Minnesota snow flurry dustings, unexpected beauty, fall to spring

Wednesday morning, Eden Prairie lawns, roofs and decks were powdered here and there with a thin layer of snow. The flakes brightened the November gloom but signaled the coming of winter. 

The table on our patio and a potted Gaillardia plant held the snow. A single yellow bloom boldly said, “Not so fast, Jack Frost.” That evening, more snow fell, greasing the Crosstown Highway and local streets. Rush hour became an aspiration. But the dandruff has since melted.

New York humorist/writer Madeline Begun Kane crafted a lovely limerick about dissipating flakes on Christmas Eve 2021.

Evanescent Snow Just a smidgen of snow fell last night, Leaving lawns, walks, and roads pristine white. But their coating soon vanished, As if it were banished. By first light, snow took flight; none’s in sight.  Evanescent Snow© is republished here from Mad Kane’s Humor Blog with permission

Kane’s light take on fleeting snows resonates in Minnesota. They appear and disappear each fall and whitewash spring green-ups.

Wednesday’s statewide snow events and yo-yo temperatures prompted 577 road accidents. They also brought to mind times when light snowfalls inspired me to snap photographs. For your consideration:

One wintry October 2023 morning, the parking lot at the Hennepin County Environmental Health Office at Preserve Boulevard and Prairie Center Drive looked like a pond of ink, with luminescent schools of ice fish.

AM950 radio talk show host Matt McNeil walked a frigid Lake Smetana path in November 2020 for an EPLN story about trails. The crusty snow began to melt into puddles soon after.

During Thanksgiving 2018, a thin sheet of ice began advancing from the excursion boat docks on Excelsior Bay, Lake Minnetonka. A few weeks later, ice fishing villages colonized the thickened ice.

Fallen leaves and green duckweed rested in the stillness of Purgatory Creek a few days after a November snow and thaw in 2021. This section of the creek flows through the Edenvale Conservation Area near Edenvale Park.

The need to prolong summer through November is an annual challenge for many Minnesotans. But escaping to the beaches of Cancun or the pickleball courts of Arizona is not a practical option for the mindful. We consider the local options.

Each fall, I remain in Eden Prairie, except for an occasional run to Hopkins for a Dairy Queen. I quietly rake leaves from the lawn and bag them for composting somewhere, maybe Brooklyn Park. A big truck hauls them off on Thursdays.

November becomes a painter’s palette of pewter and khaki pigments. It’s Jeff time. I’ve got my leaf rake and patio greenery in large containers. Damn the howls of neighboring leaf blowers. 

When FOX 9 meteorologist Ian Leonard says it’s going to sleet, snow, blow, or freeze, I move the bananas and tropicals into the garage for a few days. I cart them back to the patio for the usual daytime warm-up. The routine can repeat itself two or three times a week.

I have listened to radio play-by-plays of Gopher football games in November, surrounded by Eden Prairie-grown banana trees. Leonard, a native Canadian, surely understands the enormity of my accomplishment.

“Spring is sprung the grass has riz, I wonder where the birdies is …” Anonymous, but associated with poet Ogden Nash.

Come April, before the tulips pop up, I plant garden center pansies and dahlias. I also assign pink plastic flamingos to posts where the front yard glaciers have receded. And then it snows.

But the white mantels of spring last, at most, a couple of days. The flamingo survives. So, too, sometimes, do the pansies. The muddy month of March and cabin fever are history. The Twins are playing spring ball in Florida.

This year, winter staged a blizzard-like encore on March 26. That didn’t bother Baker’s Ribs on Glen Lane. The Texas-styled barbecue was staging its own encore. The restaurant had been closed for four months to modify and install three new smoker pits. A contained fire had taken out the old one. 

“We were super busy for a blizzardly day,” said owner Al Killian. “We sold out a brisket, and that’s never happened in 30 years.”

Other Eden Prairie businesses remained open and busy; so, too, did the schools and coffeehouses. EP snowplows did their thing. No problema.

Minnesota Tough! Get lost, Jack Frost!

Editor’s note: Writer Jeff Strate is a founding member of EPLN’s Board of Directors.