Though the accumulation wasn't great, the wet, sloppy snow caused 41 accidents in Kandiyohi County between Tuesday night and Wednesday afternoon."This morning we had a lot of snow laying on the road -- wet, heavy stuff," said Denny Marty, MnDOT's Willmar region maintenance supervisor. "That was the reason we had all the cars in the ditch."
Because the snow was constant and the temperatures were moderately warm, the snow was wet and slushy. Marty said that when vehicles veered from the driving tracks "the slush would grab them, and they'd loose control."
Willmar Police Officer Marilee Dorn said things got bad in the morning Wednesday, but got better through the day.
"The big rush was right at the start of the work day," she said. U.S. Highway 71 and state Highway 23 had several vehicles in the ditch this morning. A dump truck, snowplow and small truck got into a minor accident in the UPS parking lot at Trott Avenue and state Highway 40 Southwest just after 8:30 a.m. Wednesday.
A vehicle also hit a light pole at Robbins Island Park.
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One injury accident was reported near Hawick on state Highway 23.
Dorn said people need to remember to have gloves, hats, warm clothes and boots in their vehicle for emergencies. "You have to be dressed for the weather in case you don't make it to work," she said.
Other counties in west central Minnesota reported slick roads.
Jim Richardson, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service, said Willmar received between two to three inches of snow.
Accumulations increased to the east, he said, with seven inches in Dassel.
He said that though there would be snow during the next two days, there wouldn't be much accumulation.
Denny Marty said roads will be plowed from 3 a.m. to 9 p.m. today.
However, most roads were cleared up Wednesday, he said.
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An unexpected rise in the temperature around 9 a.m. gave plows a break, helping clean off the streets.
"We had most roads down to clear pavement by noon," he said. "Normally, we'd end up with a lot of compaction."
Ed's Towing in Willmar has been busy consistently, said co-owner Faith Wilson.
"We're going from one to the next," she said Wednesday afternoon. "We try to take them in order, but you have to take the people who are stranded in their cars first."
They had a two-hour wait list Wednesday, she said.
Wilson said the warm temperatures made things a little more difficult for drivers, but the storm wasn't anything out of the ordinary.
"It's just your general winter storm," she said.
