MPR’s Art Hughes reports on how Twin Cities residents are reacting to the large snowfall to hit the metro. Schools closed, state workers stayed home, businesses hung signs saying they're closed for the day, and the University of Minnesota cancelled classes for the first time since September 11, 2001.
Back-to-back snowstorms between February 23rd through 26th and February 28-March 1, 2007, left a swath of varying amounts of large snow accumulation across the state, including the Twin Cities.
ART HUGHES: A day after a rare closing of the University of Minnesota, student Francesca [? Heyer ?] seemed glad to be going back to class.
FRANCESCA HEYER: They've done a pretty good job of keeping up the sidewalks and everything. And as long as it's not blizzarding, it's quite all right to walk. And they've made it pretty doable for us. And buses have been pretty on time.
And we're paying for education, so I'm glad that they didn't cancel classes today.
ART HUGHES: Heyer, a third-year nutrition student, joined what was expected to be a relatively small turnout of dedicated students the day after the university canceled classes for the first time since September 11, 2001. It was the university's first weather-related cancellation in more than 15 years.
U of M chemistry Professor Lee Penn leaned her cross-country skis against her office wall. Her cheeks rosy after a snowy 5-mile commute from [? south ?] Minneapolis.
LEE PENN: The skiing this year has been pretty crappy. So having an opportunity to ski into work was kind of nice.
ART HUGHES: Penn expects a quiet day in the office, all the better to get work done.
WOMAN: [INAUDIBLE] . You were in the front. Good job!
ART HUGHES: Getting work done is not the order of the day in most places across the metro. School districts canceled classes, state workers stayed home, and businesses hung signs saying they're closed for the day. Drake Lightner's employer, Saint Paul Travelers, gave employees the day off. He headed to The Town & Country Club golf course in Saint Paul with his family.
DRAKE LIGHTNER: Oh, we were just enjoying our snow day. I don't have to work today, and the kids don't have school. So we're just having a good time here.
REPORTER: So the office is closed today.
DRAKE LIGHTNER: They shut her down, yeah. First time in 14 years since I've been working there, they shut it down.
ART HUGHES: Standing in Saint Paul, the new snow might be up to the middle of a person's calf. In Plymouth, it reached to people's knees. No matter the location, though, between this storm and the one less than a week ago, piles of plowed snow are starting to crowd roadways. Saint Paul Public Works Director Bruce Beezy says that's OK for now. Workers won't have to remove the towering roadside snow banks if temperatures rise in the coming days, as predicted.
BRUCE BEEZY: We'll have to see what conditions are like here in the next couple of weeks, if we need to move it or try and shove it back a little bit more or what the conditions warrant. If it starts to melt, we'll just leave it.
ART HUGHES: Somewhere around 550 flights at the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport were canceled because of the storm. Operations returned to near-normal by midday Friday. But airport spokesman Pat Hogan says it will take another day or so before the long lines of backlogged passengers ease up.
PAT HOGAN: So the lines are longer than usual. It's requiring a little more patience of people. And we're encouraging everybody to try to get out here early.
But we are beginning to catch up, and we're beginning to see the end of this, I think.
ART HUGHES: While road travel remained hazardous, especially in southern and western parts of the state, snow plowing and fewer-than-normal drivers combined to keep the commute on major Twin Cities roads relatively uneventful. Metro area temperatures are expected to climb into the mid-30s by Sunday, making for a slushy start to next week. Art Hughes, Minnesota Public Radio News.
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