While this winter was a challenging one for the city of St. Paul, there were lessons to be learned from it.

Preparing for more than four snow emergencies — as is typical for St. Paul — may be one example. This year brought seven emergencies in seven weeks, and preliminary estimates put costs for the city somewhere in the vicinity of $3.5 million for those snow events alone. Actual costs are still being compiled, but they’ll land well above the $2 million to $2.4 million mark, which is usually the high end of the snow-removal budget.

Here are some other takeaways on how the city and its residents may be forced to deal with future winters:

WET, HEAVY SNOW MAY BE THE NEW NORMAL

February broke several snowfall records in the Twin Cities. Do the environmental advocates have their “climate change” science all backward?

Not necessarily. Believe it or not, some experts think an uptick in snowy winters may become the new normal specifically because of rising temperatures.

The theory goes that as the Arctic warms, polar air travels the weakened jet stream and heads south for the winter, dropping wet, heavy snow on places like Minnesota and New York, and even introducing snowfall to states that are unaccustomed to any snow at all.

That’s part of the confusing irony of extreme weather — hot air holds more moisture, which feeds precipitation, even snowfall.

“What we know for sure is our climate is getting wetter and warmer,” said Russ Stark, St. Paul’s chief resilience officer. “The warming so far is happening almost exclusively in the winter. The combination seems to line up for snowier winters, though there’s no guarantee.”

Stark said the city will publish a draft “Climate Action and Resilience Plan,” which will elicit feedback through community forums in April, May and June.

ABOUT THOSE ALLEYS …

Eureka Recycling and St. Paul’s eight remaining private trash haulers had a tough time navigating icy alleyways this winter. Six of the eight haulers missed pickups, according to St. Paul Public Works.

Even proponents of organized trash collection were taken aback by the degree to which national haulers such as Waste Management and Republic Services delayed pickups or skipped routes entirely.

Anecdotally, smaller haulers seemed to get the job done with fewer complaints, though city officials say it bears pointing out that the smaller outfits each service less of the city.

“I’ve made no secret of the fact that Waste Management has not provided good service in my ward,” said St. Paul City Council member Jane Prince, who represents Dayton’s Bluff and surrounding parts of the East Side. “Trash is definitely something we need to fix. We’ve really got to step up customer service.”

St. Paul does not plow residential alleys. There’s plenty of debate over whether that should change.

St. Paul Public Works plans to complete a study through the University of Minnesota this year of how much it would cost to clear alleys of snow after snow emergencies. It likely would require investment in an entirely new fleet of plow trucks narrow enough to handle the task.

It also would require more taxpayer money. On many blocks, neighbors currently take up a collection and contract private plows to keep their alleys clear. Residents would likely still have to do that if they want smooth travels throughout the season.

YES, WE CAN SURVIVE ONE-SIDED STREET PARKING

In addition to calling seven snow emergencies, the city of St. Paul chose to ban parking on the even sides of residential streets starting March 4. The ban was lifted Thursday.

Minneapolis instituted an even-side parking ban even earlier.

The goal was to make it easier for fire trucks and emergency vehicles to navigate tightening corners as snow accumulation narrowed street widths.

The parking bans drew some grumbles, but not quite as many as one might expect. Areas with permit parking restrictions and high-density housing, like St. Paul’s Cathedral Hill, appeared to have the toughest time of it.

“I know that February was a record-breaking month, and the city handled it as well as they could,” said Jens Werner, executive director of the Summit-University Planning Council. “We can anticipate that some people may not have been able to access the information needed to avoid tickets or tows, and those people are some of the most likely to be burdened by those costs. The parking ban map was only available online, and it was subject to change without notice. That means that people had to be able to check in regularly to park without issue.”

Werner noted that during a community meeting, St. Paul Public Works provided a call-in number where people could ask if they were parked correctly, “but it wasn’t intended to be a call center that was set up to handle a city’s worth of questions. I don’t know how useful it was and most people didn’t know it was an option.”

Some avid walkers said they appreciated the added leg room and cleaner access from streets to even-side sidewalks. The bans also forced many city residents to get used to the idea that neighbors and strangers might park in front of their homes, a widely accepted reality in denser cities.

FREE FIRE HYDRANTS, ADOPT STORM DRAINS

More than 7,000 fire hydrants and 28,000 storm drains line St. Paul streets. Throughout an especially snowy winter, there’s no way the St. Paul Fire Department or city work crews can unearth all of them on their own.

From street flooding to fires, the negative consequences of overlooking these are obvious.

Luckily, there are apps for that. Those interested in adopting their nearest hydrant or storm drain and pledging to keep it shoveled out and accessible can check out the newly expanded adopt-a-drain.org website and the city’s new hydrant app.

Liz Xiong, a spokeswoman for the mayor’s office, noted that some community groups also place flags on hydrants to help their neighbors know where they are located. “Keeping hydrants and storm drains clear and operable benefits the whole community, especially during emergency situations, which we can’t predict,” she said.

FLOODED BASEMENTS

After the snows come the floods.

More and more homeowners have finished basements, increasing the likelihood of damage if water seeps in from snow melt. To minimize the risk of basement flooding, unclog gutters and window wells and check on the condition of sump pumps.

Consider wrapping valuables in plastic and moving them to higher ground.

And remember: flood insurance can take up to 30 days to take effect, so buying insurance once water has already seeped into your basement, or even right before a major melt, might be too late.

Said Xiong: “Property owners are encouraged to assess their properties and look into flood insurance at the beginning of the year. If property owners buy it in February, they’ll be prepared for next winter/flood season. The deadline would be March 1 for most, as mid-April is historically when floods occur in our region.”