Reality Check: Last Winter's Snow Removal Cost Minnesota $136M
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Two words we learned last year that we hope we don't hear again anytime soon: Polar Vortex.
Last winter set new records for Minnesota cold, and now we've learned it also set a new record for how much money was spent on snow and ice removal.
New figures from Minnesota Department of Transportation put the cost of snow and ice removal last winter at $136,228,000, far surpassing the previous record set the year before: $112,300,000.
It was also 70 percent above the 10-year average for snow and ice: $80 million.
Minnesota Department of Transportation snowplow drivers say they consider the winter of 2013-14 to be the stuff of legend.
"Brutal would be the number one word," MnDOT spokesman Kent Barnard said. "We had a lot of back-to-back shifts -- basically, work your shift, go home, get some sleep, turn around and come right back in."
On one particularly terrible day in January, it rained and froze and snowed. Snow and ice removal that day alone cost a jaw dropping $20 million.
The winter of 2013-14 was also record-setting weather, being among the top five coldest since 1872. There were 53 nights below zero in the Twin Cities, one of those nights boasting a 48-below windchill.
Five school days were cancelled in January alone.
"Mother Nature basically got part of the upper hand for the winter, but we were able to fight back and take over," he said. "We won."
