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Miserable Winter? More Like Mild, According To The DNR

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Over the past couple of weeks, we've dealt with everything from a polar vortex to heavy snow fall, combined with some serious ice.

Sounds pretty miserable right? Not if you look at the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources' Twin Cities Snow and Cold Index, formerly known as the Winter Misery Index.

Good Samaritans Push Car During Snow Storm
(credit: CBS)

The system assigns things like temperature and snowfall a point value to compare the severity of winters past and present. All measurements are taken at the MSP Airport.

As of Tuesday, this winter ranked as "mild" with 52 points. Thursday's snow will bump things up to "moderate."

Winters have been measured using this index since the year 1900, and the worst one in recent memory was in 2013-2014.

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