Blizzard — Traverse, Minnesota

2023-02-14 to 2023-02-15 · Traverse, Minnesota

Wider weather episode

A low pressure system moved quickly across South Dakota and rapidly deepened as it tracked into Minnesota and the Western Great Lakes region. An initial rain/snow mix on the morning of Tuesday, February 14th transitioned to all snow around 7pm. Snow proceeded to continue through the early morning hours of Wednesday, February 15, with accumulations topping out at 3 inches in Wheaton, 2.6 inches southeast of Artichoke Lake and 2 inches in Ortonville. The main impact of the system was the winds however. Peak winds gusts of 60 mph were measured 4 miles southeast of Ortonville, 59 mph was recorded 3 miles southwest of Graceville, and the Wheaton municipal airport observed a peak gust of 56 mph.

The combination of high winds and fresh snow resulted in blizzard conditions. The Department of Transportation advised no travel for both Big Stone and Traverse counties by 11pm February 14th, and it wasn't lifted until late in the morning on February 15th. The sheriff in Big Stone County responded to at least 6 stranded vehicles, while the sheriff in Wheaton responded to at least 4 stranded vehicles in Traverse County. Power was knocked out to over 700 customers across Big Stone County during the morning hours and wasn't restored until around noon on the 15th. A Verizon outage occurred on the morning of the 15th as well, which limited the ability of customers to contact power companies to register these outages.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1076508. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.