After a few non-severe storms this morning, another round of storms is expected to fire over southern Minnesota a northern Iowa by mid afternoon. Some could become severe as they track east with a large hail and damaging wind threat. A tornado is possible. The storms will gradually exit east and weaken by late evening. Read More >
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Several factors contributed to this record flood:
During March of 1965, a series of winter storms (March 1-3, March 10-12, March 17-18, and March 27-29) produced abundant snow across much of Minnesota and parts of Wisconsin. The hardest hit areas were the river basins of the Minnesota (March snowfall totals ranged from 14.1 inches at Tyler, MN to 58.0 inches at Bird Island - most of the basin saw snow amounts ranging from 30 to 40 inches), St. Croix (March snowfall totals ranged from 24.0 inches at Grantsburg, WI to 33.0 inches at Minong, WI), and Chippewa (March snowfall totals ranged from 16.3 inches at Baldwin, WI to 33.0 inches at Spring Valley, WI). This is very significant because the eventual snow melt from these three large river basins would flow into the Mississippi River just north of the National Weather Service La Crosse, WI Hydrologic Service area. Locally, March snowfall totals ranged from 8.0 inches at Winona, MN to 23.5 inches at Hatfield, WI (most locations saw anywhere from 10 to 20 inches). The eventual snow melt would produce flooding along the Cedar, Root, Black, and South Fork Zumbro rivers. This helped keep the Mississippi River stages high until they could be further enhanced by flows from the Minnesota, St. Croix, and Chippewa rivers. |
Total Snowfall for March 1965 |