By Wright County Communications
What a difference a year makes when it comes to the severity of a winter season. While it may be too early to raise the “Mission Accomplished” flag proclaiming we’re done with snow for the 2023-24 winter – last year the final snow event in Wright County was April 16-17 – it appears as though spring has pushed winter out the door for 2024.
With the year-end numbers of snow events, snow totals, salt/de-icer totals, equipment, and manpower comparing the 2022-23 and 2023-24 winter has been startling. Here are the comparisons:
Snow Total: 2022-23 – St. Cloud (88.2 inches), Twin Cities (90.3 inches); 2023-24 – St. Cloud (31.9 inches), Twin Cities (29.5 inches).
Days Working with Snow/Ice Events: 2022-23 – 84; 2023-24 – 26.
Labor Hours: 2022-23 – 12,522. 2023-24 – 4,219.
Gallons of Premium De-Icer Used: 2022-23 – 121,064. 2023-24 – 7,436.
Gallons of Salt Brine Used: 2022-23 – N/A. 2023-24 – 89,995.
Tons of Salt Used: 2022-23 – 13,517. 2023-24 – 4,973.
Miles of Road Treated: 2022-23 – 122,351. 2023-24 – 37,871.
Equipment Hours: 2022-23 – 13,288. 2023-24 – 4,627.
Early Call Days (2 a.m. weekdays): 2022-23 – 36. 2023-24 – 12.