MPR’s Gary Eichten talks with Todd Krause, forecaster at the National Weather Service, about the massive snowfall in Finland, Minnesota. The community is six miles inland from the North Shore and just northeast of Two Harbors.
Finland received the most snowfall ever from a single storm in the state…over 46 inches.
GARY EICHTEN: Joining us now from the National Weather Service office out at Twin Cities International is Todd Krause, who is a forecaster with the Weather Service. Good morning, sir.
TODD KRAUSE: Good morning.
GARY EICHTEN: Sounds like it's going to remain pretty nasty along the north shore through the afternoon, is that correct?
TODD KRAUSE: Yeah, that's correct. It's pretty miserable up there. And they're going to continue to get clobbered through the afternoon and probably into the evening.
GARY EICHTEN: How much snow has fallen so far along the north shore?
TODD KRAUSE: The big winner is Finland. Since Wednesday afternoon, they're 40 inches.
GARY EICHTEN: Forty inches of snow?
TODD KRAUSE: Over three feet. Yeah.
[LAUGHS]
GARY EICHTEN: And how much more is likely going to fall before the storm finally moves out?
TODD KRAUSE: They could get another foot, certainly by this evening.
GARY EICHTEN: Good Lord.
TODD KRAUSE: Yeah, it's just amazing. They've pulled the snowplows off the road. And the visibility is very poor.
GARY EICHTEN: Is there any likelihood, any way to guess when travel conditions might improve in that part of the state?
TODD KRAUSE: Well, I'm sure the Department of Transportation will do their best to open things up. But as long as the snow continues to come down at a real good clip, it's probably going to be pretty tough to clear a lot of the roads up there.
GARY EICHTEN: Right. Now, as for the rest of the state, not much snow to talk about, but it is pretty nippy here the next day or so, yeah?
TODD KRAUSE: It sure is. A lot of places are still well below zero. And you add in a good wind and some wind chills are down to 50 below across parts of Western and Southern Minnesota. Fortunately, that'll be improving during the afternoon.
GARY EICHTEN: So a respite from the winds here, as we move into the weekend. And Sunday, according to the forecast, still a chance for some snow, but it's not going to be quite as cold.
TODD KRAUSE: Right. It's the typical scenario where we warm up, and then comes the chance of snow. So we've got our choice, either snow or cold. So Sunday will be warmer, but bring in a chance of snow again.
GARY EICHTEN: You got to love it. Thanks, Todd.
TODD KRAUSE: OK. Take care.
GARY EICHTEN: Todd Krause, who is a forecaster out at the Twin Cities office of the National Weather Service.
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