Snow causing difficult travel across Minnesota, snow emergencies issued for Minneapolis and St. Paul

Steady snow that started falling overnight continued Thursday across a wide swath of Minnesota, causing difficult driving conditions and prompting many schools to cancel or delay classes — or end classes early.

Some cities — including Minneapolis and St. Paul — have declared snow emergencies.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation was reporting snow-covered highways across most of the state as of midday — including the Twin Cities.

Parts of the state had received more than a half-foot of snow by midday, with snow still falling — including 7 inches at Holt, New Prague and Kellogg; 6.8 inches at Bird Island; 6.5 inches in Sibley County, west of Blakely; and 6.1 inches near Heidelberg in Le Sueur County.

Other snow reports relayed by the National Weather Service as of late morning included 5.2 inches in Richfield, 5 inches in Warren and Rosemount, 4.8 inches in Lake City and 4.2 inches in Excelsior.

The official total at the Twin Cities airport as of noon was 5 inches, with snow still falling.

By 5 a.m. there were already reports of crashes and spinouts on freeways in the Twin Cities — and conditions worsened through the morning rush hour. The State Patrol reported 276 crashes on state highways between midnight and 12:30 p.m. Thursday — 22 of those resulting in injuries. There were also 122 spinouts and vehicles off the road, and 17 jackknifed semis.

Metro Transit was reporting delays on a third of its bus routes in the Twin Cities as of midday, with an average delay of about 10 minutes. That was down from delays on 60 percent of routes earlier in the day.

The snow was also causing increasing delays for flights to and from the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. The FAA initially issued an advisory about a ground delay at MSP; then, just before 9 a.m., it issued a ground stop due to snow and ice. That expired at 10:15 a.m.

The airport was reporting more than 170 delayed or canceled flights as of Thursday afternoon.

Snow emergencies

Some cities across Minnesota — including Minneapolis, St. Paul and several Twin Cities suburbs — declared snow emergencies, meaning special parking rules are in effect to allow plows to full clear streets. Find a list of those communities below.

In Minneapolis, snow emergencies last three days. There’s no parking on snow emergency routes from 9 p.m. Thursday until 8 a.m. Friday — or until they’re fully plowed. Find a map showing snow emergency routes here.

Starting at 8 a.m. Friday, there’s no parking on the even-numbered side of non-snow emergency routes — or on either side of parkways — until 8 p.m. Friday or until that side of the street is fully plowed.

And starting at 8 a.m. Saturday, there’s no parking on the odd-numbered side of non-snow emergency routes until 8 p.m. Saturday, or until that side of the street is fully plowed.

In St. Paul, vehicles not removed from night plow routes — that includes all downtown streets and other streets with “night plow route” signs posted — by 9 p.m. Thursday will be ticketed and towed. Find a map of night plow routes here.

Then, starting at 8 a.m. Friday, there’s no parking on day plow routes — that’s any street NOT marked with “night plow route” signs. Vehicles left on those streets after 8 a.m. Friday, and before they’re cleared to the curb, will be ticketed and towed.

The snow emergency remains in effect in St. Paul until 9 p.m. Monday.

School delays and closures

Brainerd, Fergus Falls, Hutchinson, Little Falls, Stillwater and Waconia were among the school districts that canceled classes Thursday. Several dozen other districts moved to online learning or were operating on a two-hour delay. Those schools are listed below.

Some districts that initially were on a two-hour delay, moved to online learning or a closure for the day due to worsening road conditions. Some others that didn’t close, decided to end classes early.

Classes were held as scheduled in Minneapolis and St. Paul public schools — but both districts canceled most after-school activities Thursday.

In Minneapolis that included sporting events, early childhood programs and adult education classes. In St. Paul that included extended day learning and middle school sports. The district said some high school sporting events and community ed classes might still take place.

Winter storm warnings continue through Thursday evening from the Red River Valley south and east to Willmar, St. Cloud, the Twin Cities and Winona. To the north and south of the warning area, much of the rest of Minnesota is under winter weather advisories.

The National Weather Service said another 1 to 3 inches of snow is possible Thursday afternoon and evening, on top of what already has fallen.

Find forecast updates on MPR Weather’s Updraft blog.

Snow emergencies for Thursday-Friday, Dec. 19-20

Check city websites for more information on snow emergency parking rules.

• Bloomington

• Brooklyn Park

• Crystal

• Faribault

• Hudson, Wis.

• Le Sueur

• Minneapolis

• Morris

• New Ulm

• Northfield

• Plymouth

• Richfield

• St. Paul

• Wabasha

• Wayzata

  

School closings and delays for Thursday, Dec. 19

Closing early

• Anoka-Hennepin — middle and high schools ending classes early; more info

• Badger — closing at 12:30p

• Caledonia — closing at 1:15p

• Canby — closing at 12:30p (elementary school) / 12:45p (high school)

• Dawson-Boyd — closing at 1p

• Houston — closing at 1p

• Lac qui Parle Valley — closing at 12:30p

• Lake Benton — closing at 1p

• Lewiston-Altura — closing at 1:15p

• Lynd — closing at 1p

• Mabel-Canton — closing at 1p

• Minneota — closing at 12:15p

• Mountain Lake — closing at 12:45p

• Murray County Central — closing at 1p

• Ortonville — closing at 12:45p

• Osseo — some schools closing early; more info

• Plainview-Elgin-Millville — closing at 1:15p

• Richfield — closing early; more info

• Sleepy Eye — closing at 11:30a

• Spring Grove — closing at 1:15p

• Springfield — closing at 1p

• Thief River Falls — closing at 2p

• Winona Area — closing 2 hours early

Minneapolis and St. Paul public schools are ending classes at their normal time, but have canceled after-school activities

Closed

• Annandale

• Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City

• Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa

• Belle Plaine

• Bertha-Hewitt

• Brainerd

• Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart

• Cedar Mountain

• Central Public Schools (Norwood Young America)

• Chokio-Alberta

• Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley

• Dassel-Cokato

• Ellsworth, Wis.

• Fergus Falls

• Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop

• Glencoe-Silver Lake

• Hancock

• Henning

• Hill-Murray

• Hutchinson

• Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted

• Hudson, Wis.

• Jordan

• Kimball Area

• Lake Park Audubon

• Lanesboro

• Le Sueur-Henderson

• Little Falls

• Long Prairie-Grey Eagle

• Madelia

• Menahga

• New Prague Area (blended learning day for K-5)

• Onamia

• Osakis

• Pelican Rapids

• River Falls, Wis.

• St. Croix Lutheran

• Sibley East

• Somerset, Wis.

• Stillwater

• Tri-City United

• Wabasha-Kellogg

• Waconia

• West Central Area

E-learning day

Two-hour delay

• Aitkin

• Alexandria

• Ashby

• Becker

• Big Lake

• Blackduck

• Brandon-Evansville

• Buffalo-Hanover-Montrose

• Butterfield-Odin

• Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial

• Maple Lake

• Melrose Area

• Minnesota State Community and Technical College — Detroit Lakes, Fergus Falls, Moorhead and Wadena campuses opening at 10a

• Minnesota West Community and Technical College — Granite Falls campus opening at 10a

• Minnewaska Area

• Montevideo

• Monticello

• Northland Community & Technical College — campus opening at 10a

• Pequot Lakes

• Pillager

• Pine River-Backus

• Red Rock Central

• St. Michael-Albertville

• Sauk Centre

• Tracy Area

• University of Minnesota Crookston — reduced operations until 10a

• Verndale

• Yellow Medicine East

Forecast updates

Travel conditions

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 Twitter pages, as well as on its 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: