Recovering from the blizzard

.A large part of southeast Minnesota is nearly paralyzed a day after a major winter storm blasted through the region. Heavy wet snow fell through the afternoon and evening hours and the strong winds developed, creating whiteout conditions. Roads in every county are in very rough shape due to compacted snow and ice. Southbound I-35 is closed all the way from Owatonna to the Iowa border and many other major roads were closed as of early this morning.

As of 6 a.m.. I-90 was closed between Stewartville and Highway 56 near Austin.

Local snowplow operators have been busy trying to keep major roads and streets in Rochester and Olmsted County open but it’s been tough because of drifting and thick ice. MNDOT and counties are advising against any unnecessary travel due to the poor conditions.

Rochester Public Utilities crews have been busy all night trying to restore power to customers and says several thousand customers were affected by outages scattered throughout the city.

Snowfall totals in the area are generally in the 5 - 8 inch range. Rochester had one of the highest totals at 8.8 inches, a record for the date. A wind gust of 50 miles per hour was clocked at the airport and strong winds are expected to continue through the day.

Very cold ai

r is moving into the region behind the storm and is expected to continue through all of next week with some subzero temperatures expected.