Winter Returns to Northern Plains

One of the biggest snowstorms to hit the northern Plains this winter dumped more than a foot of snow on parts of South Dakota and Minnesota, stranding travelers and closing hundreds of schools.

Freezing rain knocked out power to homes across northern Iowa, southern Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin, and hundreds of traffic accidents were reported, including two deaths when a taxi slid into a tractor-trailer near Minneapolis.

In western Wisconsin, authorities were searching for a single-engine plane that disappeared early Friday. The pilot, believed to be the only person on board, reported icing just before air traffic controllers lost contact with the plane.

About 200 travelers spent the night on cots at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport after about 300 flights were canceled Thursday. Children in nearly 350 school districts in southern Minnesota and western Wisconsin got the day off after classes were canceled.

“We’re catching up for lost time this winter,” said Bob Weisman, a meteorologist at Minnesota’s St. Cloud State University, where 14 inches of snow fell and there were still flurries Friday morning.

Snow was still falling Friday in parts of Wisconsin, but the skies were expected to clear by evening.

To the west, the storm left as much as 2 feet of slushy snow in Wyoming, a welcome sight to ranchers and farmers who have seen an abnormally dry winter.

In South Dakota, many cattle are having their young, and the harsh weather will affect calving, said Julie Williams, a veterinarian at Mid-River Veterinary Clinic in Chamberlain, S.D.

Minnesota had been basking in relatively balmy weather for most of the winter. Snowmobile and ice-fishing contests had been postponed or delayed across the state, and ice sculptures quickly melted at the St. Paul Winter Carnival in late January.

The storm was a reminder of what a Northern winter usually looks like.