Staff photo by Fritz Busch Light snow falls on Minnesota Street in downtown New Ulm Thursday morning as the Landsteiners of New Ulm walk north from 2nd St. North. From left, Lauryn holding Tatum and Spencer holding Lennon.

NEW ULM — It was nothing close to the 1991 Halloween blizzard that dumped more than two feet of heavy, slushy snow in much of Minnesota, but Old Man Winter came calling again Thursday, dumping 2 to 3 inches of rain and wet snow in the area.

“It’s not out of the question for snow on Halloween,” said National Weather Service (NWS), Chanhassen Meteorologist Brennan Dettmann.

“Remember last year? We had nearly 2 inches of snow. But this year is likely the second-highest Halloween snowfall of all-time for some places. Snow stretched from New Ulm to the Cambridge area,” he said.

Dettmann said a more active weather pattern with rain Sunday into Monday is forecast.

“It’ll be a cold, sloppy Halloween night. The snow may have taken some people by surprise. It’s good for people to take things slow on the road and use extra caution. After that, we’ll have close to average temperatures. We could get into the 60s Monday, then more sunshine with temps in the 50s. We’ve really had a very dry September and October,” he said.

Sleepy Eye firefighters were called to a car fire on State Highway 4, just south of CR 30, seven miles north of Sleepy Eye at 9:12 a.m. Thursday.

“A car started on fire. The driver pulled over and got out of the vehicle and was not injured. The car was a total loss,” said Sleepy Eye Fire Chief Aaron Schauman.

“The roads were kind of crappy this morning. I told everybody to slow down. We went about 45 mph,” he said.

The 30 degree temperature, rain and wet snow Thursday contrasted with record warm temperatures on Tuesday, Oct. 29. The 80 degree temperature in the Twin Cities broke the old record of 78 degrees set in 1922. It was the latest 80 degree temperature so late in the season for the Twin Cities since 1950, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

Some low 80s were common in southern Minnesota Tuesday. New Ulm recorded an 80-degree high temperature. Sleepy Eye had 79.

The Brown County Sheriff’s Office lifted burning restrictions including CRP land and/or ditches or brush piles, for all of Brown County at 8 a.m. Thursday.

Brown County Sheriff Jason Seidl said three fires were reported during burning restrictions, Oct. 2-31. They included a bean field fire Oct. 17, baler/field fire Oct. 20 and a tree fire in New Ulm Oct. 22.

The NWS forecasts above average temperatures from Nov. 7-13 for Minnesota, Wisconsin, North and South Dakota and much of Iowa. Average seasonal temperatures are forecast for Minnesota in November, December and January.

Precipitation is forecast to be below average Nov. 7-13 for Minnesota, Wisconsin, North and South Dakota. The seasonal precipitation outlook for November, December and January in the Upper Midwest.

For more information, visit https://www.weather.gov.hun/climateforecast.