A major late-winter storm remains on track to bring heavy snow, strong winds and blizzard conditions to much of southern Minnesota from late Tuesday into Wednesday.
Utilities in the Twin Cities and points south are preparing for the possibility of power outages overnight. Road crews are planning for what could be a very challenging Wednesday morning commute. And some school districts have announced plans to cancel classes, move to online learning or delay the start of the school day on Wednesday, March 5.
Power outage concerns
The combination of wet, heavy, concrete-like snow and northerly winds gusting to 50 mph or greater could lead to power outages across the region.
Xcel Energy said Tuesday afternoon that it’s tracking the forecasts and “will stage additional crews Wednesday to respond to any outages, responding to the largest outages first to quickly get the most customers back online as soon as possible.”
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School delays, closings for March 5
Closed
- Austin
- Byron
- Cannon Falls Area
- Chatfield
- Cleveland
- Fairmont Area
- Goodhue
- Grand Meadow
- Hayfield
- Hudson, Wis.
- Kasson-Mantorville
- Lanesboro
- LeRoy-Ostrander
- Lewiston-Altura
- Mabel-Canton
- Mankato Area
- Maple River
- Minnesota State College Southeast — Red Wing and Winona campuses
- New Richmond, Wis.
- New Ulm
- Owatonna
- Red Rock Central
- River Falls (e-learning day for high school and Renaissance Charter Academy students)
- Riverland Community College
- Rochester
- Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan
- Rushford-Peterson
- St. Charles
- St. Clair (e-learning day for grades 7-12)
- Somerset, Wis.
- Southland
- Triton
- Winona Area
E-learning day
- Albert Lea Area
- Alden-Conger
- Blooming Prairie
- Blue Earth Area
- Butterfield-Odin
- Caledonia Area
- Faribault
- Farmington Area
- Fillmore Central
- Glenville-Emmons
- Hastings
- Hill-Murray
- Houston
- Jackson County Central
- Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton
- Kingsland
- La Crescent-Hokah
- Lake City
- Lyle
- Martin County West
- Medford
- Mountain Lake
- Murray County Central
- New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva
- Nicollet
- Northfield
- Pine Island
- Plainview-Elgin-Millville
- Prescott
- Red Wing
- St. Croix Falls, Wis.
- St. James
- St. Peter
- Sibley East
- Sleepy Eye
- Springfield
- Stewartville
- Totino-Grace
- Tri-City United
- United South Central
- Waseca
- Windom
- Worthington
- Zumbrota-Mazeppa
Two-hour delay
- Canby
- Dawson-Boyd
- Hendricks
- Heron Lake-Okabena
- Lac qui Parle Valley
- Lakeview
- Lakeville (as originally scheduled due to parent-teacher conferences; conferences Wednesday morning are canceled)
- Le Sueur-Henderson
- Lynd
- Marshall
- Minneota
- Russell-Tyler-Ruthton
- Wabasso
This list will be updated as additional closings and delays are reported.
Travel conditions
These state transportation departments offer live updates on road conditions and crashes:
For bus and light rail riders in the Twin Cities, Metro Transit offers weather-related updates on its Metro Transit and Metro Transit Alerts Twitter pages and on its website.
If you’re planning to fly from Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport or another airport around the region — or if you are expecting visitors to arrive by plane — airports offer flight status updates online:
