How much snow today? We're talking half a foot or more

Snow, snow and SNOW! Snow is falling at an inch an hour or more today in a rare mid-October storm that could leave more than 8 inches in parts of central Minnesota.

The heavy snowfall prompted the National Weather Service to issue a rare pre-Halloween winter storm warning that runs until this evening in east-central Minnesota.

Check out the latest weather updates on our Updraft blog or follow MPR Weather on Twitter.

COVID-19 hospitalizations shot up to a new record today in Minnesota. The state posted 126 new hospital admissions in its latest data, although the actual patient admissions may be spread over several days.

New cases were about half of the all time high they hit late last week, at 1,120. But testing was also down markedly, as it often is in data from weekend clinic visits. That pushed the positivity rate to nearly 10 percent today. The new data also included seven deaths.

The window for Minnesota voters to swap out an absentee ballot is closed. After today, election officials can begin processing the ballots. That means separating them from their secrecy envelopes so they can be put through tabulating machines. Because of that, there’s no way to trace a ballot back to the voter.