Fast-Moving Winter Storm Causes Outages Across Lake County, Heavy North Shore Snow

A fast-moving winter storm packed with heavy, wet snow and gusty winds downed trees and poles across the Northland during the night of Feb. 17–18, producing peak outages that affected roughly 6,500 Minnesota Power customers, utilities and local news outlets reported. The National Weather Service in Duluth said winds topped 60 mph and visibility fell below a quarter mile as a blizzard warning covered the Northland.

The National Weather Service warning and on-the-ground damage combined to make travel hazardous through Thursday morning, the NWS said, and KAXE noted, “For some, there’s still more coming.” KAXE also reported the storm produced localized displays of thundersnow, saying “Seth Trobec in Coleraine also captured ‘thundersnow’ Tuesday.”

Outage counts varied by utility and time. KAXE reported that “Minnesota Power had close to 200 outage orders throughout the night, impacting 6,500 customers,” and that “As of 10 a.m., about 3,500 customers were still without power in St. Louis and Lake counties.” The Mesabi Tribune reported, “On Tuesday evening when the storm kicked in, there were about 6,500 customers without power,” and later that “About 1,600 customers remained without power as of 10 a.m. on Wednesday.” The Duluth News Tribune recorded a snapshot “As of 10:45 a.m., Minnesota Power reported 114 active outages affecting 1,156 customers.” WDIO’s later update at 5:10 p.m. showed Lake Country Power “reporting 24 outages impacted more than 1,200 customers” while “Minnesota Power is reporting 3 active outages, affecting around 210 customers.” Those differing figures reflect separate snapshots in time and different utilities’ service territories.

Crews attributed much of the damage to trees and branches loaded by wet snow and high winds; KAXE said outages were “caused by broken poles, trees on wires and low wires in gusty conditions.” Local reporting named Duluth, Cloquet and Carlton among the hardest-hit communities, while Mesabi Tribune coverage said the Iron Range overall “had not been greatly impacted” by the storm.

Minnesota Power positioned crews and equipment in advance and kept crews working overnight. WDIO quoted the company: “With line crews and equipment positioned and ready to respond, Minnesota Power is prepared for the significant winter storm predicted for northern Minnesota tonight and Wednesday.” Fox21 quoted Josh Goutermont, vice president of grid operations at Minnesota Power: “As soon as the storm hit, we kept crews on all night long. Those crews did an awesome, fantastic job of getting out there and really getting after some of the real big outages that we experienced last night.” Utilities reiterated safety warnings; a Minnesota Power news release quoted in the Duluth News Tribune said, “Always assume that downed wires are energized and can cause injury or death,” and the company warned residents not to disturb branches on or near power lines.

Images and local scenes captured cleanup and disruption. Mesabi Tribune photo captions described Hibbing city crews clearing “mountains of snow on First Avenue” and removing heavy wet snow from the 19th Avenue rink. The paper pictured eight-year-old Dillon Schmelzer helping his mother Brittany clear a plow pile and noted Elijah Suggs and Jackson Duffy walking over snow drifts after a long morning of shoveling. Fox21 recorded resident reactions, including Carl Peterson of Duluth: “I keep telling myself how much I love winter and I hope for it, but then when you get this, you really wonder if that’s the truth,” and UMD student Ellie Zarajsheck: “I feel like we want to get out,” and “When it was like starting to snow, we wanted to get out there and kind of go around a little bit, see what it was like outside.”

KAXE listed communities and school districts reporting impacts across the region, including Barnum, Bemidji, Blackduck, Carlton, Cass Lake-Bena, Cherry, Chisholm, Clearbrook-Gonvick, Cloquet, Cook County, Deer River, Ely, Esko, Floodwood, Grand Rapids, Greenway, Hermantown, Hibbing, Hill City, International Falls, Kelliher, Lake Superior, Laporte, McGregor, Menahga, Mesabi East, Moose Lake, Nevis, Northeast Range, Northland Community, Park Rapids, Pine River-Backus, Proctor, Red Lake, Sebeka, South Ridge, Tower-Soudan, Wadena-Deer Creek, Walker-Hackensack-Akeley.

Residents seeking to report outages were directed to the Minnesota Power mobile app or the company’s outage center on its website, and KAXE noted that “Lynum recommended checking road conditions before traveling by calling 5-1-1 or visiting the website.” Media or public-file follow-ups may contact KAXE Online Public File assistance at Steve Neu, IT Engineer, 800-662-5799, or WDIO’s FCC public file accessibility contact Vicki Kaping at vkaping@wdio.com or (218) 727-6864.