It was supposed to come with a giant wallop. Instead, the epic winter storm predicted by the National Weather Service hit Cook County with a whimper, a whisper of snow falling in the city of Grand Marais.
For two days, nervous equipment operators and their snowplows were ready. Snow blowers were checked to make sure they were operational and gassed up. Anxious residents readied shovels, scrapers, warm hats, mittens, and boots, making sure their backs were limbered up for hours of shoveling ahead.
Instead, after last weekend’s winter blast that brought Duluth and much of the Northland to its knees, in town, a broom was all one needed to clear a sidewalk.
A massive storm did hit, shutting down Duluth and piling heaps of snow in Two Harbors and Silver Bay. On Monday, December 2, all of the Duluth schools were closed, as were the colleges. The boys’ Monday home game against Lakeview Christian was cancelled because Lakeview couldn’t make it up the shore.
As residents of Duluth spent Sunday and Monday digging out from up to 21 inches of heavy snowfall, Cook County citizens could only wonder as they were warned for two days that we would get walloped – any hour now – by a giant, “historic” snowstorm only to have the storm miss us.
While almost no snow fell in Grand Marais, we did get the big winds promised by the weather forecasters. Winds, pushing hard from the east, gusted as high as 45 mph, toppling some trees and sending waves and water spraying across the Artist Point parking lot, turning it into a sheet of ice.
On Sunday, the Minnesota Department of Transportation ( MnDOT) asked Duluth citizens to stay safe indoors while their plow crews cleaned up large amounts of snow.
Strong winds and whiteout conditions caused challenging conditions for snowplows operating on the south shore in Wisconsin and St. Louis County.
A portion of I-35 south of Duluth was closed on Saturday, November 30, due to snow and high winds, and MnDOT received help from around the state on Sunday and Monday to help with snow and ice operations.
Meanwhile, Cook County residents, some hoping for more snow, shouldn’t have to wait too long. Snow was in the daily forecast for most of the next 10 days. Downhill skiers, snowmobilers, snowshoers, cross country skiers and dog mushers take heart, winter is here, even if the big “historic” snowstorm missed us.
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