(Spirit Lake)– The first major winter storm of the season turned out to be a full-fledged blizzard.
Snow started falling early Tuesday and continued into early Wednesday, along with winds gusting in excess of 50 miles-per-hour at times Wednesday night. The snow and wind combined to produce whiteout conditions and significant drifts in some areas.
Mike Ehret, Dickinson County Emergency Management Coordinator, tells KUOO news so far things were extremely quiet during the height of the blizzard Tuesday night. He says there was a very low volume of traffic on the roads and that had only a handful of reports of vehicles that had gone into ditches.
Ehret thanks the public for heeding the advice to stay home.
He says visibility was still an issue at mid-day in many areas.
While county and state plows are out, Ehret encourages everyone to stay put yet this (Wed.) afternoon. He says the plowing progress is still being hampered by the strong wind, is expected to gradually subside late this (Wed.) afternoon and overnight tonight (Wed.). Ehret says travel conditions should greatly improve Thursday.
