According to the Minnesota State Patrol, from 6:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., 1/18/2020, there where 342 crashes in Minnesota with a majority of them in Stearns county.
It did not matter if you had an four wheel drive vehicle. If you drove too fast for the roads covered in ice, odds where you where going to crash.
The winter storm last night quickly changed over to freezing rain which coated the freshly plowed roads with a dangerous glaze of ice that made for treacherous driving conditions all day. Add in the drastic temperature drop today and the high winds and blowing snow and you had the perfect setup for extremely dangerous driving conditions on every road.
The roads where so bad, at one point first responders where being hit by vehicles loosing control while helping out vehicles that already crashed.
A large portion of the crashes reported where in fact roll over accidents.
Shot Description
Clip 1 Tow truck dragging a rolled over vehicle out of the ditch.
Clip 2 Tow truck flipping the vehicle back onto its wheels.
Clip 3 Multi accident crash scene on highway 23 near Rockville, MN where the ambulance was actually rear-ended by a car while they where on the scene of a roll over in the ditch.
Clip 4 Flat bed wrecker pulling a rolled over tuck back out of the ditch near Avon.
Clip 5 – 6 Roll over SUV on Highway 15 as a State Trooper just got on scene right after it happened.
Clip 7 SUV spun out in the deep snow on the side of Highway 23.
Clip 8 State Trooper and tow truck on the scene of a car that crashed into the center cables on Interstate 94.
Clip 9 – 11 State Trooper on the scene of a spin out on Interstate 94 near Avon, MN.
Clip 12 – 13 State Trooper on the scene of a white vehicle that crashed on Interstate 94 near Avon, MN.
Clip 14 SUV with a Trailer that spun 180 degrees in the wrong direction and crashed in the deep snow in the ditch on Interstate 94 near Avon, MN
Clip 15 – 16 Roll over accident on Highway 75 in Saint Joseph, MN.
Clip 18 – 22 Brutal blowing snow along County Road 2 near Saint Joseph, MN.
Clip 23 Probably the safest way to get around today was like this person on a Snowmobile passing by the camera in Saint Cloud, MN.
Clip 24 – 26 POV shots of blowing snow over an ice covered Interstate 94.
Clip 27 – 30 Snow plow crews trying to clear the ice and treat Interstate 94 with salt and brine.