Winter Storm — Hennepin, Minnesota

2010-12-10 to 2010-12-11 · Hennepin, Minnesota

Event narrative

Snowfall amounts averaged around 16 inches across the southern part of the county, with lesser amounts in the north. The metrodome roof collapsed under the weight of the snow, with a replacement cost of approximately 18.3 Million dollars.

Wider weather episode

A storm system began to organize across the Upper Midwest Friday afternoon, and intensified late Friday night and into Saturday as it moved across northern Iowa.

This storm system produced snowfall amounts in excess of one foot in many locations across east central Minnesota, and into west central Wisconsin. Some of the higher totals occurred across the Twin Cities Metropolitan area.

In the Twin Cities area, snowfall amounts ranged from 15 to 20 inches in Ramsey County, to 18-20 inches in the northern suburbs, and around 20-23 inches across the southern suburbs.

A rural Rice County man died while walking to his home during the blizzard.

The snow storm caused the Metrodome in Minneapolis to deflate and rip due to the weight and amount of snow on the teflon roof.

In addition to the high snowfall amounts, strong winds up to 50 mph caused blizzard conditions in many areas of southern Minnesota, including some areas of the southwest suburbs of the Twin Cities. As the wind speeds intensified, several roads closed, including I-90 from Albert Lea, to the South Dakota border for several hours during the height of the storm.

The snowfall intensify during the afternoon across east central and south central Minnesota, where snow plows were called off roadways, including county snowplows in the Twin Cities Metro area.

This was the biggest snowstorm since the infamous Halloween Blizzard of 1991, and was the fifth largest snowfall at the Twin Cities airport (17.1 Inches).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 264426. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.