If you haven’t noticed, with the exception of a frigid week in January, it’s been an exceptionally mild winter.
Hastings Public Works Superintendent Joe Spagnoletti is fine with that.
Citing National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration numbers, Spagnoletti said that from Nov. 1, 2022 to Jan. 31, 2023, 55” of snow fell. In that same time from this winter season, there has been 4.6” inches of snow.
“That number is pretty staggering compared to a year ago,” he said.
Last year was pretty extreme as far as snowfall goes. The average snow fall in the Twin Cities is 51.2”, and last year it was about 80”.
For Hastings Public Works employees, it’s been a welcome reprieve.
It’s kind of just like at home, right? When it snows, you have to stop what you’re doing, your normal stuff, and go out and shovel the driveway, rake the snow off the roof. It’s kind of the same for us. We still have all the things we normally do, and then the snow events are in addition to that. It’s welcome.”
The public works crew has still been out salting when necessary, like last Thursday morning when temperatures dropped near freezing with a mist of rain falling.
“We have had six events this year where we’ve had to go out, but it’s been a light snowfall or salting. Last year at this time, we also had six events, but I’m willing to bet that was closer to 18 days of snow. There were a bunch of three-day events last year,” said Spagnoletti.
The lack of snow has helped the Public Works Department to stay on normal tasks at hand. It’s also been easy on the materials budget.
“We usually are kind of doing off-season maintenance. We do all the yearly maintenance and checkups on our summer equipment. Then in the summer we do a lot of maintenance on our winter equipment. It gives our mechanic a chance to really go after that work,” he said. “Storm events are similar to a water main break for us, where we have to stop what we normally do, our regular maintenance and all of our checks and go out. We’re not sitting around waiting for it to snow or waiting for water main breaks. It allows us to get what we want done, versus having to respond on these snow events.”
These lower snow totals are fine with Spagnoletti.
“Aside from maybe having a little bit of snow on the ground for Christmas, at this point I’m fine,” he said.
The short-term forecast is for continued mild weather. The AccuWeather forecast for Wednesday of this week was for a high of 50 degrees. The description for the day: “A great day to be outside.”
A year ago on Jan 31, the low temperature for the day was -12 degrees.
“The added benefit should be less potholes and less street repairs that normally blew up like after last winter with that amount of moisture in the ground,” said Spagnoletti. “I know it’s not over yet, but so far it’s good.”
It’s been a bad season for winter sports enthusiasts. Hastings throughout January heralded the fact that its ice rinks would soon open. They did, and then they soon closed.
“With outdoor ice rinks covered in standing water, we are sad to announce that all warming houses are closed for the season and outdoor rinks will no longer be maintained after a historically short six-day season,” the city posted on its Facebook page.