The Minnesota Department of Public Safety Office of Pipeline Safety is asking everyone to check your gas meters on homes and buildings and make sure they stay free of ice and snow accumulation that can block the regulator vent.

The gas meter has a pressure regulator vent that must be unobstructed to work properly. If that vent is covered by ice or snow, gas may not shut off properly, resulting in too much pressure in the gas lines and cause possible gas leaks inside your home.  A blocked regulator can also cause the gas to shut off causing a loss of service, frozen pipes, and typical problems that arise when there is a lack of heat.

Accumulations: Southeastern Minnesota: 3-6" with locally higher amounts along and north of highway 14. North Iowa: 2-4"

What to Expect: Snow will break out across the area during the mid-morning hours. The snow initially will be light, but will quickly pick-up in intensity during the late morning and early afternoon hours. The snow will quickly accumulate through the afternoon and evening causing difficult driving coming home from work and school. I do anticipate most of the accumulation to be over with by 9 PM this evening.

Below is a comprehensive list of snowfall totals from across Minnesota and Iowa.

The storm which hit from Wednesday into Thursday morning left quite a range of totals across the area.  To the northwest, totals ranged from 6-8" (a bit higher than we expected) but to the east, dry air really took ahold of the system leaving areas around the Mississippi River missing out on the snow all together.  Amounts dropped of drastically just to the east of Rochester and Preston down to just a few snowflakes around Winona and LaCrosse.  Amounts around 4-6" were popular numbers.