A powerful, long duration winter storm brought widespread snowfall amounts of 8 to 24 inches across parts of northeast Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin, with areas around Lake Superior receiving up to 30 inches of snow. A wintry mixture of sleet, freezing rain and snow began Tuesday (December 13th) afternoon and evening, spreading northeast overnight Tuesday night and into Wednesday (December 14th) morning. This first wave of precipitation brought a widespread 6 to 12 inches of snow.  We had a break in the snowfall during the day on Wednesday, but it started up again Wednesday night and continued into Thursday (December 15th), bringing another 8-20 inches of snow.  This second wave of precipitation was nearly all snow, enhanced by the main upper level low pressure system as it moved close to the area.  Lighter snow lingered into Friday and Saturday, December 16th and 17th.  A low pressure system developed over eastern Colorado early Tuesday, moved northeast to eastern Nebraska by Wednesday morning, then to east-central Minnesota by Thursday morning, lingering there through Friday before moving off to the northeast Friday night and Saturday.
The storm resulted in a long period of poor road conditions, with strong winds causing blowing and drifting snow. There were also widespread power outages, with some people reporting no power for over two days!
Notable with this storm was how wet and heavy the snow was, with 3-day liquid equivalent values of 1 to 4 inches. The wet quality of this snow, unusual for winter storms in this area, heavily weighed down trees and power lines. The density of the snowpack also exacerbated the quality of snow to absorb the red end of the visible light spectrum, transmitting the blue end, which led to many folks observing a glacier blue color in holes and cracks in the snow as they cleared it. Because of this blue color, as well as the very wet quality of the snowfall, NWS Duluth has taken to referring to this snow as the Blue Blizzard of 2022.

Heavy Snow in KOOCHICHING, MINNESOTA
From 14-DEC-22 07:00:00 to 15-DEC-22 10:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: CoCoRaHS

Snowfall amounts of 8 to 10 inches were reported across Koochiching County with a high report of 10.5 inches near International Falls.

Heavy Snow in NORTHERN ST. LOUIS, MINNESOTA
From 14-DEC-22 07:00:00 to 15-DEC-22 10:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: CoCoRaHS

Snowfall amounts of 8 to 10 inches were reported across northern St. Louis County with a high report of 11 inches near Celina.

Heavy Snow in NORTHERN COOK / NORTHERN LAKE, MINNESOTA
From 14-DEC-22 00:00:00 to 15-DEC-22 20:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Public

Snowfall amounts over a foot were common across much of Lake and Cook counties. Higher amounts of 18-24 inches were recorded across the higher terrain at the southern part of the counties with a high report of 25 inches about 20 miles north of the Two Harbors.

Heavy Snow in NORTHERN ITASCA, MINNESOTA
From 14-DEC-22 00:00:00 to 14-DEC-22 13:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: CoCoRaHS

Snowfall amounts of 6 to 11 inches were recorded across the northern portion of Itasca County with a high report of 11.9 north of Bovey.

Heavy Snow in CENTRAL ST. LOUIS, MINNESOTA
From 14-DEC-22 01:00:00 to 14-DEC-22 16:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Public

Much of the central portion of St. Louis County received over a foot of snow during the event with a high report of 24 inches in Chisholm.

Heavy Snow in NORTHERN CASS, MINNESOTA
From 14-DEC-22 01:00:00 to 14-DEC-22 12:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Public

Snowfall totals of 6 to 9 inches were recorded across northern Cass County with a high reports of 9.7 inches reported near Remer.

Heavy Snow in SOUTHERN CASS, MINNESOTA
From 13-DEC-22 21:00:00 to 14-DEC-22 09:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: CoCoRaHS

Snowfall totals of 6 to 10 inches were reported across the southern portion of Cass County with a high report of 13.5 inches near Pine River.

Heavy Snow in SOUTHERN ITASCA, MINNESOTA
From 13-DEC-22 23:00:00 to 14-DEC-22 14:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: CoCoRaHS

Snowfall totals of 10 to 15 inches were recorded across the southern part of Itasca County by the time the storm ended on the 15th. The highest report was 18 inches outside of Grand Rapids.

Heavy Snow in CROW WING, MINNESOTA
From 13-DEC-22 21:00:00 to 15-DEC-22 08:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: CoCoRaHS

Snowfall totals of 9 to 13 inches were recorded across the county with a high report of 16 inches received near Nisswa.

Heavy Snow in NORTHERN AITKIN, MINNESOTA
From 14-DEC-22 01:00:00 to 14-DEC-22 12:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: CoCoRaHS

Snowfall totals of 6 to 12 inches were reported across the northern part of Aitkin County with a high report of 13.9 inches recorded near McGregor.

Heavy Snow in SOUTHERN AITKIN, MINNESOTA
From 14-DEC-22 01:00:00 to 14-DEC-22 11:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Public

Snowfall totals of 6 to 10 inches were reported across the southern part of Aitkin County with a high report of 15.5 inches recorded near Finlayson.

Heavy Snow in PINE, MINNESOTA
From 13-DEC-22 20:00:00 to 14-DEC-22 13:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: COOP Observer

Snowfall totals of 8 to 14 inches were reported across Pine County with a high report of 18.3 inches recorded near Sturgeon Lake..

Ice Storm in SOUTHERN ST. LOUIS / CARLTON, MINNESOTA
From 13-DEC-22 20:00:00 to 13-DEC-22 23:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Public

A period of freezing rain at the onset of the storm led to around a quarter of an inch of accumulation in parts of Carlton County. A high report of 0.3 inches of ice was received from Wrenshall.

Blizzard in SOUTHERN ST. LOUIS / CARLTON, MINNESOTA
From 15-DEC-22 03:00:00 to 15-DEC-22 09:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: ASOS

A six hour period of blizzard conditons was recorded at the Duluth airport during the morning of the 15th. In addition to the blizzard conditions, 1 to 2 feet of snow was received with a high report of 28.5 inches in the Gary New Duluth neighborhood at the south end of Duluth.

Blizzard in SOUTHERN ST. LOUIS / CARLTON, MINNESOTA
From 14-DEC-22 06:00:00 to 14-DEC-22 14:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: ASOS

An eight hour period of blizzard conditions was recorded at the Duluth airport on the morning of the 14th and continuing into the early afternoon hours. A second period of blizzard conditions occurred the next morning as well.

Blizzard in SOUTHERN LAKE, MINNESOTA
From 14-DEC-22 04:00:00 to 14-DEC-22 12:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Mesonet

Blizzard conditions were experienced for a period of eight hours along the shore of Lake Superior during the morning of the 14th. Snowfall totals for the event of 1 to 2 feet were common with a high report of 29 inches in Finland.

Blizzard in SOUTHERN COOK, MINNESOTA
From 14-DEC-22 09:00:00 to 14-DEC-22 14:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: ASOS

Blizzard conditions were experienced for around five hours during the morning and early afternoon hours of the 14th. An additional period of blizzard conditions was experienced on the morning of the 15th as well.

Blizzard in SOUTHERN COOK, MINNESOTA
From 15-DEC-22 05:00:00 to 15-DEC-22 12:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: ASOS

A second period of blizzard conditions were seen over a seven hour period on the morning of the 15th. Snowfall totals for the event of 10 to 18 inches were recorded with a high report of 21 inches near Lutsen.