Winter’s last gasp? Strong winter storm moves into Brainerd lakes area

A person walks along a road on an overcast day with snow falling and high snowbanks on the side. — With light snow falling Tuesday, April 4, 2023, Melanie Quillin walks in north Brainerd. A wintery mix of precipitation is expected through Thursday for central Minnesota.

By Dispatch staff report

April 04, 2023 at 12:00 PM

BRAINERD — Snow, accompanied by strong winds gusting up to 30 mph, moved Tuesday, April 4, into the Brainerd lakes area.

Aitkin, Cass, Crow Wing, Todd and Wadena counties are under a winter storm warning until 7 p.m. Wednesday, with heavy mixed precipitation expected. The National Weather Service in Duluth reported anywhere from 3-10 inches of snow could fall in the area, and ice accumulations could reach a quarter of an inch.

With wind gusts up to 50 mph possible, the weather service warned travel could be very difficult Wednesday due to blowing snow reducing visibility. The strong winds and potential for ice accumulations also could bring down tree branches and lead to power outages, the weather service reported.

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“Expect a lot of sleet to mix in with snow,” the weather service reported. “Sleet will act to lower the total snow accumulations, but is equally as dangerous.”

The city of Brainerd declared a snow emergency effective Wednesday, April 5.

Snowplowing will commence at 4 a.m. on Wednesday and extend into Thursday.

For a complete list of weather-related closings and cancellations , visit www.brainerddispatch.com .

The storm is expected to move out of the area Thursday morning, and temperatures should climb back toward seasonal averages by the weekend, with highs in the 50s expected Saturday through Monday.

By Dispatch staff report

Our newsroom occasionally reports stories under a byline of "staff." Often, the "staff" byline is used when rewriting basic news briefs that originate from official sources, such as a city press release about a road closure, and which require little or no reporting. At times, this byline is used when a news story includes numerous authors or when the story is formed by aggregating previously reported news from various sources. If outside sources are used, it is noted within the story.

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