Minnesota's strong winter weather left many trees up north dead

MINNEAPOLIS -- If you've driven up north in the past few months you've probably seen hundreds of dead trees. Under the aftermath of our snowy winter are some changes you'll see on your next road trip.

The tall tree tunnel as you head up north on Interstate 35 looks unusual, with hundreds of tall trees snapped at their base, laying across the ditches.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources says that all of the snow we had last winter, starting back in mid-December, is to blame for all of the trees being in the state they're in.

"There was one storm in particular that did a lot of that damage, and it was right in the middle of December," state climatologist Kenny Blumenfeld said.

It was one of our first big snowfalls of the winter, and at the time, most people were enjoying the beauty of the snow sticking to every branch, perfectly outlining each tree.

"Then you'd look closely and you'd realize that the trees were bent all the way down, and then you'd notice that some of them were never going to get up again," Blumenfeld said.

Blumenfeld says that the storm had a lot of moisture in it.

"The temperatures just hovered right around and even above freezing, as the snow was falling, so that guarantees you're going to have a really wet snow," Blumenfeld said.

While it looks like a lot of damage, there are still plenty of trees standing to keep the drive up north beautiful.

MnDOT oversees the cleanup of all the broken trees along Interstate 35 in Pine and Carlton Counties. Throughout the summer, they'll be chipping hundreds of broken trees and turning them into mulch.