Snow emergencies declared in Minneapolis, St. Paul

Heads up to everyone living or traveling in Minneapolis or St. Paul: Snow emergencies have been declared in Minneapolis and St. Paul after a few inches fell in the cities.

According to the National Weather Service, most areas of the Twin Cities received 2 to 5 inches of snow from Saturday into early Sunday.

The emergency parking restrictions in Minneapolis take effect beginning at 9 p.m. Sunday so crews can plow more than 1,000 miles of streets as widely as possible.

Violators run the expensive risk of being ticketed and towed. The city offers this link as a money- and aggravation-saving tool: minneapolismn.gov/snow.

Here's the day-to-day breakdown:

• 9 p.m. Sunday to 8 a.m. Monday, no parking on either side of a designated snow emergency route.

• 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday, no parking on the even-numbered side of a non-snow emergency route or on either side of a parkway.

In St. Paul, the snow emergency rollout goes something like this:

• 9 p.m. Sunday, no parking on streets designated as a "night plow route."

• 8 a.m. Monday, no parking on streets designated as a "day plow route."

St. Paul offers a map to help sort out any uncertainty. It's at stpaul.gov/snow.

The snow emergency is in effect until 9 p.m. Thursday.