And brace yourself,
the second round of this large
snow storm is bearing down on us.
The snow will stick with us through tomorrow,
adding to the snow that we
woke up with already today.
We do have team coverage for you
on this weather warm day.
We'll have a check of the roads to show
you how the conditions have deteriorated,
a live report from the airport where
there have been hundreds of cancellations.
Plus our Sammy Solina who is in
Owatonna riding along with the
National Guard as they work to rescue
those who might become stranded.
And what everyone wants
to know is just how much.
Snow we can really expect as this
system moves through for answers.
Let's get straight to Bell and
the blustery backyard.
Hey bell,
it is blowing back here,
Julie and Rina that's for sure.
And of course the roads depending on
where you are getting a bit dicey,
we'll go to loose in just a few moments.
But with of course the snow coming
down in some pretty heavy bands
across the metro and along with
that the winds really picking up,
it is going to be a very active evening.
You can see that we have a lot of
moisture coming up from the Gulf
and that is going rotating around
this big low pressure center.
That is in southern Iowa.
And with that the snow has been falling
since about 2:00 o'clock this afternoon.
At times the banding is becoming very,
very heavy and the visibility as you
can see right here in the backyard
is being lowered, that's for sure.
Now the bands will continue into
the overnight hours and also
into the morning hours.
And then it looks as though it does
wrap up at that point in time and
the accumulations are as expected to
be between 8 to 12 inches from this
second a wave of snow this morning.
The amounts we have a big list for you.
We'll show you in just a few minutes
was we're really between 2:00 to about.
6 inches across the metro.
So we zoom in,
you can see where we have these
heavier bands and that's where
the visibility is really dropping.
So here it is a mile or less.
Basically in most of southern Minnesota
right now live about half a mile in
Eden Prairie with the heavy snow as
you can see there 1.3 in Lakeville
and just over one in Crystal,
a northern metros having better visibility.
So as we take a look at the planner
for tonight,
you can see the temperatures start
to plummet and we get down into the
teens and the snow just continues.
So when I'm. Blocking roads.
You gotta go to Lou Raguse.
He's in mobile 11 for us this evening.
Hi, Lou.
Hi there. Yeah, we're live in
Mobile 11 and right now we are just
starting to head West on 494 in
the southeast part of the Metro.
Give you a look at the roads overall.
I mean the main thing I have to
say is that there are very few
cars out here driving right now
compared to a normal evening commute.
So that that much is good.
And also the road conditions are
not that bad considering where
do you run into trouble.
We've noticed as you change lanes,
you can see the tracks.
On the road where the the the road
has been treated a little bit
slippery when you changed lanes.
There was one accident that
we noticed at four 94694,
right where it meets 94.
There was a a semi that was
tying up the ramps and there was
another car that had spun out.
Overall today there have been 34
crashes reported by the State Patrol.
Thankfully none of them too serious.
Be careful out there on the roads
and we'll check back at 6:00 o'clock.
Right now we'll head to Chris Jurafsky
who's with us at the live desk.
Hi Chris.
Hey Lou. Thank you, Sir. Yeah.
So there's not a ton of crashes
right now in the Twin Cities.
We saw more yesterday,
frankly, than we are right now.
But that's because a lot of that
second round storm hasn't hit yet.
Look down here in the
southwest part of the state,
I-90 is closed from Worthington
all the way to Sioux Falls.
And then these dotted lines right
here in the South Central part of
the state by Mankato Saint James.
We're talking about 1/10 of
a mile of visibility there.
So the conditions are worsening as the
system continues to move east towards
the Twin Cities and towards Rochester.
I want to show you some video,
though, from earlier today,
and this is important.
This is a four car crash that
happened near Apple Valley on Hwy.
77.
One of the drivers was standing by the
driver side door of the first car when
the other two vehicles struck from behind.
Now we stopped the video
right before that collision.
A fourth car then then hit it as
well and that was an ugly crash.
Here's another example though of
somebody standing outside after a crash.
This is on 494 this afternoon.
The driver gets out of the
car to check on the other car.
It's a nice gesture, but it is really.
Really dangerous to do that as there
are cars whipping by you at 30-40,
fifty, 60 miles an hour.
So please, please,
if you get in a spinout or a crash,
stay in your car,
keep your buckle on and call first
responders until they arrive
and they can handle traffic.
It is not safe,
especially as visibility gets lower
and lower throughout the evening.
Thank you, Chris.
Well, the storm also wreaked havoc
with travel at MSP today with
almost 400 flights cancelled.
Devon ramming is there tonight
with an update. Devon.
Hey, Julie. The number of cancellations and
delays here at MSP continue to stack up.
As you mentioned, nearly 400 flights
cancelled and nearly a dozen delayed.
Now, to put things into perspective for you,
airport leaders say that's more than
50% of the operations that occur
during a typical day here at MSP.
Passengers we've spoken with are being
issued travel waivers for canceled flights.
MSP has a crew of more than 100 people,
they say, working nonstop to keep the runways
clear in hopes of keeping flights moving.
But of course.
This is all weather permitting.
Now if you or someone you know has
plans to fly out of or into MSP today,
you'll want to keep an eye on the
airport website as airport officials
are expecting travel impacts for
the remainder of the evening.
And it's also important to note that if
you do have a flight that's cancelled,
check directly with your airline
because a lot of airlines are
issuing those flight travel waivers.
Guys, back to you.
It looks pretty quiet there in
the terminal one. Thanks, Devon.