National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Overview

An unusually strong and slow moving storm system affected the Upper Mississippi Valley (and much of the U.S.!) from December 22-25 with snow, cold, strong winds and for some, blizzard conditions. The system first brought snowfall of 2-6 inches to the area Wednesday night into Thursday morning, followed by increasing winds. By Friday afternoon, blizzard conditions with whiteouts were occurring with wind gusts of 40 to 55 mph across much of southern Minnesota and Iowa, even into southwest Wisconsin. All of this combined with bitterly cold wind chills of -30 to -40F degrees to cause life threatening travel for stranded motorists. The cold persisted into Saturday (Christmas Eve), with the blowing and drifting snow slowly ramping down. But, the cold and brisk conditions continued into Christmas Day with wind chills in the -20 to -35F range.

Radar image of snow moving in and out of the area
Radar Loop of December 21 (3 pm) through 22nd (2 pm) 2022
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