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Today's trick weather question:

How many inches of snow will it take for the city of Minneapolis to declare a snow emergency?

Answer: It's April, and the days of snow emergencies are over.

"Even if it snowed 10 inches, we'd plow as best we could, then let it go at that," said Mike Kennedy, the city's director of winter operations. "We know whatever falls can't last."

Those words may help many Minnesotans swallow one more dose of winter. The National Weather Service was predicting that the metro area would get 3 to 5 inches of snow, with the heaviest snowfall beginning as morning rush hour starts and continuing until noon. Light snow is expected through the end of evening rush hour.

Southern Minnesota, including Albert Lea, Mankato and Rochester, is expected to get 10 or more inches by evening. People there could see 2 to 3 inches by the time they wake today, with the bulk expected to fall by 3 p.m.

Weather Service forecaster Dan Effertz said some of the snow that fell Tuesday night, while measurable, would probably melt on warm pavement and soil, but begin to accumulate by morning as temperatures drop.

Kent Barnard, spokesman for the state Department of Transportation, said that with a little overnight melting, morning commuters would find "decent conditions." A full fleet of plows is on standby, he added.

In Minneapolis, where the ordinance allows snow emergencies only between Dec. 1 and April 1, the Public Works Department has already begun spring street sweeping, picking up sand from the winter, Kennedy said. In some neighborhoods, signs have been posted banning parking to make way for street sweepers, with towing as much a threat as during a snow emergency. Those signs could be taken down and enforcement canceled if crews need to be diverted to snow plowing, Kennedy said. But some of the city's trucks have already been refitted for sweeping anyway.

The city of St. Paul doesn't have a final date for snow emergencies, an official said.

South-central Minnesota may see more snow Friday and Saturday.