Angie Reinoehl/MDN Contractor Cliff Crosby clears a snow drift in front of a garage at the Prairie Heights apartment complex in northwest Minot on Monday afternoon.

March came roaring in like a lion over the weekend, but the accumulated snow proved not to be a challenge for Minot’s Public Works Department or for locals reaching for their shovels and snowblowers.

“It’s definitely been a strange winter for us. It seems like we kind of have Colorado weather where it’s in the 30s and 40s and once the snow gets here, it melts a few weeks later. The freezing rain and ice has been a challenge, but I think we’re battling through it pretty good,” said Storm Sewer Superintendent Kevin Braaten.

According to measurements from the North Central Research Extension Center, a little over 5 inches of snow and .59 inches of moisture were recorded between Friday and Sunday in the area.

Braaten said City of Minot Public works crews were out sanding the streets on Saturday afternoon and again later that evening in anticipation of forecasted freezing rain.

“We ended up having a crew of sanders come in at 8 o’clock p.m. on Saturday. That’s kinda when everything got cooler and the whole town got slippery. By Sunday morning everything was kind of melting for the most part so our sanders did the trick. We didn’t get any additional snow,” Braaten said. “Sunday at 8 a.m. we had a full crew of blades coming in and we deployed our blades about 12:30 or 1 o’clock to start blading snow routes.”

Snow removal crews follow a priority list set in the City’s Snow Removal Plan, beginning with Broadway and Burdick Expressway before turning to emergency routes like 16th Street Southwest around Dakota Square Mall and 37th Avenue South which leads to Trinity Hospital.

“That’s one of our top priorities to keep that area open. Until that area gets populated with storefronts or any kind of windbreak infrastructure that’s going to be a challenge. If we get windy years with heavy amounts of snow fall, 37th Avenue could really be a challenge because it really blows in there,” Braaten said.

Braaten said the Storm Sewer crew has also been working to clear the City’s sidewalks and walking paths. Work began on Sunday, with work completed on 90% of the major walking paths such as the one near the water treatment plant, though work is still progressing on the narrower 5-foot sidewalks as they require more time and specialized equipment.

Meteorologist James Telken with the National Weather Service in Bismarck said Minot will be getting a light dusting of snow beginning tonight and extending into Wednesday that could bring a couple more inches.

“Otherwise temperatures look around average this time of year Tuesday through Thursday. Things start to warm up again and by Sunday it will back up in the upper 30s, maybe 40s for the Minot area. It looks like after Wednesday things look pretty dry through the weekend,” Telken said.