You wouldn’t want to make a snow cone out of it, but the last remnants of the winter of 2010-11 were still melting away Tuesday in the Sears parking lot in St. Paul.

Despite the scorching heat and record-breaking temperatures at 102 degrees, there were still a few inches of ice under a layer of dirt a few feet across in the middle of a small puddle. The end, however, is finally near. – Richard Chin