Winter Storm Astro: Nearly 400 Accidents Reported in Minnesota; Wisconsin Roads Covered in Snow

By Sean Breslin
Published: November 10,2014


 
Updated Monday at 10:50 p.m. EST




Winter Storm Astro made its presence felt across several states in the Upper Midwest, bringing heavy snow, gusty winds and plunging temperatures to the region.
"Winter Storm Astro so far has been behaving mostly as expected. The heaviest snow so far has been just northwest and north of the Twin Cities in central Minnesota as well as parts of northwest Wisconsin, where over a foot has already fallen,” weather.com Senior Meteorologist Nick Wiltgen said.
Astro will continue to impact one to two million people across four states on Tuesday. The Twin Cities were downgraded to a winter weather advisory, while Northeast Minnesota and Northern Wisconsin were still under a winter storm warning issued by the National Weather Service.
(MORE: Winter Storm Astro Forecast)
Here's a look at how Astro has impacted each state so far.

Colorado

A major accident involving as many as 10 cars was reported in Denver. The accident occurred on northbound Colorado Boulevard approaching I-70, according to The Denver Post.
According to COTrip.org, there were several closures on I-70 due to unfavorable conditions and multiple accidents on Monday. I-70 was reported reopened west of Denver late Monday afternoon.
Loveland experienced power outages and high winds toppled trees and caused problems along the Front Range, CBS4 reported.

Minnesota

Drivers experienced a slow evening commute due to snow, but KSTP-TV traffic reporter Josie Smith noted there were fewer crashes and delays than Monday morning.  
Lt. Eric Roeske of the State Patrol said troopers responded to 393 crashes statewide on Monday beginning at 5 a.m., WCCO-TV reported. Roeske noted 559 vehicles went off the road or spun out. There was one fatality, and 37 others sustained injuries.
High school officials are considering rescheduling and changing locations for state football semifinals, according to StarTribune.com. On Monday, Associate Director of the Minnesota State High School League Kevin Merkle stated that the prospect of colder weather will continue to make fields less safe for players even after snow removal.
KSTP-TV reported more than 50 car accidents across the Minneapolis-St. Paul area Monday morning as roads became slick and snow-covered. In St. Cloud, driving was even more hazardous. At 11 a.m. local time, the town of St. Augusta reported 11 inches of snow on the ground, the highest total so far in the state from Astro.
"Basically, the road was wet overnight, snow started to fall and melted on the roadway and froze as the temperatures dropped down," said storm chaser Doug Keisling in a Monday morning interview with The Weather Channel from St. Cloud. He also said he's seen more than a dozen accidents on city roads before 7 a.m. local time.
Air travel was also affected at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. According to data released by the FAA, some arriving flights were delayed by more than six hours Monday morning.
(MORE: Bering Sea Superstorm Among the Strongest Extratropical Cyclones on Record)

Montana

Snow was falling and temperatures were dropping all over Montana as the week began. According to local reports, more than half a foot of snow had fallen in several towns, and winds were gusting above 50 mph in some areas as Astro made its presence felt.
KTMF-TV reported that Nature's Best, a plow service in Missoula, Montana, was preparing for the storm as early as last week. The company checked engines and fluids and was getting liquid de-icer ready for its seven plow trucks.

North Dakota

Thirteen accidents were reported by police in Bismarck on Monday, noted The Bismarck Tribune. During the area's first major snowfall, there are usually about 40-50 accidents. The reduction of this number was due to the closing of Bismarck schools, which according to Lt. Dwight Offerman of the Bismarck Police Department, reduced traffic volume by about 60 percent during peak driving times.
Up to seven inches of snow have fallen in parts of southern North Dakota, according to local reports. A travel alert issued by the state Transportation Department for the western and southwestern regions was still in effect early Monday, the Associated Press said.

South Dakota

Towns in the northeastern portion of the state were seeing the heaviest snowfall from Astro Monday morning, where more than half a foot of snow had fallen by Monday afternoon, according to NWS reports.
"We've got a lot of snow, but right below the snow on so many surfaces, we have this thin veneer of ice, and it's that ice that's going to cause problems on the roadways," said Reynolds Wolf, meteorologist for The Weather Channel, reporting live from Rapid City Monday morning.

Wisconsin

Some northern Wisconsin schools canceled Monday evening activities, WGBA-TV noted.
A school bus carrying five students and an aide slipped off the road and tipped over Monday morning in Clintonville, WBAY-TV reported. The group of students included one high schooler and four kindergartners. The Outagamie County Sheriff's Office said the driver and aide were taken to New London hospital, while the children were unharmed.
More than a foot of snow is expected to fall in northern portions of the state, and heavy snowfall was already making for dangerous travel as residents attempted to get to work Monday morning.
According to wisconsinrapidstribune.com, Quentin Ellis of the Wood County Sheriff's Department said several vehicles slid into ditches around Wisconsin Rapids, and there were more crashes in the Marshfield area. Wisconsin Rapids Police Sgt. Mike Potocki reported there was one crash and a car went up onto a median.
Delta Air Lines is making traveling a bit easier for customers after issuing a winter weather waiver for those traveling to and from Green Bay in Wisconsin and Minneapolis and Rochester in Minnesota on Monday, htrnews.com noted.

Wyoming

Extremely strong winds were the main issue as Astro blew through the state. Gusts as high as 84 mph were reported near Wyoming's northern border, and there were several reports of wind gusts 60 mph or higher in the state Sunday night, according to the NWS.
Snow began falling Monday morning, and higher elevations could receive as much as eight inches of snow before Astro moves out of the state. The snowfall helped firefighters make advances on a blaze burning west of Buffalo, the AP reports.