Now that winter is officially here, many people are comparing the early winter of 2022 to 2023, and at least so far, they could hardly be more opposite.
Last winter, the Wright County Highway Department’s snowplow crews were pushed to the edge. Between the first snow in late-October and the last snow in early April, there were 84 snow or ice events that had plows on the roads. Officials say it required 118,436 gallons of liquid de-icer, and 12,399 tons of salt that was dropped to melt snow and ice on some 119 thousand miles of roads treated or plowed.
Highway Department Maintenance Superintendent Nate Helgeson says the 2013-14 winter is the only other winter he can remember that even came close to the frequency of snowstorms in the winter of 2022-23.
Though there is no official National Weather Service office in Wright County, official snow totals in St. Cloud and the Twin Cities were between 85 to 90 inches last winter.
While many people have a warm spot in their heart for a White Christmas, Helgeson is among the plow operators and highway maintenance officials that say at least from a safety aspect, a Brown Christmas maybe isn’t all that bad.
