Not Over Yet! More Snow Monday

A winter storm dumped about a foot of snow in the Minnetonka area on Sunday-- and more is coming. According to the National Weather Service, another two to four inches of snow is expected on Monday, with the heaviest snow falling this afternoon. 

Mn/DOT has currently listed the driving conditions on Minnetonka roads as "difficult." Along Interstate 494 Sunday, six vehicle accidents were reported in Minnetonka.

Lieutenant Eric Roeske of the Minnesota State Patrol said that the snow isn't keeping people home today. In fact he called this morning's commute "very busy." 

According to Roeske, between 10:00 p.m. on Sunday and 7:45 a.m. this morning, 32 crashes, three of those with injuries, 92 spun-out or rolled-over vehicles, and two jackknifed semis, were reported in the metro area.

On Monday morning a Minnesota State Trooper sustained non-life threatening injuries when the trooper's squad car was struck by a semi-truck on Interstate 94 near St. Cloud. That accident has shut down westbound Interstate 94. 

Minnetonka schools have not made any announcements about cancellation of activities. However, schools are closed today to mark the President's Day holiday. For more information on how the Minnetonka schools handle snow, click .

Winter 2010-11 is on pace to be one of the snowiest on record. The average annual snowfall for Minnetonka is usually less than 50 inches--total. But by the first day of February, the city's snowfall total was already 10 inches higher than average for the season.

The city of Minnetonka operates 29 vehicles in their snow response fleet, including dump trucks, loaders and snowplows.  A city-wide snow removal operation kicks off when two inches of snow have accumulated.

During a snow removal effort, Minnetonka is divided into 24 zones. Each zone has what the city calls an "arterial" street and "collector" streets. Snow plows clear these roads first. Residential streets and cul-de-sacs are plowed last.  City crews aim to clear streets and cul-de-sacs within 10 hours. 

Consider this, as of January 31, Minnetonka's public works crews had:

• Participated in 10 full-scale plowing operations — a normal season total, with the snowiest months still to come!

•  Plowed a total of 13,340 miles of city roads — the equivalent of crossing the United States 10 times.

• Spread 1,600 tons of salt.

•  Used giant snow blowers to move 360,000 cubic yards of snow from trails and sidewalks — which would cover nearly two football fields to a depth of 20 feet.

Stay with Minnetonka Patch for all your breaking weather news, including area closings, delays and road conditions. 

 ***

 Information in this report was taken from February's city newsletter, The Minnetonka Memo.