It appears Mother Nature’s idea of an April fools joke is a winter storm warning two weeks into spring.
Borderland prepared for a forecasted 12-18 inches of fresh snowfall Monday evening into Tuesday, but luckily, warmer temperatures came to the rescue.
According to Kevin Huyck, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Duluth, temperatures were warm enough to melt most of the snow as soon as it hit the ground.
“If the snow had not melted as it landed, International Falls would have ended up with 6 to 7 inches of snow instead of the 3.7 that was reported,” he said.
To the west of the Falls, Baudette recorded 18 inches of snow and was unable to stay on the warmer side of the front like Borderland was, Huyck said.
“It was only a few degrees cooler (in Baudette),” he said. “But with these spring storm systems, a few degrees can make a huge difference.”
Still, 3.7 inches was enough to break out the shovels and snow plows and Falls public schools opted for a two-hour delay Tuesday morning in anticipation of the snowfall.
Even with just under 4 inches of the white stuff, the battle against blowing snow made travel and snow removal more challenging.
The meteorologist said Monday’s highest recorded wind gust was 37 miles per hour, accompanied by wind speeds of 15-24 miles per hour.
“That’s a pretty good wind speed,” he said. “It’s usually down in the single digits.”
Blowing snow created hazardous travel conditions late Monday night and into Tuesday morning.
The Minnesota Department of Transportation’s website reported difficult driving conditions for Highways 53, 11 and 71. The site warned against blowing snow and freezing rain in areas to the west and south.
But maybe it wasn’t the pranks of Mother Nature to blame for the April 1 snowstorm. It could be possible Saturday’s sighting of gulls returning to Borderland is the culprit. Lee Grim, Carl Brown and Patty Ross reported at 2:36 p.m. Saturday they had spotted a gull in Ranier. Local folklore calls for three snowstorms after the first gulls return to Borderland.
And if the folklore holds true, Friday’s round of snow could count as snowstorm No. 2.
“There is another system moving through the plains and Midwest,” Huyck said.
While he said it was too early to tell how much snow the system would carry, he noted International Falls “is definitely in the area we’ll see a chance of snow.”
And it looks like there won’t be too much instant melting this time around.
“It’ll probably be all snow,” he said. “People should keep up with the forecast as we refine the track of the storm.”
For a complete forecast, visit www.crh.noaa.gov/dlh.
