The award for Worst April Fool’s Joke of 2023 goes too… drum roll please…

Mother Nature!

Yes, that is right, Mother Nature wins for the roughly eight inches of the wet, heavy white stuff she dumped on Hastings on Saturday. This winter has already been a top ten year for most snow and Saturday’s snow put this year as the third snowiest winter since 1884 according to the snowfall totals at Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport (MSP).

October teased Minnesotans a little, normally we receive 0.8 inches in October and this year we ended up with half of that at 0.4 inches. But then November went and said ‘kidding!’ when we received 13 inches compared to the 6.9 inches of average snowfall. December was the same, 19.8 inches of actual snowfall to the 11.8-inch average.

January more than doubled the 10.7-inch average by dumping 22.3 inches of the white stuff. February saw 15.5 inches compared to the 9.9-inch average. March copied February with 15.5 inches again compared to the 8.7-inch average. We are, according to the MSP official snowfall totals, half an inch under the average for April. April averages 3.7 inches and we are at 3.2 inches as of April 3rd with more snow in the forecast for Wednesday and Thursday this week.

For the 2022-23 Winter season, we sit at 89.7 inches total with potentially more on the way. 89.7 inches puts this year just 5.4 inches out of second place and 9.0 inches out of first place. Normally, there would be a vote to break the record from this reporter, but it is time the snow went away.

Early dates on the spring sports schedules are already being moved and other dates are in jeopardy, there are hundreds of doggie land mines in people’s yards that need to be removed, spring cleaning to be done, sports fields that need to be worked on, bike/walking trails and sidewalks to be cleaned, and a lot of people would really like to get out and do stuff outdoors.

“But it is so pretty!”

Yes, it is, but it was also a huge pain for many area residents. Hundreds of trees were damaged due to the weight of the snow, powerlines were knocked down, internet service interruptions and it was not only difficult to go anywhere, it was dangerous with many accidents on the roads. Some residents were lucky and the power was only out for a few hours, many residents did not see their power return until late Saturday evening and a few did not have power back for over 36 hours. That is a long time without heat and the ability to cook.

For Hastings, it seems as though the community was fortunate, no major accidents or injuries were reported, so we can enjoy the beauty of the scenery created by Mother Nature, but now that it has melted off the trees and it has become time to clean up, it is also time for the snow to go.