Blizzard fizzled, at least in Douglas County

Woman shoveling snow — Ashley Nieland shovels snow off the sidewalk in front of her store in downtown Alexnandria on Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023.

By Al Edenloff

February 23, 2023 at 1:09 PM

DOUGLAS COUNTY — It was a blizzard that kind of fizzled — at least in Douglas County.

The forecast from the National Weather Service called for snow accumulations in Douglas County of 12 to 18 inches from Tuesday, Feb. 21 through Thursday, Feb. 23.

The actual amount turned out to be around 4 to 7 inches.

Still, the blowing snow and wind chills of 17-below made for hazardous conditions in open areas of the county and throughout the region. Grant, Pope and Todd counties all issued no travel advisories on Thursday.

Steady, strong winds and the powdery snow also created big drifts in driveways and yards. Drifts of two and a half feet piled up in northwest Alexandria.

Douglas County was under a blizzard warning that expired at noon last Thursday.

Tracks in snow on sidewalk — Tracks lead through the snow on the sidewalk in downtown Alexnandria on Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023.

Al plow 3813.jpg — A snowplow driver cleared off snow on Voyager Drive in Alexandria Thursday morning, Feb. 23.

The Twin Cities area was hit the hardest, with amounts that were around a foot for most locations, according to the National Weather Service. The “winner” for the most snow was Apple Valley that reported 19 inches of snow over a 48-hour period, as of Thursday morning.

Senior climatologist Kenny Blumenfeld with the Minnesota State Climate Office reported in his newsletter that the blizzard hitting the state was “underperforming expectations” in terms of snowfall.

“While still being a severe snowstorm, the conditions for forming snowflakes were less ideal than anticipated, downgrading the expected total by half a foot or more,” according to Blumenfeld.

The Echo Press reached out to readers on our Facebook page to submit their storm photos to us. Some of those photos as well as staff photos are sprinkled throughout this page.

Snow drift — Drifts accumulated quickly during last week's storm.

Snow in city — Snow piled up in a parking lot.

Snow outside of door — A drift formed in front of a door during last week's storm.

Snow drifts — A view of the snow in a yard during last week's storm.

Snow outside window — Snow obscured the view over a sink.

Snow-covered truck — Snow piled up over a vehicle.

Al tractor 3817.jpg — A tractor with an attached snow blower blasted snow away from a driveway near Lochmist Lane in northwest Alexandria on Thursday morning, Feb. 23.

Snow-covered cars — Parked cars on 6th Avenue in Alexandria were covered with snow on Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023.

By Al Edenloff

Al Edenloff is the editor of the twice-weekly Echo Press. He started his journalism career when he was in 10th grade, writing football and basketball stories for the Parkers Prairie Independent.