Saturday,  Feb. 23, 2014 • Vol. 16--No. 222 • 7 of 49

Today in Weather History

1977: A storm center developed over Colorado the morning of the 22nd and moved to southeast Nebraska by midnight Wednesday the 23rd with snow and rain entering southern Minnesota. The low center advanced to Iowa by sundown and weakened somewhat with precipitation across all of Minnesota. Snow was across the north and combination of rain and freezing rain were in the south. The low center then intensified over southeast Minnesota during the nighttime of Thursday the 24th before continuing northeast into Wisconsin with snow and blowing snow continuing over much of the state before ending on the 26th. There was a combination of rain, freezing rain and wind over southern Minnesota with 4 to 12 inches of snow in the north. Freezing rain and heavy icing on power lines caused the worst power failure in a decade in the twin cities with 125,000 homes affected. Power outages occurred over numerous areas of southern and central Minnesota. Many roads were ice-covered with numerous vehicle accidents and many cars in the ditch. Many roads were blocked or closed with numerous schools closed. Many trees were also damaged by the icestorm.

2007: A strong area of low pressure tracking across the central plains brought widespread snowfall to parts of central and much of northeast South Dakota along with west central Minnesota. The precipitation initially began as freezing rain and sleet late in the evening of the 23rd as it lifted across the area through the morning of the 24th. The freezing rain and sleet then changed over to snow during the morning hours of the 24th. Thunder snow also occurred at some locations across the area. Snowfall amounts of 6 to 15 inches had occurred as the storm ended. With the initial slippery roads from the freezing rain and then the heavy snow, travel conditions became very difficult. The South Dakota State Emergency Management, Highway Patrol, and Department of Transportation issued a travel advisory for no travel

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