Blizzard — Cottonwood, Minnesota

2025-03-15 · Cottonwood, Minnesota

Event narrative

After a period of evening rainfall, snow developed and became briefly heavy with a difficult to measure accumulation of 4.0 inches at Jeffers. As northwest winds increased to a sustained 30 to 40 mph at times at Windom and near Jeffers and Mountain Lake, with gusts as high as 54 mph, the combination of wind and snowfall led to a period of widespread visibility of less than one-half mile, and frequent visibility of one-quarter mile or less.

Wider weather episode

Intense low pressure spread from the Central Plains early on March 14 to central Minnesota by the morning of March 15. After a period of rainfall and thunderstorms in the evening, precipitation switched over the a band of moderate to heavy snow later in the overnight and early morning of March 15. Very strong winds developed on the back side of the system, with sustained winds from 30 to 44 mph and spotty gusts as high as 59 mph. This produced a short period of blizzard conditions in portions of southwest Minnesota, mainly near the Buffalo Ridge.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1253813. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.