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By Norma Dittman
Fulda Free Press staff writer
Grocery stores saw a large influx of customers on Thursday and Friday as residents of the area prepared for a large winter system to blanket the mid-west.
For southwest Minnesota, between 10 to 16 inches of snow was predicted, along with wind gusts 45 to 65 miles per hour.
Fulda residents saw four individual hail storms during the Friday hours, with the first one arriving at 8 a.m. Skies that had been lighting with the early morning, turned almost as dark as night. A storm that was in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, at 7:15 a.m. was in Fulda by 8 a.m. Pea-sized hail covered the streets and sidewalks.
Near Magnolia, along Interstate 90, 60 to 70 electric poles were broken off by the wind on Friday morning, disrupting power to the residents of that area.
Although the National Weather Service had predicted that the blizzard would arrive in southwest Minnesota by 1 a.m. Saturday morning, the system actually arrived shortly after 8 a.m. Facebook chatter announced, “The storm has finally arrived!”
With the early warnings, most residents were tucked snuggly in their homes for the duration of the storm. Both KELO land and KSFY television stations were issuing warnings about the dangers of being out in the early spring snowstorm, stating that the visibility was reduced to zero due to blowing snow. The heavy, water-filled snow would be dangerous to shovel, and roadways impassable because of the depth and heaviness of the snow.
On Saturday evening just before 10:00 p.m., the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office received a call from the Dickinson County, Iowa, department. They reported a motorist stuck on the roadway somewhere on County Road 4 east of US Highway 71.
Because no travel was advised and the roads were not plowed, deputies looked for another way to help the stranded motorist. The deputies used two snowmobiles to search for and locate the vehicle. The occupants were given a ride to Jackson by a Minnesota State Trooper.
Hundreds of cancellations were announced via radio and television, and other available media.
Once the storm began to subside a bit, snow removal crews were out working to reclaim the roadways. The Minnesota State patrol reported that there were 630 crashes (69 with injury), 1,182 spinouts and 20 jackknifed semis.
The snowfall report from the National Weather Service, as of 8 a.m. Sunday morning, April 15th, stated that Lake Wilson had recorded 19 inches of snowfall; Currie: 18 inches; Windom: 9.6 inches.
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