Blizzard in Steele, Minnesota

Light snow combined with strong 35 to 40 mph wind gusts caused blowing snow and reduced visibility to near zero for several hours. Emergency Management reported that whiteout conditions led to two jackknifed semis and a five-vehicle crash on I-35 SB, leading to the closure of both SB lanes for several hours. Across the county, ten vehicles were spun-out or went into ditches.

A strong winter storm system would provide rainfall in the early morning hours that would transition to snow behind an arctic front producing strong wind gusts of 40 to 60 mph. Given the wet road surfaces and rapidly falling temperatures, flash freezing concerns existed for areas across central Minnesota, including the Twin Cities metro. Across portions of south-central and southern Minnesota, strong winds caused falling snow to turn into blowing snow leading to blizzard conditions.

The strongest wind gusts from this event were:

Willmar at 60 mph (Kandiyohi)

Redwood Falls at 55 mph (Redwood)

Montevideo at 51 mph (Chippewa)

Olivia at 49 mph (Renville)

New Ulm at 49 mph (Brown)

Le Sueur at 45 mph (Le Sueur).