The 25” snowfall recorded in Tracy during the blizzard of April 14-15 has put Box Car Days City in the record books.
State climatologist Mark Seeley, in a Minnesota Public Radio report Friday, said that the 25” snowfall reported in Tracy for April 15 was an all-time state record for the date.
“I think the word ‘historic’ is very apt for this situation,” Seeley said.
He described the rare April blizzard as “a wide, wide swath of snow, very moisture laden snow, I might add. Oh, the number of people that were complaining about their backs and legs from moving that heavy snow around. Holy Cow. Lots of moisture in that snow, and lateness, the other factor thrown in there to make it historic, how late in the month it was relative to that kind of level of snow. So lots of things, that truly you could call it a historic storm for Minnesota.”
The 25” reading was based on several measurements taken by the Tracy Public Works Dept. near the city water plant. Public Works Director Shane Daniels said that the snowfall was for the 24 hour period that began Saturday, April 14, at 8 a.m., and ended Sunday, April 15, at 8 a.m.
Seeley reported that a station in Canby had recorded 23” of snow on April 14.
Daniels indicated that Canby likely used a different time period for recording its snow, which put its reading on April 14 instead of April 15.
All told, Seeley said the April 14-15 storm resulted in 63 reports of record snowfalls statewide.