Winter Storm — Kanabec, Minnesota

2019-11-26 to 2019-11-27 · Kanabec, Minnesota

Event narrative

Several weather observers measured around 7 inches of snow before the snow tapered off Wednesday morning. The heaviest occurred late Tuesday evening, and into the early morning of Wednesday, November 27th.

Wider weather episode

An anticipated winter storm brought heavy snow across the Upper Midwest. It started late Tuesday afternoon, and quickly exited the region by late Wednesday morning.

The winter storm was a typical Colorado Low that developed in the central Rockies Monday night, moved out into the plains of Colorado, and tracked east, then northeast across Kansas, northern Missouri, southeast Iowa, and into southern Wisconsin by Wednesday morning. The main forcing with this system was at mid-levels and it was also quite fast. The strongest forcing that contributed to this system was late Tuesday evening, and lasted around 6 hours. Therefore, snowfall amounts were limited to locally 6 to 9 inches where the best forcing and lift occurred as the surface low tracked across eastern Iowa, and into southern/eastern Wisconsin. Wind speeds were generally 15-30 mph, with blowing and drifting snow in open areas.

In Minnesota, the highest totals were in the Twin Cities metro, which received 9-11 inches of snow based on public and trained observers. Some of the higher totals observed include:

New Prague, Minnesota, 11.0 inches.

Savage, Minnesota, 9.5 inches.

Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport, 9.2 inches.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 858248. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.