Winter Weather — Murray, Minnesota

2009-12-26 to 2009-12-28 · Murray, Minnesota

Event narrative

Very slowly subsiding northwest winds remained strong enough to cause significant drifting snow and areas of very low visibilities in blowing snow through the night of December 27th. Travel remained difficult and hazardous, and wind chills were around zero at times. A vehicle driven by a 69 year old Lake Shetek woman slid off a road near her home on the night of December 27th. The woman was later found dead by a snowplow driver some distance from the vehicle, and ii was determined that she died after attempting to walk to a highway from her vehicle.

Wider weather episode

Prolonged snowfall produced heavy accumulations of 1 to 2 feet in southwest Minnesota. The snowfall took place from two days before to the day after Christmas. The snowfall was accompanied by increasing north to northwest winds which caused areas of very low visibilities in blowing snow from Christmas Day through the night of December 27th. The heavy snow and drifting in the winter storm, along the the areas of very low visibilities, made travel impossible for much of the time.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 208547. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.