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Snow expected to hit region

Don’t put away your parkas just yet. The Marshall area will be hit once again with sizable snowfall amounts.

“We’re looking at a major winter/spring snow event, which will impact a good portion of the northern plains,” said Brad Adams, a National Weather Service meteorologist out of Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

A winter storm watch is in effect for Wednesday afternoon through Friday with “12 to 15 to potentially 18 inches of snow in southwestern Minnesota,” he said.

This system will also bring strong winds to the region, with “wind gusts of 45 to potentially 50 miles per hour,” Adams said.

We should be seeing those flakes fall down later today.

“The onset of precipitation in terms of snow is late (today),” Adams said. “We will see the heaviest accumulation late in the day Wednesday,” Adams said. “The snow will pick up Wednesday night and into Thursday.”

The good news to this weather event is the precipitation will come down as snow so it will “take a couple days to melt,” Adams said. That should buy us some time as far as flooding, he said.

According to the National Weather Service, the blowing snow could make travel “difficult to impossible. Areas of blowing snow could significantly reduce visibility. The hazardous conditions could impact the morning or evening commute. Gusty winds could bring down tree branches.”

In addition to the snowstorm affecting travel for commuters, the weather system will affect area schools.

Russell-Tyler-Ruthton parents received a notice from David Marlette, RTR superintendent, regarding snow days.

The notice said students are allowed to take part in educational activities at home through the use of technology and this would count as a normal school day.

“The Minnesota Department of Education allows all school districts to hold five E-Learning Days annually due to inclement weather,” the notice said. “The RTR School Board approved E-Learning at its March 13 board meeting. These E-Learning days allow for students to stay home and receive learning activities, assignments, and educational engagement activities by the use of technology. These E-Learning Days count as normal educational school days.

“The weather forecasters are predicting some very tough weather coming our way this Wednesday and Thursday. They are predicting over a foot of snow and 50+ mph winds. If their predictions ring true, we will struggle to have normal school days where we bring students into our school facilities. If this happens, we will hold E-Learning Days of instruction and communication will come from our teachers and staff.”

An E-Learning Day is scheduled at RTR for Easter Monday on April 22.

Marshall Public Schools has already adjusted their schedule because of snow days.

Early-release Wednesdays have been canceled. So far the following dates have been scheduled as student makeup days: April 18, May 30 and June 3. Any additional snow days will be made up in June.

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