Minnesotans dig out, make most of heavy spring snow
MINNEAPOLIS — Spring snow is something Larry Schlais is used to, just not over half a foot of it in late March.
"It's been very easy throughout the whole winter, and then all of a sudden we get dumped on," said Schlais.
And it's no ordinary snow.
"It gets to the point where it's quite heavy, so you just got to take it a little bit at a time," said Schlais.
This heavy wet spring snow was too much for his snowblower, so on Monday, he opted for a shovel.
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Our heavy wet snow is often referred to as heart attack snow. The American Heart Association recommends taking breaks while shoveling, as well as pushing snow, as opposed to lifting it.
"We're kind of doing just the finishing touches now," said Jenny Krantz.
Krantz and her 8-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, have put off shoveling, instead to rekindle a winter tradition in the spring.
"We didn't really have a whole lot of snowman-making opportunities," said Krantz. "We usually at least do this a couple times, last year we made Elsa and Anna and Olaf. This year, we're just kind of winging it with what we can do with this dirty slushy snow."
Schlais is hoping this is the last time this spring he has to pull out the shovel.
"One more of these would be too many," said Schlais.
Some plows struggle with heavy, wet snow
You don't have to shovel the snow to feel the weight of this burden. Plow driver Dave Gray said his routes took him 10 hours Sunday into Monday.
"(It's like) Pushing concrete," he said. "You can break axles, drive shafts, transmission. Just about anything on the truck can go pushing snow like this."
That's exactly what happened to one of Gray's crew on an overnight job in Golden Valley.
"I pulled up to my first driveway and turned on the blower. I blew out two feet of snow and then it shut off," Jeff Lien said. "Clunk, clunk, clunk, clunk. And no snow coming out."
"Everything is shaking around and you're ramming into stuff. Starts spinning sometimes. It's difficult," Gray said.
The weight of the snow is a big issue but not the only one. Mechanics at Lano Equipment told WCCO that a lot of the equipment has been dormant. The last snow before this weekend was on Valentine's Day.
Lano mechanics said they've been slammed since Sunday, and they had a full schedule again starting at 7 a.m. They're dealing with a little bit of everything: People wrecking tires, running into curbs, hitting rocks with the snow equipment and a lot of no-starts.