Winter wallops the region

A winter storm leaves behind several inches of wet, heavy snow in the region on Wednesday.

Early storm reports from the National Weather Service on Wednesday evening said that 7.3 inches of snow fell just east of La Crosse as of 6:13 p.m. Eight inches fell in Warrens.

Barre Mills saw 7.5 inches, Peterson, Minnesota had 6.5 inches, while outside Onalaska reported 5.5 inches.

The heaviest snow fell southwest of Albert Lea in Lakota, Iowa with 14.5 inches of snow. Nearby Ledyard, Iowa had 12 inches as of late Wednesday afternoon.

Many of the roads in SE Minnesota remained snow covered though a few of the main roads were listed as in normal driving conditions according to MnDOT’s 511MN page.

Afternoon traffic reports from the Minnesota DOT (MnDOT) 511 traffic maps showed main roads including I-90 as completely covered with several accidents. There was also a report that along US 61 between County Road 15 and County Highway 7, there was debris on the roadway and a danger of a rock fall. The report said to drive with extreme caution.

Some spin outs and crashes were reported as well by MnDOT.

Visibility was down to less than a tenth of a mile in some areas during the afternoon.

Windy conditions are also blowing the snow around. Decorah, Iowa had gusts of 59 mph just before 4 p.m.

Hail was reported in Boscobel in Grant County as the storm moved in Wisconsin in the early afternoon along with some rumbles of thunder around the region.

Vernon County Sheriff Roy Torgerson talking about what they’ve seen on Wednesday.

Holmen also warned people about the slippery conditions.