Star Tribune
Travel still tough as snow continues to fall, but the end is in sight
Winter’s late arrival in the Twin Cities and across much of Minnesota held its grip on the state for a third straight day Tuesday, leading some schools to close and making for white-knuckle driving for motorists who ventured out on icy and snow-covered roads.
By midday, traffic crept along on Twin Cities freeways still littered with a rash of crashes and spin-outs that started during the morning commute as rain with a little sleet tossed in turned to snow and the mishaps continued throughout the day.
“Winter weather is not leaving us yet,” said Anne Meyer, a spokeswoman for the Minnesota Department of Transportation. “It’s tricky for travel, messy right now, but it’s going to get better.”
Things may get a bit worse before the sun comes out on Wednesday, said National Weather Service meteorologist Brennan Dittman. Winds were expected to pick up Tuesday afternoon and blow around the 1 to 3 inches of fluffy snow that has already fallen by noon, maintaining the prospect for a rough afternoon and evening commute as visibilities drop.
New Hope called a snow emergency going into effect at 2 a.m. Wednesday to give crews a chance to clear away several inches of snow that fell on back-to-back days. Other cities could follow its lead. But neither Minneapolis nor St. Paul had called a snow emergency as of noon Tuesday.
The State Patrol has several emergencies of its own to respond to. In the 24-hour period that ended at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday, the State Patrol had responded to 158 crashes and 138 spinouts across the state. Another 15 semi-trailer trucks jackknifed, the patrol said.
At noon, troopers and tow trucks were on the scene of more than 20 incidents, including a trio of crashes and spin-outs on I-35W between the Minnesota River and I-494 in Bloomington, the Minnesota Department of Transportation traffic cameras showed.
Monday’s rain prevented MnDOT from pretreating the roads, allowing for the rapid onset of slick conditions as temperatures dipped, Meyer said.
“We saw everything out there, and what each version of precipitation does to the roads,” Meyer said.
Side streets and lesser-traveled roads were not faring much better than highways. Metro Transit said 40% of buses were running behind schedule at 11:45 a.m. The average delay was 7 minutes.
Operations at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport were hampered a bit, too. By noon, 156 flights leaving the Twin Cities had been delayed, but none canceled, according to the flight tracking website Flightaware.com.
Students in dozens of districts were told to stay home. Minneapolis called off all after-school activities and in-person and online adult education classes on Tuesday. In St. Paul, the district scrubbed after-school activities.
A winter weather advisory remained in effect for the Twin Cities and central Minnesota until Tuesday afternoon, while a storm warning continued in northern Minnesota where more than 6 inches of snow was expected.
The storm that has delivered almost as much snow to the metro in three days as had fallen all season was slowly wrapping up. A low pressure system lifting into Canada will allow skies to clear and bring peeks of sun Wednesday, Dittmann said.
But with that “it’s going to feel pretty cold,” he said. Temperatures will make it feel more like January as they fall through the 20s to a low of 11 degrees by Wednesday night.
In St. Cloud, another 2 to 6 inches of snow was expected Tuesday. Similar amounts were expected in Brainerd, Hibbing, Duluth and along the North Shore, the weather service said.
More rain and snow is possible the rest of the week, but high temperatures will moderate into the 40s Friday through Monday. Thermometers might surpass 50 degrees by the end of next week.
“We need the moisture, and hopefully it will kickstart the blooming and growing season,” Dittmann said.
“This is an area that swings back and forth depending on the election cycle, and it’s an area that really can deliver those decisive votes for candidates in a statewide election,” said Anthony Chergosky, a University of Wisconsin-La Crosse political science professor. “If the Harris-Walz ticket can develop a brand that helps them stop the party’s slide in rural Wisconsin, then that will massively help their path to victory.”
Both presidential campaigns have spent considerable time in Wisconsin. Trump recently visited the state four times in a span of eight days. Harris held rallies in La Crosse and Green Bay earlier this month, and Walz made stops in Eau Claire, Green Bay and Madison. Walz told a crowd gathered at a “Students for Harris-Walz” event in Eau Claire that “it’s very realistic to believe that this race will be won going through Wisconsin.”
Though both campaigns have made frequent visits to the Badger State, their stops appear to be geared toward shoring up their respective bases, retired GOP strategist Brandon Scholz said.
“I think Tim Walz’s job right now in Wisconsin, from what he’s saying and where he’s going and what he’s doing, is, ‘let’s make sure 99 percent of our voters turn out, because we need every single one of them because of how close Wisconsin is,’” Scholz said. “To date, neither he nor Harris have communicated a message to bring in those undecideds, ticket splitters.”
Ryan O’Gara is one of those undecideds. The 47-year-old Christian conservative lives in the village of Downing, some 20 miles northwest of Menomonie and home to about 230 people. O’Gara said he sees mostly Trump signs around his town, but he isn’t a fan of either nominee and likely will sit out this election.
Asked what he thought of Walz, O’Gara referred to him as “far-left.” He said he disagrees with allowing gender-affirming health care services for minors. Walz signed a bill into law last year making Minnesota a refuge for people seeking gender-affirming care.
But then, they were Lutherans.
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“It’s time for a hostage deal and cease-fire that ensures Israel is secure, all hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, freedom, and self-determination,” Walz said on this year’s anniversary of Hamas’ 2023 attacks on Israel.
Polls indicate Minnesota will likely break for Harris, but in states where margins will be much tighter, some protest voters are choosing to vote for Harris despite their reservations.
Roman Fritz of Oconomowoc, Wis., voted early for Harris on Wednesday, he said, even though he remains deeply frustrated with her stance on the war.
Neither he nor Engelhart want to see Trump win. The Uncommitted National Movement has been trying to carve out a middle ground between opposing Trump and supporting Harris, with leaders saying a Trump presidency would be worse for Palestinians, and warning that votes for third-party candidates could result in a win for Trump. But the group declined to offer its endorsement to Harris.
Similarly, Fritz said, he did not feel he should talk his friends into voting for Harris, especially Palestinian American friends who have lost loved ones in Gaza.
“I do want her to win,” Fritz said, but, “I’m not going to campaign for her.”
