A wintry mix of precipitation Thursday night into Friday morning created slick conditions on some Brainerd lakes area roads.
About 11 p.m., scanner traffic indicated emergency responders noticed roads were becoming slippery and vehicles were going in the ditch.
"Dispatch called and said officers and deputies were noticing a few spots that were getting slick," said Jory Danielson, maintenance supervisor for the Crow Wing County Highway Department.
Danielson assembled plow drivers and sent out a fleet at 3 a.m. Friday. Danielson said road conditions weren't as bad as the drivers were expecting, although air and pavement temperatures were right on the borderline between OK and dangerous.
"The temperatures were just right," Danielson said. "We were fortunate that they did stay up a little above freezing. Otherwise, I think we would have had a lot worse conditions. ... We'll take any win we can from Mother Nature."
ADVERTISEMENT
Danielson said corners and areas shaded once the sun came up appeared to be the most slippery.
"We didn't notice a lot of cars out in the ditch, or tire tracks," Danielson said.
Shortly after 8 a.m., the Cass County Sheriff's Office responded to a property damage crash near Pillager, although a dispatcher said no one was injured and that was the only crash the agency responded to Friday.
The Minnesota State Patrol did not respond to any crashes causing injury, although Lt. Tiffani Nielsen reported troopers in the 2800 district-which includes Crow Wing and Cass along with several other northeastern counties-responded to six property damage crashes and two vehicles off the road after 10 p.m. Thursday. No spinouts or jack-knifed semitrailers were reported.
Nielsen said the time of night and day of the week could have meant fewer people on the roads.
Still, sidewalks, parking lots, driveways and other areas provided for slippery walking conditions, even as late as 11 a.m. Friday.
The wintry mix was expected to persist Friday before clearing Saturday. The National Weather Service predicted a high temperature of 43 degrees Saturday. The temperature was expected to top out at 56 degrees Sunday, although wind gusts as high as 30 mph were predicted.
