Minnesotans Putting Best Face Forward Amid Another April Snow Storm, Mostly

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The sounds of spring day in April don't always include a shovel's sidewalk scrape, or the giggles of a gladiator-like game atop home-rolled boulders of snow. But that's exactly what was heard across the Twin Cities Wednesday evening as a lengthy snowstorm got started.

Some people clearly embraced the weather as they put together perfectly packed snowballs. Some others would prefer to escape it.

"I'm not pleased about this at all but we're leaving," Nichole Musser said, albeit with a big smile at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

She and three friends planned a girl's trip for this week back in January. They're headed to Florida. Latacia Greeley was already wearing flip-flops.

"I have stayed through every other snowstorm so it's definitely earned. I get to leave for this one," Greeley beamed.

Hopefully they did leave when they wanted, considering MSP was down to one runway around 5 p.m. as crews plowed another. Dozens of flights were cancelled and more than 100 delayed.

"I'm still optimistic," Greta Libo said as she sat next to her snowboarding gear.

Libo planned a birthday trip to Colorado in search of snow but, as it turned out, could have found it at home.

"I'm waiting to find out about a standby flight that I could potentially get on in three hours," she said.

Driving across the state wasn't any easier. MnDOT reported several crashes and spinouts on interstates. South of Fairbault, the southbound lane of I-35 had to be shut down during the evening commute as plow trucks worked to remove crashed vehicles. It reopened around 8:30 p.m.

Jon Born was trying to get to Chaska from Bloomington, but he figured I-494 would be a traffic nightmare. His tires wouldn't help him much either.

"I had snow tires on this car all winter until about two weeks ago. I took them off. So just gotta be more careful," he said.

Fortunately for Minnesota Twins fans, the snow should subside by Friday night's game against the Detroit Tigers. In April 2018, four games were postponed because of snow.