Storm too severe for shoppers, plows too

WINONA, Minn. — Big Box retailers, normally buzzing like beehives with Sunday shoppers, were eerily quietly. The usual customer volume virtually vanished with peole stayed off road and streets as snow from a mid-March storm piled up. Employees stayed home too. Church services were cancelled across southern Minnesota and adjoining Wisconsin and Iowa. The snow and severe winds let up at mid-afternoon. But anticipating a second wave, many school districts cancelled classes for Monday. The Minnesota Transportation Department’s snowplows crews found keeping up too difficulty keeping and were remaining off the roads. The State Patrol issued a do-not-drive advisory for 11 counties for its District 6:

Earlier: Winter parking rules expire just as big snow arrives