Storm dumps snow, rain on Upper Midwest

MINNEAPOLIS, Feb. 21 (UPI) -- A storm system blanketed a swath of the Plains and Upper Midwest with snow and ice, with most of the snowfall in Minnesota and the Dakotas.

Hundreds of flights were canceled Sunday at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, officials said.

School systems that weren't closed for Presidents Day (Monday) were closed because of the storm.

Interstates resembled ice rinks and officials warned people to stay put as winds whipped the snow and reduced visibility. The snow began falling Sunday morning and continued until past midnight into Monday, a federal holiday.

Temperatures in the 40s and 50s last week had helped whittle down snow piles and expose more surface for driving or walking across most of Minnesota.

On Sunday, wintry conditions returned.

The line between heavy and light snowfall was pronounced, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported. Southern suburbs of the Minneapolis-St. Paul area received more than a foot of snow but northern suburbs received 2-3 inches. Parts of Minneapolis received up to 13 inches while its neighbor, St. Paul, officially reported 10.8 inches.

In western Minnesota, Montevideo reported 10.5 inches by Sunday evening, adding to officials' concerns about spring flooding.

Sustained winds churned up the snow as wind gusts of between 30 mph and 40 mph reduced visibility to a quarter of a mile for extended periods of time, forecasters said.

In downtown Minneapolis, inline skating at the Metrodome was canceled Sunday because of travel conditions and heating applied to the roof to melt snow created uncomfortably warm conditions for skating, an official said.

Up to a foot of snow fell in South Dakota and around 10 inches in southwest North Dakota, weather officials said. Portions of Nebraska, Iowa and Wisconsin were plagued by rain and ice glazing the highways and making travel treacherous. The icy mix was expected to push north and east Monday across southern Michigan, northern Ohio and northwestern Pennsylvania, AccuWeather.com said.

Areas north of Chicago were expecting accumulating sleet and rain before it changed over to just rain, forecasters said.

The expected big snow failed to materialize in the Milwaukee area, which had more rain, sleet and freezing rain, making driving conditions sketchy, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. Snow, freezing rain, sleet, and ice were expected to affect the central and northern part of Wisconsin Monday as well.

Road conditions deteriorated throughout the day Sunday, officials said. Numerous crashes and spinouts were reported on the interstate highway system. All lanes of Interstate 94 near Eau Claire,Wis., were blocked for about an hour Sunday afternoon after at least six cars collided near Highways 93 and 37, law enforcement officials said. No injuries were reported.