Mother Nature continues to throw snow our way, padding her stats as she does it. This season, Brainerd surpassed its previous snowfall record of 80.6 inches set in the winter of 1996-97.

As of April 17th, more than 85 inches of snow had fallen on the city, but that number will grow once the snow from Thursday’s storm is factored in. Although it may seem surprising, given it has been one of the milder winters in the area, it makes more sense than you’d think. Joe Moore of NOAA and the National Weather Service in Duluth explains that warmer temperatures allow for more precipitation in the air and thus results in more snow.

“Brainerd had 11 days with at least three inches of snow or greater and 32 days where an inch or more fell,” said Moore. “That’s the most days we’ve ever seen on record.”

In fact, due to the La Niña event occurring the past few years, Brainerd has seen the last four years all fall into the top ten snowiest winters.

All that snow means a lot of clean up for the cities and counties. Crow Wing County Engineer Timothy Bray estimates it has cost $2 million over budget to plow roads and highways across the county. But the costs don’t stop there.

“The same folks that work hard on our roads plowing would be out crack sealing,” he said. “There’s a ton of potholes out there that we’re just not able to address until it dries out.”

By — Charlie Yaeger