Blizzard conditions add to tough winter

(Photo by Michael Fischer) Blizzard conditions, complete with near white-out visability in some areas, invade Spencer Monday, Jan. 12, 2009, after snow began falling earlier in the day. Temperatures were expected to fall to -11 Monday night with wind gusting in excess of 50 mph. Temperatures are expected to rise to six above on Tuesday with the chance of snow at 40 percent.

The temperatures were mild, the wind was calm and residents were moving about the city scooping snow.

But, meteorologists and school superintendents knew better. The calm conditions that spilled over into the noon hour disappeared quickly and matched the predictions of Greg Harmon, the Meteorologist-in-Charge at the National Weather Service office in Sioux Falls, S.D.

Clay County was placed under a blizzard warning ahead of a cold front. Students were kept home throughout the area.

"This system has developed up in Alberta, Canada, and has been moving southeastward and deepening as it has come into the Northern Plains here," Harmon said. "It's not going to produce a lot of snow -- some places may get two to three inches -- but the main thing with this system really will be the wind. Already across the western Dakotas there have been gusts in excess of 60 mph. As the low pressure tracks into northwest Iowa later (Monday) morning and continues to move east, those strong winds will develop across northwest Iowa."

Harmon correctly anticipated white-out conditions with the blowing snow, with wind gusts in excess of 40 to 45 mph. As of 3:30 p.m., communications center dispatchers remained in contact with deputies as reports of stranded motorists came in. At some point, county snow plows were expected to be called off the roads.

(Photo by Russ Mitchell) Art Olsen begins the process of digging out from an overnight snow Monday, Jan. 12, 2009, in his neighborhood near East Leach Park in Spencer. The morning was deceptively pleasant for snow removal -- Clay County was under a blizzard warning as winds picked up later in the day. [Order this photo]

"When it gets to that point, we will be only responding to emergencies," Clay County Sheriff Randy Krukow said. "Once the county (road) crews have pulled off, unless it's an emergency, we're not going out."

Deputies would still respond to emergencies, even if it means following a snow plow to the location.

The city of Spencer also declared a snow emergency effective at 10 p.m. Monday within the corporate limits of the city of Spencer. Under city guidelines, vehicles must be off residential city streets, right-of-ways and alleys by the time the snow emergency goes into effect.

In the central business district, parking is prohibited from midnight to 7 a.m. unless snow has been removed fully from along the curbs. During snow emergencies, people who have no other place to park their vehicles are allowed to park in municipal parking lots.

The National Weather Service issued its blizzard watch at about 4 a.m. Sunday.

"It's primarily a combination of reduced visibilities to a half-mile or less and wind speeds of 35 mph or stronger," Harmon said of the blizzard warning criteria.

(Photo by Russ Mitchell) Plows and excavating equipment crisscross the city of Spencer on Monday, Jan. 12, 2009, as residents and crews tried to clear parking spaces and streets. Strong winds and more snow were expected to undo some of the work later in the day. [Order this photo]

Harmon also was keeping his eye on a follow-up contender for the designation.

"There's another system that is going to be following this one from tomorrow into tomorrow night," he said. "That system also will be coming out of Canada and moving across the area in kind of a similar path to the one today. So there could be a break late tonight through early tomorrow morning."

The National Weather Service was considering another blizzard or winter storm warning for late Tuesday into early Wednesday morning, however.

"We'll see how this second system looks as we move through today," he said.

Arctic high pressure will stay in the region for the rest of the week. Some of the coldest temperatures will settle in Wednesday night and Thursday when high temperatures will struggle to get above zero.

A slow warm-up begins on Friday with near-normal temperatures for the weekend.