Guess the Snowfall: We have a winner

When Michele Burnett was about to enter the Guess the Snowfall game back in November, she sized up the competition, not the weather.

Most people would go with the expectations of a second-straight snowy winter, she figured. So to get away from the crowd, she lowballed it.

Burnett's guess of 18 inches of snow for the entire season made her the winner in this year's Guess the Snowfall seasonal contest. Hers was the lowest guess of the nearly 70 entries.

"I just randomly chose a number," she said.

The Twin Cities has received 22.3 inches of snow this winter, the lowest in nearly 30 years. Last winter? The fourth-snowiest on the books, with 86.6 inches.

Burnett, 40, an office manager, said she's neither a winter-lover nor winter-hater. She survives by taking her 10-year-old son sledding and tubing and giving thanks that her commute runs against the traffic.

"I generally try to get out and enjoy it -- to some extent," she said.

Meanwhile, the March monthly contest, the season finale, produced a unique, no-fun situation: no winner at all.

The Twin Cities received 1.3 inches of snow in the month, all by March 8, and everybody guessed there would be more than that. The rule is that the winner is the one with the guess closest to the official total without exceeding it. Sorry to say that's a DQ for everybody, and not in a good way.

See you in December, when winter is scheduled to return.