For snow emergency information in St. Paul, go to the web site or call 651-266-PLOW. For snow emergency information in Minneapolis, go to the City’s snow Web page or call 612-348-SNOW. For more complete snow information from both cities, read on.
Saint Paul snow season facts & figures
• Online Information. The city’s web site has information on snow removal in 14 different languages.
• Snow Hotline. Residents may call 651-266-PLOW for 24-hour up-to-date information on snow emergencies.
• Snow Emergency Declaration. The City declares a Snow Emergency after snowfalls of 3” or more OR an accumulation of 3” of snow over several days.
• Not a Small Task. Saint Paul plows 870 miles of streets to the curb on each snow emergency.
• Snow Emergency Costs: An average snow emergency costs the City $500,000.
• Tag & Tow Information. Saint Paul has averaged nearly 3,500 tickets and 820 tows per snow emergency in the past 5 years.
SnowAlert. More than 35,000 people have signed up on the city website to be notified of snow emergencies via e-mail or text message.
• Snow Removal Guidelines. By Saint Paul City Code, property owners are responsible for removing snow and/or ice from public sidewalks within 24 hours after the snow and/or ice has ceased to fall, gather, or accumulate.
Minneapolis snow season facts & figures
• Snow Web page. The City’s snow Web page contains all the Snow Emergency parking rules and other details about the City’s efforts to keep roads clear and safe during the winter. The site also has detailed Snow Emergency information in Hmong, Spanish, Somali, Oromo, Vietnamese and Laotian.
• Snow hotline. The City’s 24-hour snow hotline, 612-348-SNOW, gives callers the latest updates. This year, for the first time, Snow Emergency information is available in a number of languages by calling just one number. Callers to the hotline can hear information in English, Spanish, Somali, or Hmong. Callers who need more information can just dial 311 for assistance.
• It’s a big job! During a Snow Emergency, Minneapolis crews plow 1,100 miles of streets curb-to-curb, along with clearing 400 miles of alleys. Altogether, plows clear 3,200 lane miles, enough to plow a lane from Minneapolis to Anchorage, Alaska.
• Interactive maps. The City’s Web site has interactive neighborhood maps that show where you can and can’t park each day of a Snow Emergency. Just enter your address or select a neighborhood to get a detailed map. To access the maps, just go to the snow Web page and click on “street lookup.”
• Automated phone calls. The day a Snow Emergency is declared, Minneapolis makes about 100,000 automated phone calls to residents, alerting them that a Snow Emergency has been declared. To add your cell phone to the call list, just visit the snow Web page . Non-English-speaking people can sign up to get their phone calls in Spanish, Somali, or Hmong by visiting the snow Web page and looking for the sign-up page under their respective language pages.
• E-mail and text message alerts. More than 18,000 folks have signed up to get e-mail or text message notifications when a Snow Emergency is declared. Anyone can add their e-mail address to the list or request a text message to their cell phone by visiting the snow Web page .
• Tickets and tows. Residents do a good job of following the parking rules (95 percent of cars are parked according to Snow Emergency rules), but during a Snow Emergency, as many as 1,500 vehicles or more can be towed to the Impound Lot.
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