Before you park your car on Minneapolis streets, look to see if there is a temporary "No Parking" sign on the block.

Starting today, city crews will begin sweeping the city streets remove the dirt and gunk left behind by the winter's copious amounts of snow and ice.

The annual street sweeping ritual is getting off to a slightly later start this year due to the prolonged cold and snow, but the city says it will clean the 1,000 miles of streets by May 16.

Signs will be posted at least 24 hours before a street is swept, the city said. Violators will are subject to a ticket and their vehicles towed to the Minneapolis Impound Lot.

On days streets are swept, parking will be prohibited between 7:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Drivers can park on the streets after the temporary "No Parking" signs are removed.

City officials say they will leave voicemail messages for residents a day before their street is to be cleaned, about 3,500 a day. A schedule of streets to be swept is also available on the city website.

Rules about sweeping along with messages and videos in English, Hmong, Somali and Spanish also will be on the website and on cable channels 14 and 79.