This Day in Weather History Archive

On This Day In

                   Weather History...

February 23, 1977:

A storm center developed over Colorado the morning of the 22nd and moved to southeast Nebraska by midnight Wednesday the 23rd with snow and rain entering southern Minnesota. The low center advanced to Iowa by sundown and weakened somewhat with precipitation across all of Minnesota. Snow was across the north and combination of rain and freezing rain were in the south. The low center then intensified over southeast Minnesota during the nighttime of Thursday the 24th before continuing northeast into Wisconsin with snow and blowing snow continuing over much of the state before ending on the 26th. There was a combination of rain, freezing rain and wind over southern Minnesota with 4 to 12 inches of snow in the north. Freezing rain and heavy icing on power lines caused the worst power failure in a decade in the twin cities with 125,000 homes affected. Power outages occurred over numerous areas of southern and central Minnesota. Many roads were ice-covered with numerous vehicle accidents and many cars in the ditch. Many roads were blocked or closed with numerous schools closed. Many trees were also damaged by the icestorm.

February 23, 2007:

A strong area of low pressure tracking across the central plains brought widespread snowfall to parts of central and much of northeast South Dakota along with west central Minnesota. The precipitation initially began as freezing rain and sleet late in the evening of the 23rd as it lifted across the area through the morning of the 24th. The freezing rain and sleet then changed over to snow during the morning hours of the 24th. Thunder snow also occurred at some locations across the area. Snowfall amounts of 6 to 15 inches had occurred as the storm ended. With the initial slippery roads from the freezing rain and then the heavy snow, travel conditions became very difficult. The South Dakota State Emergency Management, Highway Patrol, and Department of Transportation issued a travel advisory for no travel for Interstate-90 and many highways in central South Dakota. There were numerous accidents along the interstate. Some snowfall amounts included, 7 inches at Browns Valley, 9 inches at Bryant, Webster, Wheaton, Artichoke Lake, and Tintah, 10 inches at Toronto, Roy Lake, Garden City, and Ortonville, 11 inches at Faulkton, 12 inches at Watertown, and 15 inches at Clear Lake.

Record Highs:	Record Lows:
Aberdeen: 60 (1976)	Aberdeen: -25 (1910)
Kennebec: 69 (1976)	Kennebec: -28 (1899)
Mobridge: 62 (1976)	Mobridge: -23 (1914)
Pierre: 68 (1976)	Pierre: -20 (1965)
Sisseton: 57 (1958)	Sisseton: -15 (1993)
Timber Lake: 65 (1958)	Timber Lake: -25 (1914)
Watertown: 66 (1958)	Watertown: -23 (1914)
Wheaton: 55 (1918)	Wheaton: -17 (1923)

Record Precipitation:	Record Snowfall:
Aberdeen: 0.78" (1977)	Aberdeen: 9.2" (1977)
Kennebec: 1.04" (1977)	Kennebec: 10.0" (1942)
Mobridge: 0.50" (1919)	Mobridge: 5.0" (1919)
Pierre: 0.29" (1924)	Pierre: 5.2" (1942)
Sisseton: 0.79" (1977)	Sisseton: 5.5" (1977)
Timber Lake: 0.51" (2012)	Timber Lake: 6.0" (2012)
Watertown: 1.54" (1977)	Watertown: 6.0" (1977)
Wheaton: 0.51" (1977)	Wheaton: 4.0" (1977)