwest Airlines to scrub all of its flights between Rochester and the Twin Cities.