Snowmelt and heavy rain causing road closures in northern Minnesota
A combination of snowmelt and heavy rain is causing issues along the North Shore of Minnesota.
This week, Superior National Forest closed multiple roads that have been closed and washed out this week due to the conditions.
District ranger Kyle Stover says it comes after a triple threat of melting snow, heavy rain and thawing roads. Heavy rains dumped nearly two inches of rain across portions of the area this week.
"It's those three conditions coming together," Stover said. "That's where we start to see problems."
The conditions at Gooseberry Falls State Park in Lake County were calmer on Friday compared to last week, when major flooding forced the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources to close some trails in the area.
Stover says the conditions are expected this time of year and that anyone headed to the state park should have a plan.
"We want people to know before they go, before they come here, that they can check the conditions," he said.
Visitors at Gooseberry Falls on Friday said they came specifically because they wanted to see how bad the flooding had gotten.
"We haven't been here in a few years, but we wanted to check out the falls because we heard they were really roaring," said Brittany Rickson.
Jeanne Lager traveled from Austin to photograph the falls.
"Well, I knew there was a snow melt, there had been some rain, so the conditions were pretty good for like, raging waterfall," she said.
Gooseberry Falls State Park is around 40 miles northeast of Duluth.