Snow Emergency in Minnesota! Oh, well...

[MineralMan]

It's snowing this morning. It's cold. The morning commute in the Twin Cities was a disaster, with a normal 15 minute commute taking a couple of hours for some folks. Cars in the ditch everywhere. St. Paul and Minneapolis have already declared snow emergencies.

At Noon, it's going to stop snowing here. And crews throughout the Twin Cities will be out plowing, sanding, salting, and clearing away the 4-6" that fell. People at home will be out shoveling, running their snowblowers, and clearing away the accumulation, often for their neighbors' homes as well.

By the evening commute, the main roads will be clear, and commute times will return to close to normal again.

It's Minnesota. We're used to snow and cold here, and our cities and state have equipment and supplies ready to get thing back to normal today. Overnight, all the main streets will be well-plowed, and tomorrow, they'll plow the rest of the side streets and the emergency will be over.

Lots of people have been laughing at places like Atlanta, but they're wrong to do that. Atlanta doesn't usually have snow storms, so there's no reason for that city and other cities in the Southern states to have all that equipment to deal with it. They have a real emergency. Here in the Twin Cities, they call it a snow emergency, but we're ready for it, and will clear it away as we always do. It's not really an emergency. It's just Winter. We have that here, year after year. It's inconvenient, to be sure, but we'll clear it away and get back to our normal routines - until the next snowstorm, anyhow.

I feel bad for those living in places where snow is a real emergency: places where they aren't prepared for it and really have no reason to be prepared for it.

Here in Minnesota, it's just how we live. It snows here. Now, I've got to go out, fire up the snowblower and clear my driveway, along with the sidewalks in front of four houses. I'll be back on DU in an hour or two. No problem.

[TexasProgresive]

1. And even in Minnesota there are cars in the ditches

I don't know why people rag on others because as you say, they are not equipped for the odd winter event.

[MineralMan]

3. Sure. We have drivers here in MN who don't believe

in slowing down. Our ditches, though, are shallow and gentle, so going into the ditch isn't usually a huge deal, at least on the main highways.

We did have a car fire early this morning, though, when a car skidded into a guard rail. One person injured, but not life-threatening, according to the reports.

It's a mess, sometimes, but a short-lived mess.

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. We are a plucky lot down here

[Baclava]

7. hey! where did you get that?

oh.... it's you, Plucky...nevermind

ha

[dixiegrrrrl]

10. Lol...it was worth the sharing, don't ya think???

[Baclava]

11. what's mine is yours

have another...

"Sorry boys, no swimming today"



(no, it's not my pool or my dogs - just another theft I'm passing along)

[Arkana]

17. They just look so confused

"Why is this?"

[Baclava]

22. "do i have to?"

my butt is cold

[Blue_Adept]

4. How long will it not be normal?

It's time to start taking more preventative measures and to be prepared for such things happening more often. I agree, no need to belittle in the slightest considering the hardship many suffered through. But after it happened in '11 and now again, I'd rather see more preparedness set into place for the future.

[MineralMan]

6. I don't know. For now, though, it's not normal there.

[pnwmom]

5. Thank you. You are right -- there is no reason for cities with climates that rarely have snowstorms

to make the investment in snow removal equipment that a city in Minnesota does.

[liberalmuse]

8. Thank you

I live in the Seattle area and feel for Atlanta right now. Why would a place that rarely gets snow invest millions each year on snow removal equipment the won't need 99%of the time?

Yeah, guess I'm really tired of seeing the taunts online, especially here. This is the type of post I expect to see on DU.

[Phentex]

9. I didn't see your thread when I posted my OP...

but a huge difference is the way St Paul and Minneapolis declared the emergency in a timely matter and encouraged people to get off the roads. You talked about snow plows yesterday but if you think about it, that was not the problem in Atlanta. People needed to stay off the roads before they turned to ice.

Btw, the mayor spent 2.5 million on equipment since 2011 and people griped about it.

