New Hope Crews Cleaning Up from Heavy, April Snow
For people who move snow for a living, it’s been a long winter.
“Definitely, definitely tired,” says Steve Rolhoff, a plow driver for the city of New Hope.
A winter storm on Friday night and Saturday morning dumped close to a foot of snow in many Twin Cities communities. The heavy, wet snow brought down trees and power lines and also pushed maintenance vehicles to their limits. New Hope Streets and Parks Supervisor Andrew Kramer says his department had “four major pieces of equipment break down” during this latest storm.
“I was in one of our big trucks Saturday morning doing the streets and you burn through a full tank of fuel in about six hours, the whole time moving about 10 to 15 miles an hour just creeping along and you didn’t dare stop because if you did you had to backup 20 feet and get a good run at it,” says Rolhoff.
New Hope Weather Watcher Steve Reckers says the 8.8″ of snow that fell in the most recent storm helped the northwest suburbs set a record for the snowiest winter on record, with 91.4 inches recorded this season.
Kramer calls this the most challenging winter in his six years on the job.
“Usually it snows, we plow and move on but this winter we’ve had quite a few events where it’s day after day after day and the guys are in the trucks for long periods of time trying to get things cleared up,” says Kramer.
For the men and women who plow our streets, it’s a labor of love. They’re often commuting to work in the middle of night on un-plowed streets so the rest of us don’t have to.
There’s no rest for the weary with more snow possible later this week. But winter won’t last forever and soon they’ll get some well-deserved rest and relaxation.
“We could sure use a 60,70 degree day and have a weekend off for these guys,” says Kramer.
See also: Long Snow Melt Delays Start to Golf Season
