Minnesota doesn't have much in the way of glaciers and mountains, but this year we have the next best thing: giant snow piles.
The particularly long and snowy winter has also resulted in particularly big snow piles like the celebrated Mount Eden Prairie. The massive mound at the Eden Prairie Center became a symbol of our snow-filled winter after a red Target shopping cart was defiantly parked on its summit.
Photos of the snow pile took on such a viral life last month that the image inspired artistic renderings and t-shirts.

Mount Eden Prairie is not alone, of course. There are plenty of other snow mountains around town. According to one study of a snowy urban areas, about 15 percent of residential areas are covered with large snow piles during the winter.

Which inspires this question: How long are those snow piles going to be around?
If history is any guide, it could be nearly summer until they're completely melted away.
During the winter of 2010-2011, a big snow pile in the parking lot of what was then the Sears store in St. Paul got so big that it was dubbed the Sears Alps and became a local tourist attraction. By June, there was still an icy mound a few feet high, covered with dirt mixed with garbage.
It's no wonder that the remnants of that winter hung around so long. At the time, the winter of 2010-2011 was the fourth snowiest winter on record for the Twin Cities. But 2010-2011 just got bumped back a space because this year became the third snowiest winter on record for the area.