Heavy snow disrupts travel in state
Another winter storm pummeled Minnesota on Thursday, dropping up to nine inches of snow in some spots and complicating travel in planes, buses and cars.
The snowfall tapered off late in the evening, but not before bringing commuter traffic to a sputter and forcing airlines to cancel dozens of flights and delay many more.
Richard Ykema, 48, Montgomery, was killed when the pickup he was driving rear-ended a semi-truck as it slowed down to make a turn on snow-covered U.S. 169 south of Zimmerman in Sherburne County, the State Patrol said.
The heaviest snowfall -- around an inch per hour -- was reported over an area from St. Cloud through the Minneapolis-St. Paul area southeast to Zumbrota. In some areas, east winds from 20 mph to 30 mph were causing blowing and drifting snow and low visibility.
In the Twin Cities area, police responded to more than 180 accidents. Near Canby, in west-central Minnesota, icy roads contributed to a semitrailer jackknifing and rolling over. The driver, Ian Thorpe of Lincoln, Neb., was uninjured, according to the State Patrol.
"Every time the roads are like this, we have a lot of crashes because people do not slow down," said Steve Ringeisen, a radio operator for the patrol.
Northwest Airlines had canceled 62 flights out of Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport as of 3:30 p.m. and said 104 other outbound flights had been delayed an average of 35 minutes because of the weather.
Travelers out of the Twin Cities were given the option of delaying their travel through Jan. 7 without penalty, subject to availability.
Cathy Petite, 35, and her husband, Scott Schreder, 39, were among the stranded passengers. They had been trying since 9 a.m. to get to Seattle, but learned at 6:10 p.m. that they likely wouldn't make it out and decided to head to a hotel.
"No one needs a shower as much as I do," Petite said.
Weather elsewhere also was affecting Northwest Airlines, which issued a weather waiver enabling passengers holding tickets on Friday, Saturday or Sunday to, from or through Detroit or to or from Virginia, Maryland, Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire or Maine to postpone their travel through Jan. 9 without penalty, subject to availability.
Travelers were advised to check on their flights at Northwest's Web site (http://www.nwa.com) or by calling 1-800-441-1818 before leaving home.
The storm also caused problems at St. Cloud Regional Airport, where Mesaba Airlines canceled Northwest Airlink flights at 1 and 2 p.m.
Greyhound, meanwhile, canceled its buses that travel along Interstate 94 west from the Twin Cities en route to Seattle because of severe weather and closed roads in North Dakota. Three of the company's scheduled buses were affected.
Spokesman Kevin John said service was not expected to resume until 8 a.m. Friday.
Conditions also were rough going east out of Minnesota on I-94 with the interstate closed east of Hudson, Wis., by a 20-vehicle crash.
By early afternoon, many communities throughout Minnesota had more than 4 inches of new snow. Little Falls reported 6.5 inches, New London 6 inches, Thief River Falls 5.5 inches, Warren, Bagley and St. Cloud 5 inches, and Red Lake Falls, Fosston and Fridley 4 inches.