Staff photo by Fritz Busch Brown County Highway Engineer Andrew Lang stands in front of two new snow removal vehicles. At left is a 2024 Western Star Tandem dump truck with play and a 2024 John Deere tractor with a snowblower.

NEW ULM — There is no notable snow anytime soon in the local weather forecast, but Brown County Highway Engineer Andrew Lang said he’s looking forward to snow on the ground here sometime this winter.

“The more snow, the merrier. I like to go on vintage snowmobile runs. Right now, I’d have to go to Duluth and points north to do that,” said Lang.

“We got a little snow right before Christmas here. We had some ice and a light dusting of snow in January. We haven’t been out much doing snow and ice control, so we shifted to maintenance work, some of it in the shop when it was really cold out. We did some tree trimming under and around bridges and guardrails,” he said.

It has not snowed much here for a couple years.

“In 2023, we had 4,975 equipment hours for snowplowing and ice control and used 1.645 tons of salt-sand mix. January through April 2023 was snow heavy. In 2024, had just 2,230 snowplowing and ice control equipment hours, a 55% reduction in staff and equipment hours from 2023. Last year, we used 1,100 tons of salt-sand,” said Lang.

He said the county highway department has delivered just 125 tons of salt/sand mix this winter so far which has saved the highway department about $16,000 this winter.

“Even if we don’t use all the 800 tons of salt/sand bought, we still have to purchase it. If we don’t use it all, there is a 20% savings ($16,000) this winter so far,” said Lang.

He said a number of highway department workers talk about cyclical weather forecasting.

“Using that formula 90 days after heavy fog, February and March would be very snow heavy. So far, the challenge this winter is keeping staff busy with things other than snowplowing and ice removal,” said Lang.

The highway department recently received replacement vehicles including a 2024 Western Star tandem dump truck with a directional snowplow that cost more than $330,000; and a 2024 John Deere tractor with a large snowblower that isn’t quite as costly as the new truck.

“We ordered the truck more than a year ago. It finally showed up here. The truck flow can be turned to the left or right to use the wind to our advantage and avoid snow dust is its really blowing,” he said.

Lang said a tractor with a front-mounted snowblower makes it easier to clean up road intersections.

“We haven’t been able to use the new equipment yet, but its ready to go,” he said.