If you grew up in the Twin cities, you know that winter is more than just a season, it take up half the year, and to many the worst part of winter is the snow. The blizzard that hit in December 2010 took things to a whole new level. Snow piled up so fast that the roads became invisible, and the Metrodome's roof actually collapsed under the weight of the snow.
I interviewed my older brothers, and they said that they'd never seen so much snow on the roads. They couldn't distinguish between the roads and the sidewalks, and some cars were buried up to their handles in snow. Schools were closed for days, and the city scrambled to clear streets while emergency crews rescued stranded drivers. In a state like Minnesota, snowplows go out quickly after a storm, but it was different this time. The snow fell so fast that the plows couldn't keep up. Visibility was low making it dangerous for plows to operate at their full speeds. Main roads were prioritized, which led to my neighborhood in south Minneapolis not having the snow cleared for 3 days. People were forced to dig their cars out the snow.
Why did this blizzard hit so hard? It all comes down to cold arctic air from the north colliding with warm air from the Gulf of Mexico. When the warm air rises over the cold air, it's cooled, leading to it not being able to hold as much water. The moisture then condenses into snowflakes. These conditions aligned perfectly in the 2010 storm leading to the snow being particularly moist and heavy which made it harder to plow.
Sources:
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. (2010, December 12). Blizzard and Snowstorm - December 10-11, 2010. Retrieved from https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/climate/journal/101210_11_blizzard.html
Yuen, L. (2010, December 15). Snowstorm brings winners and losers. MPR News. Retrieved from https://www.mprnews.org/story/2010/12/14/snowplowing-problems
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