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The snow in the forecast Thursday (Feb 24) is nothing compared to the amount of snow that fell over southeast Minnesota three years ago!

As a noted snow-lover, I have to confess that I wish the snowstorm that hit our neck of the woods in Rochester and southeast Minnesota on this date three years ago was in our forecast now.

Do you remember the Big Blizzard of 2019? (I know it was only three years ago, but seeing as it was a full year before the pandemic hit, it seems like it was eons ago, doesn't it?) Yeah, it started snowing on February 22nd, 2019 and kept snowing through the early morning hours of February 24th.

And when we woke up? Yeah, most of us were dealing with between a foot or more of snow that was then whipped into massive drifts, courtesy of Old Man Winter. According to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR), the blizzard was intense:

The storm produced 10-14 inches of snow and 50 mph wind gusts, shutting down multiple hundreds of miles of Interstate, US, and state highways, stranding hundreds of motorists, and whipping up snow drifts the size of houses.

You can see just how big the snowdrifts were in this video posted from Kasson:

This was the storm that produced snowdrifts between 8 and 10 FEET high along some rural highways and caused Gov. Walz to declare a State of Emergency for Freeborn and Steele Counties where National Guard troops and equipment had to be activated to rescue many stranded Minnesotans.

A full foot of snow piled up in our driveway in NW Rochester. (CSJ/TSM-Rochester)
A full foot of snow piled up in our driveway in NW Rochester. (CSJ/TSM-Rochester)
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At our place in northwest Rochester, we had a full foot of snow but other places here in Minnesota's Med City picked up even more, with totals close to 14 inches. You can check out the full snow map below!

National Weather Service/La Crosse
National Weather Service/La Crosse
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Rochester's Sidewalk Snow Removal Rules (Scroll Slowly)

These are the snow removal laws in Rochester, Minnesota. They go for both homes and businesses. All of the information comes from here on the City of Rochester Website.

I say scroll slowly in the title because there's a lot of info here.

Rochester Minnesota's Rules About Snow Plows and Your Mailbox

The City of Rochester, MN, has a set of rules for just about everything, and you betchya there's a set for when one of the city snowplows hit your mailbox. Scroll slowly, take in all the rules, then good luck with winter!

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