Power Outage in Ortonville, MN

Eighty mph winds brought several trees and power lines down in Ortonville. Also part of a roof and wall of a building were damaged.

A strong low pressure system developed across the western Great Plains and strengthened as it tracked northeast into Iowa on the afternoon of April 4th and into northeastern Minnesota by noon on April 5th. This system produced accumulating snow across west central Minnesota on April 4th, and then strong west-northwest wind gusts between 30 and 45 mph on April 5th. The result was significantly reduced visibilities at times. Ditches were full of snow from this and previous snowfall events, which allowed for significant drifts to develop on roadways as well.||Many US and state highways were either closed or under no travel advised statements from the Department of Transportation. Business and school closures resulted, and there were several reports of power outages. Following this storm, many locations had observed a top-10 winter season for total snowfall across the region. All the snow and much below average temperatures to start April set the stage for significant spring flooding.

A strong low pressure system developed east of the Rockies in Colorado and then moved through the Great Plains and into the Upper Mississippi Valley from the evening of March 30th through the evening of March 31st. This system produced heavy snow across west central Minnesota, along with wind gusts of 35 to 45 mph. Some of the heaviest amounts include 9 inches a mile north-northeast of Browns Valley and 8 inches 2 miles northwest of Big Stone City. Significant blowing and drifting snow resulted. ||Impacts included numerous school closures, impassable or closed roads, many stranded vehicles and vehicle accidents, and power outages. In addition, this heavy snow further set the stage for significant spring flooding.

A low pressure system moved quickly across South Dakota and rapidly deepened as it tracked into Minnesota and the Western Great Lakes region. An initial rain/snow mix on the morning of Tuesday, February 14th transitioned to all snow around 7pm. Snow proceeded to continue through the early morning hours of Wednesday, February 15, with accumulations topping out at 3 inches in Wheaton, 2.6 inches southeast of Artichoke Lake and 2 inches in Ortonville. The main impact of the system was the winds however. Peak winds gusts of 60 mph were measured 4 miles southeast of Ortonville, 59 mph was recorded 3 miles southwest of Graceville, and the Wheaton municipal airport observed a peak gust of 56 mph. ||The combination of high winds and fresh snow resulted in blizzard conditions. The Department of Transportation advised no travel for both Big Stone and Traverse counties by 11pm February 14th, and it wasn't lifted until late in the morning on February 15th. The sheriff in Big Stone County responded to at least 6 stranded vehicles, while the sheriff in Wheaton responded to at least 4 stranded vehicles in Traverse County. Power was knocked out to over 700 customers across Big Stone County during the morning hours and wasn't restored until around noon on the 15th. A Verizon outage occurred on the morning of the 15th as well, which limited the ability of customers to contact power companies to register these outages.

A derecho developed in south central South Dakota and traveled northeast into western Minnesota. This thunderstorm complex generated 2 confirmed tornadoes across Big Stone and Traverse Counties, and produced a broad area of widespread and destructive straight-line winds in excess of 80 mph. Trees, buildings, power lines, grain bins, semi trucks, and other property was damaged or destroyed across west central Minnesota, and power outages lasted for multiple days in some cases.

A powerful low pressure system brought damaging high winds to west-central Minnesota on April 12-14th. The prolonged period of high winds caused some tree damage.

A potent and persistent outbreak of Arctic air affected the area from February 6th through the 17th. The coldest days of the outbreak for many occurred Valentine's Day weekend when high temperatures averaged in the single digits below zero. On February 14th, low temperatures dropped into the 20s to the 30s degrees below zero range. Extreme wind chills of 35 degrees to 45 degrees below zero also occurred for several days during the outbreak. | |The magnitude of the cold during this outbreak was fairly rare compared to the past 50 years, at least in terms of the persistence of the Arctic air. This was especially impressive considering the lack of deep, fresh snow cover across of the area. If there had been widespread deep, fresh snowpack ahead of this Arctic outbreak, low temperatures would have been more severe and more often approaching record territory. Wheaton saw five consecutive days with highs below zero, which is among the top ten most extended stretches since 1914. Wheaton also experienced five straight days with lows falling to 20 below zero or colder, ranking in the top five stretches.||Impacts from this extreme and persistent cold include some frozen and/or broken water pipes (the limited snow depth did not help in this regard) and froze-over home sewer vents, dead vehicle batteries, school delays, and church cancellations. The prolonged cold caused significant strains to the power grid as demand spiked both locally and across several other states. Many customers were at least briefly without power locally, particularly during the morning of Tue, Feb 16th. Concerns for rolling blackouts lingered for several days in this regard due to the continued extreme demand/strain, and people were asked to conserve energy however possible.

