Storm drops 3.7 inches within hours

Ice, blustery winds cause outages

By RON LARSEN

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM--The storm that hit the New Ulm area Friday night had almost every weather element--rain, snow, wind, lightning--except a tornado, and some could be excused if they did think it was a white tornado that roared through.

Starting with a repeat of the previous night's rain changing to freezing rain, the storm escalated to blizzard "white-out" conditions in a matter of minutes.

Within a couple of hours, New Ulm was coated with 3.7 inches of snow which was being blown by 14-mile-per-hour winds. By morning, the wind continued its blustery ways, reaching a maximum 27-mph gust at 11:19 a.m., according to Don Wendel's wind monitor atop his house in New Ulm.

Gusting winds and blowing snow made travel hazardous throughout most of Saturday. Interstate 35 from Owatonna south was closed to traffic after Minnesota Department of Transportation snowplows were pulled off because of "zero' visibility conditions.

MnDOT advised no travel in the Mankato area.

Despite the strong winds and blowing snow, motor vehicle accidents in and around New Ulm were few, and wind damage appeared to be moderate.

About 300 Brown County REA rural customers were reported to be without power Saturday morning, according to BCREA Line Superintendent Sam Erickson, Sleepy Eye.

"Ice on the lines caused the lines to 'gallop' in the wind, causing the outages," Erickson explained. "It's going to continue to be a problem until the wind goes down. Most of the outages were in the Hanska and Godahl areas."

No outages were reported in New Ulm. There were a number of reports of "trees bumping lines around town," a Public Utilities spokesman said.

The storm forced the closing of the second and final day Saturday of the Farm Show in New Ulm, and the Sleepy Eye-Jaycees Pageant with its selection of a new Miss Sleepy Eye was postponed a day until Sunday night, starting at 7:30 p.m.