From slush to snow

Wintry mix forecast to change to snow in Marshall area this week

MARSHALL -- The winter weather moving across southwest Minnesota on Monday and Tuesday mostly brought plenty of slush to the Marshall area. However, there are still likely chances of snow ahead this week.

"(Wednesday) is when it looks like we'll see a change over into some snow," said meteorologist Jeff Chapman at the National Weather Service office in Sioux Falls. The snow would continue into Thursday night. The Marshall area was forecast to receive about 3 to 5 inches of snow, Chapman said.

Parts of southwest Minnesota, including Lyon County, were under an ice storm warning Monday night and part of Tuesday. On Tuesday morning, local storm reports from said Marshall received a quarter inch of freezing rain, and had ice accumulations of one-eighth to a quarter inch on trees, the NWS said. However, there had been no downed branches reported.

Greater amounts of ice were reported south of Lyon County. In Slayton, there were ice accumulations of one-third to half an inch on Monday night, the NWS said.

Slushy roads were one side effect of Tuesday's weather, but there weren't many crashes reported in Marshall. A crash was reported on Minnesota Highway 19 in Lincoln County Monday evening. The Minnesota State Patrol said a Sioux Falls man was taken to the Hendricks hospital with non-life threatening injuries after his vehicle went off the road.

The crash was reported at 6:54 p.m. A 2011 BMW driven by Edgar Owen Umstott, 31, was traveling westbound on Highway 19 when it went into the ditch, the State Patrol said. Road conditions were snowy or icy at the time, the State Patrol said. The Lincoln County Sheriff's Office and Hendricks Fire and Ambulance also responded at the crash scene.

Power outages were reported in parts of southwest Minnesota on Tuesday. Xcel Energy reported several outages in Pipestone and Murray counties. According to Xcel's online electric outage map, there were outages affecting around 126 customers in the Slayton and Iona areas Tuesday morning. Power in the Slayton area was restored by Tuesday afternoon, according to the online map.

Brian Jeremiason, external relations manager at Lyon-Lincoln Electric Cooperative, said as of Tuesday there had only been a couple of isolated power outages affecting LLEC customers.

"If the temperature drops, that's going to be a big concern," Jeremiason said. Freezing temperatures and high winds posed a greater risk of damage to electric lines, he said.