Winter Storm in Minnesota, January 29 to 30, 2001

Name: Winter Storm in Minnesota, January 29 to 30, 2001
Start: 2001-01-29T22:00
End: 2001-01-30T16:00
Location: Minnesota

January 29 to 30, 2001 · NWS FGF · 7 events in 7 counties and zones

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 7 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 7

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS FGF wrote it up.

A vertically stacked low pressure system moved from the Four Corners region into northwest Iowa, wrapping precipitation into extreme southeast North Dakota and west central Minnesota. The precipitation started out as freezing rain and changed over to snow. Many areas saw a quarter inch or more of ice accumulation. As the wraparound precipitation changed to snow, many locations reported 3 to 6 inches of snow. 8 inches of snow was reported at Elbow Lake and Henning, Minnesota.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Grand Forks, ND wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 29, 9:41 PM CST, 19 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 29, 9:41 PM CST, 19 minutes before

FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
935 PM CST MON JAN 28 2001

...LAST MINUTE UPDATE TO INCLUDE DEVILS LAKE ZONES IN DENSE FOG
ADVISORY.  LOW CLD/FOG IMAGERY AND DVL AWOS SHOWS DENSE FOG HAS
SPREAD WEST.   COORD WITH BIS.
------------------------

WELL...TOUGH FCST TONIGHT.

FIRST OFF...WILL KEEP DENSE FOG ADVSY UP TONIGHT.  THE LONG
AWAITED VSBY IMPROVEMENTS HAVE REACHED CKN/TVF IN THE PAST 30
MINUTES...BUT REMAINDER OF ADVSY AREA 1/4SM OR LESS. WILL CONTINUE
WORDING OF IMPROVING VSBY IN ZFP.

SECONDLY...WHAT TO DO WITH CURRENT SET OF ADVISORIES/WARNINGS AND
SNOW AMTS IN SE CWFA. AFTER LOOKING OVER NEW DATA THINK BEST
SCENERIO IS TO DROP ACCUM AMTS IN THE FAR-BJI AREA FROM 3-5 INCHES
TO 1-3 INCHES...AND OPEN UP WARNING COUNTIES TO 4-8 INCHES TO
ACCOUNT TO WIDE RANGE EXPECTED ACROSS SOME COUNTIES.

NEW MODEL RUNS COMING IN WITHOUT ANY MAJOR SUPRISES.  ETA STILL
LOOKS THE BEST WITH SFC LOW POSITION BEING DRAGGED NW INTO NW IA BY
06Z...THEN DROPPING BACK SOUTH BY MORNING.  SUBTLE CHANGE IN
PRECIPITATION BAND AND PLACEMENT HOWEVER WAS NOTED BY NGM/ETA.  NGM
NOT AS FAR NORTHWEST AS 12Z RUN...WITH 00Z NGM FOUS DATA NOT
PRINTING OUT ANY PCPN IN FAR NOW.  COMPARING 00Z AND 03Z PCPN ON
KMPX/KABR RADARS LOOKS LIKE ETA .10 INCH LINE COMPARES CLOSELY TO
ACTUAL LEADING EDGE OF PCPN.  THIS LINE DOES GET UP TO NR A WAHPETON
TO PARK RAPIDS LINE IN THE 12-18Z TIME FRAME.  LOOKING AT ISENTROPIC
290/295K AND 85H CONDENSATION PRESSURE DEFICITS SHOW VERY TIGHT
GRADIENT FROM SATURATED TO NON-SATURATED ENVIRONMENT...BUT WITH THIS
LINE NR WAHPETON TO PARK RAPIDS AS WELL.  PRECIP AT 00Z-03Z LINING
UP TO NR THE 10MB LIFT LINE FOR SATURATION.  CURRENT OBS IN MN SHOW
LOTS OF FZRA AND WITH FAR AND FFM FCST SOUNDING PROFILES STILL
SHOWING ABV ZERO LAYER FROM ABOUT 750 TO 900 MB TIL 12Z...A PD OF
FZRA STILL PSBL AT THE ONSET OF PCPN EVENT.

TO CONCLUDE...WILL KEEP WARNING UP AS IS IN THE SE ZONES (WAHPETON
TO PKD).  BECAUSE OF THE THREAT FOR FZRA STILL IN FAR-BJI ZONE LATE
TONIGHT OR TUES AM...WILL LEAVE WINTER ADVISORY OUT DESPITE LOWERING
SNOW AMTS.

.FGF...WINTER STORM WARNING LATE TONIGHT AND TUESDAY EXTREME
SOUTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA AND WEST CENTRAL MINNESOTA. WINTER WEATHER
ADVISORY OVER ADJACENT PORTIONS OF SOUTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA AND
NORTHWEST MINNESOTA.  DENSE FOG ADVISORY TONIGHT FOR THE NORTHEAST
NORTH DAKOTA AND FAR NORTHWEST MINNESOTA.

RIDDLE

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

7 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.

Winter Storm, Wilkin

When: January 29, 10:00 PM CST to January 30, 4:00 PM CST
Where: Wilkin forecast zone
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 46.357, -96.468 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, West Becker

When: January 29, 10:00 PM CST to January 30, 4:00 PM CST
Where: West Becker forecast zone
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 46.935, -95.674 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, East Becker

When: January 29, 10:00 PM CST to January 30, 4:00 PM CST
Where: East Becker forecast zone
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 46.935, -95.674 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Wadena

When: January 29, 10:00 PM CST to January 30, 4:00 PM CST
Where: Wadena forecast zone
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 46.586, -94.969 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, West Otter Tail

When: January 29, 10:00 PM CST to January 30, 4:00 PM CST
Where: West Otter Tail forecast zone
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 46.409, -95.708 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, East Otter Tail

When: January 29, 10:00 PM CST to January 30, 4:00 PM CST
Where: East Otter Tail forecast zone
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 46.409, -95.708 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Grant

When: January 29, 10:00 PM CST to January 30, 4:00 PM CST
Where: Grant forecast zone
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 45.934, -96.012 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Winter Storm: A storm that brought snow, sleet or freezing rain at warning levels, usually over several hours or days.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Minnesota in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Minnesota, January 2001

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5228139, 5228140, 5228141, 5228142, 5228143, 5228144, 5228145.