Howling Winds Visit Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — It's a windy day across much of Minnesota.

The National Weather Service says winds will gust over 60 mph in southwestern Minnesota, while 50 mph gusts will be common over the rest of southern Minnesota into west-central Wisconsin. Gusts up to 66 mph were recorded overnight in Redwood Falls in southwestern Minnesota, and 50 mph in Bloomington in the Twin Cities area.

The top gust reported at the Rochester Airport was 52 mph at around 10:15 Monday morning.

No travel is advised in far northwestern Minnesota.

The heavy rain on Christmas contributed to the wettest year on record in the Twin Cities, surpassing a mark that had stood for over a century. The weather service says nearly an inch of rain Sunday boosted total precipitation for the year to 40.27 inches, breaking the old record of 40.15 inches set in 1911.