[MineralMan]

12. Well, there was no call to stay off the roads for

this snowstorm. People were out as usual today, but their trips took longer. Folks are fairly used to driving in snow and ice in this part of the country.

People in Atlanta, though, aren't familiar with ice and snow driving conditions, and there were not strong warnings about the impending weather until too late.

As far as equipment goes, $2.5 million is nothing. Truly. For a city the size of Atlanta, that won't cut it. But, they rarely need to do snow removal and road treatment for ice. So, why would they spend a fortune on equipment that would only be rarely used?

Officials in that area probably should have issued warnings to people, but the predictions really didn't warrant it, it seems. So, stuff got bad there. It can happen. Luckily for Atlanta, temps will be back up in the 60s shortly, and all of that will just disappear. Right now, I have about 30 inches of snow on my yard, and snowbanks about 5' high next to my sidewalks and driveway. We'll get 60 degree weather in April maybe, so that snow and whatever falls in February and March will be around for quite a while.

We deal with it, and it's not that big a deal, but we're prepared.

[DemocraticWing]

13. It's normal enough that they should be prepared there.

The refusal to fund preparedness efforts in Georgia is an awful public policy, and it leads to these disasters every couple years in the Atlanta area. Nobody is making fun of them, we're telling them to start getting prepared and to reform their transportation system to solve the serious problem they have.

That's what government is supposed to do, and as Democrats it's what we're supposed to be advocating for.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

14. I had to drive from Minneapolis to St. Paul this morning

and it wasn't that bad - just kind of slow. I heard the freeways were kind of backed up, but the city streets were manageable. By the time I came home, about 1:00, the plows had been almost everywhere but the side streets and alleys.

But, unlike cities in the south, we have lots of plows and sanding trucks and other such equipment. The cities and counties have them and there are many more operated by snow-removal businesses. This is because it snows every single winter - some winters there's not a lot of snow; some winters there's tons of it, but there is always enough to need plowing. Here, people know how to drive in snow - at least most people; there are always a few morons who drive too fast and end up in the ditch. We know that 4-wheel drive is great in deep snow but useless on ice; that you always steer into the direction of the skid; and that you don't pump ABS brakes. And, unlike the south, we rarely get ice storms because it's too cold. We usually don't have to drive on entire roads covered with glare ice (except when it's really cold and patches of black ice form on bridges).

So it's not fair to make fun of the folks who got stuck on the roads in the Atlanta area, although some blame can be placed on the people who decided to send everybody home at the same time, after not properly heeding the warnings of the National Weather Service. But you can't expect those cities to invest millions in equipment they would rarely use. The real problem with Atlanta is that they are so dependent on cars that even on a normal day the traffic is horrible. What they really need is a mass-transit system that's better than MARTA.

[theHandpuppet]

15. Any concerns for spring floods in the upper Midwest?

Seems like with the unrelenting cold and snow up there, once the upper Midwest thaws out they could be facing some serious spring flooding.

[MineralMan]

16. Well, the Red River of the North is always a

flood concern for Fargo and surrounding cities.

Our snow total, though is not yet above average, so nobody's talking flooding yet. Still, we have February and March yet to go in our heavy snow season, and April, too, can have some heavy snows. So it's too early to think about flooding here so far.

The Mississippi is pretty safe, but the Minnesota River often floods in heavy snow years. We'll just have to wait and see what the rest of winter brings.

[bhcodem]

18. What "snow emergency" really means

Actually, I believe the term is just a reminder to folks that they need to get their parked vehicles out of the way for plowing to be done without the threat of being towed. Not "emergency" in the usual respect. Am I correct in the usage of this term in MN as in Iowa cities?

[MineralMan]

20. yup.

[Phentex]

23. Yes.

That's how the plows can get through and do their jobs.

[jakeXT]

19. VIDEO: 15 spinouts in 25 seconds on Interstate 35

http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/story/24589885/interstate-35-pileup-video-wyoming

[MineralMan]

21. No serious injuries.