An intense surface low pressure area along with a powerful cold front brought snow and high winds to west central Minnesota on December 23rd. The surface low pressure area and cold front tracked from west to east across the region from the morning into the afternoon hours. Snowfall amounts of 2 to 4 inches occurred. Extremely strong northerly winds, gusting from 55 to 65 mph, combined with the snowfall created widespread blizzard conditions and hazardous travel. ||Temperatures also dropped significantly behind this system. In fact, above normal temperatures in the 50s on Tuesday, December 22nd, dropped 30 to 40 degrees by the late afternoon of Wednesday, December 23rd.

A powerful Arctic cold front moved quickly across the region during the morning hours bringing 1 to 2 inches of snowfall, very strong north winds of 30 to 40 mph gusting up to 50 mph, along with falling wind chills. With the new snowfall along with the existing snow cover, widespread blizzard conditions occurred across west central Minnesota. After the blizzard, wind chills quickly became extreme across the region. Schools were closed and travel was significantly disrupted due to the blizzard and extreme wind chills. See the storm data entry on the extreme wind chills.

An intense surface low pressure area moved from northeast Colorado to South Dakota from the 24th through the 26th. This storm was unusually warm for the region for late December, and therefore produced mainly heavy rain across west central Minnesota. Significant icing also occurred across areas at or just below the freezing point. The combination of said icing along with very strong winds produced power line and tree damage, and therefore many power outages. Much colder air on the backside of the system froze standing water, which was abundant due to rainfall amounts between a half and a full inch, and treacherous roads and walkways resulted.

A surface low pressure area moving across the region brought warm moist air overtop colder air which brought widespread freezing rain to west central Minnesota during the evening and into the early morning hours of the 8th and 9th. The temperatures rose to above freezing across the region with the precipitation changing over to rain and ending. Ice accumulations ranged from a tenth of an inch to a half of an inch. Some ice accumulation reports included; 0.25 inches in Browns Valley and 0.50 inches four miles southeast of Browns Valley into Big Stone county. Travel became hazardous with no power outages or downed tree branches reported.

A severe thunderstorm brought damaging winds to Ortonville. Sixty mph winds downed many power lines in town.

Widespread freezing rain began across Big Stone and Traverse counties during the morning of the 27th and continued through the night and into the morning of the 28th. Ice accumulations between 1 and 2 inches were common across both counties. The freezing rain changed over to snow on the 28th and northwest winds increased to 30 to 40 mph with gusts to 50 mph. The high winds and heavy ice accumulations caused hundreds of power poles and many miles of power lines to come down resulting in widespread power outages for many communities and rural areas. The power was out for some locations for over 10 days. Schools, businesses, government offices, and many organizations were closed for several days. Roads across Big Stone and Traverse counties became treacherous resulting in many accidents. Shelters were set up for those who did not have generator power or another place to go. This was one of the worst ice storms in history. After the icing, came snowfall of 3 to 6 inches which combined with the high winds to bring blizzard conditions to Big Stone and Travese counties from the late morning of the 28th until the early morning of the 29th.

Winds gusting over 70 mph combined with large hail from a line of thunderstorms caused some crop, building, and vehicle damage across parts of Big Stone and Traverse counties. Also, many trees and branches were downed along with some power lines.

High winds gusting to 68 mph occurred through the afternoon and into the early evening hours across west central Minnesota. As a result, several trees and tree branches were downed, several structures, roofs, billboards, and road signs were damaged, and some power outages occurred. Not only did the high winds make driving difficult but, at some locations, the blowing dirt generated by the winds lowered visibilities to near zero at times. Wind gusts included, 62 mph at Ortonville and 68 mph at Wheaton.