I Have Enough Snow... It has buried an Adirondack Chair on Our Deck.

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Originally Posted by Tea

I'm more concerned about the plants that stick above ground. Things like yucca, the crowns of ferns, and some low crampbark bushes can take a bit of a beating from it, even though the snow offers them some protection. That's not the only reason I usually shovel by hand though - I really do enjoy the challenge!

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True on the above-ground parts, though my experience is that plants that have a root system and some path to sunlight will find a way regarless of how much is sticking up above the surface! :(

This morning I "enjoyed the challenge" of using a shovel to clear a driveway and two sidewalk cuts to the street which were clogged by what the plow left behind on the night-plow street. The wind chill here is in the minus-teens F at the moment so I "enjoyed" it for as brief a time as I could. I'll haul out the snowblower for the greater amount of work I'll have when the plow cuts through our street. Should be in the minus-single-digits by then...

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Originally Posted by SteveinMN

True on the above-ground parts, though my experience is that plants that have a root system and some path to sunlight will find a way regarless of how much is sticking up above the surface! :(

This morning I "enjoyed the challenge" of using a shovel to clear a driveway and two sidewalk cuts to the street which were clogged by what the plow left behind on the night-plow street. The wind chill here is in the minus-teens F at the moment so I "enjoyed" it for as brief a time as I could. I'll haul out the snowblower for the greater amount of work I'll have when the plow cuts through our street. Should be in the minus-single-digits by then...

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The snowplow residue is so solidly packed that it is hard to move, isn't it? It has been an interesting winter for sure. We are wrestling with the strong winds that Tradd noted. Add a little snow to that and blinding snow is a problem when driving.

I'm just grateful that we have had thaws in between the snowstorms this year. In past years, we haven't, and the mounds of plowed/shoveled snow in my very small, typical, old New England front yard were over 6 feet high. Shoveling is just that much harder when you have to either walk 20 feet to fling the snow into an area that doesn't already have several feet of snow on it, or you have to throw it over your head to get the snow on top of a huge mound of packed snow. There's probably about 3 feet of snow in the front yard, most of it plowed there. The rest of the yard has about 2-3 inches. Three or four winters a ago, there were no thaws and a lot of snow. Our first floor windows on the front of the house looked out onto 8 foot high snow banks for months.

All the parking lots at shopping centers and such have huge mountains of snow, making it challenging to enter and exit aisles of parking spaces. But it is fun to watch the snow mountains melt come April or May, and see what emerges from them. Shopping carts, trash barrels, umbrellas, once I even saw a desk--how that got into a parking lot to be plowed up, I have no idea.

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Originally Posted by razz

The snowplow residue is so solidly packed that it is hard to move, isn't it?

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I just got back in from tackling the stuff the city plow left. It was not as bad as I thought. This snow was so much warmer (!) than the previous two feet or so that it was dense to start with and then the humidity went down and the winds picked up and apparently a fair amount of moisture was carried away. Still, just about what a single-stage snowblower can handle, but a two-stage is so unnecessary so much of the time and a real bear to handle, so we just work a little longer.

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Originally Posted by Miss Cellaneous

All the parking lots at shopping centers and such have huge mountains of snow, making it challenging to enter and exit aisles of parking spaces.

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Not that it's a competition :), but we have those, too, except that in colder springs the very end of them lasts well into June. It's fun to watch visitors from elsewhere (especially warmer climates) watch plow crews in downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul load dump trucks full of snow that is then driven to points unknown to be emptied. There's just nowhere to put it downtown. You adapt here (as do others with heavy snow levels).

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Originally Posted by Miss Cellaneous

But it is fun to watch the snow mountains melt come April or May, and see what emerges from them. Shopping carts, trash barrels, umbrellas, once I even saw a desk--how that got into a parking lot to be plowed up, I have no idea.

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Lots of garbage in those piles for sure. MNDOT usually has an promotional exhibit of the equipment they use at the State Fair; usually they have a fully-outfitted plow truck into which you can climb. Those things are huge and it's hard to see what's around you despite how high up you are. I can see where good-sized plow trucks would not be able to skirt the random shopping cart or road debris and would sweep it into the big pile.

For everyone's viewing pleasure (can't find the original MNDOT video so let's see if the Facebook link works). This is traffic video of a snowplow convoy clearing I-94 near the Twin Cities.

https://www.facebook.com/CBSMinnesot...7844430034762/

You people up there in the tundra, my hat off to you for surviving around there. You are all North of The Wall. Winter is coming.

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Originally Posted by SteveinMN

I just got back in from tackling the stuff the city plow left. It was not as bad as I thought. This snow was so much warmer (!) than the previous two feet or so that it was dense to start with and then the humidity went down and the winds picked up and apparently a fair amount of moisture was carried away. Still, just about what a single-stage snowblower can handle, but a two-stage is so unnecessary so much of the time and a real bear to handle, so we just work a little longer.


Not that it's a competition :), but we have those, too, except that in colder springs the very end of them lasts well into June. It's fun to watch visitors from elsewhere (especially warmer climates) watch plow crews in downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul load dump trucks full of snow that is then driven to points unknown to be emptied. There's just nowhere to put it downtown. You adapt here (as do others with heavy snow levels).


Lots of garbage in those piles for sure. MNDOT usually has an promotional exhibit of the equipment they use at the State Fair; usually they have a fully-outfitted plow truck into which you can climb. Those things are huge and it's hard to see what's around you despite how high up you are. I can see where good-sized plow trucks would not be able to skirt the random shopping cart or road debris and would sweep it into the big pile.

For everyone's viewing pleasure (can't find the original MNDOT video so let's see if the Facebook link works). This is traffic video of a snowplow convoy clearing I-94 near the Twin Cities.

https://www.facebook.com/CBSMinnesota/videos/537844430034762/

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Our parking lot snow mountains usually disappear by the end of May, those last few weeks they are just small mounds of snow and ice that refuse to melt.

My dad worked for the state Department of Transportation for a while. He MC'd the yearly snow plow rally that was held every summer. Things like driving a plow through an obstacle course, pushing a traffic cone in to a specific spot, fixing a "broken" plow that had been disabled. I think there are regional and national plow rallies as well.

Just WOW! You are a hardy bunch.