And MnDOT’s District 1 snowplow name is…

By WDIO

A orange snowplow with the Minnesota Department of Transportation

(MnDOT, File)

The results are in for the 2023 Minnesota Department of Transportation’s “Name a Snowplow” contest. The voters have spoken, and the Northeast District 1 welcomes “Clearopathra” to its list of snowplow names. This is the third year that MnDOT has held the naming contest, with District 1 receiving the “Duck Duck Orange Truck” in 2020-21 and “No More Mr. Ice Guy” in 2021-22.

MnDOT says more than 64,000 voters cast a ballot in the contest, and one newly named snowplow was assigned to each of MnDOT’s eight districts.

In December, MnDOT asked residents to submit names for the next Name a Snowplow contest and according to MnDOT, they received more than 10,400 submissions. Staff whittled it down to 60 finalists. MnDOT says they consider a variety of factors when selecting the finalists, including uniqueness, frequency of submissions, Minnesota-specific ideas, and names that would be easily identifiable and understandable to most audiences. Voting opened in January

The winning names, in order of vote totals, and their future homes are:

Yer a Blizzard, Harry – District 8 (Southwest Minnesota)
Blizzo – Metro District (Twin Cities)
Clearopathtra – District 1 (Northeast Minnesota)
Better Call Salt – District 3 (Central Minnesota)
Han Snowlo – District 7 (South Central Minnesota)
Blader Tot Hotdish – District 2 (Northwest Minnesota)
Scoop! There it is – District 6 (Southeast Minnesota)
Sleetwood Mac – District 4 (West Central Minnesota)

Tallies for all 60 finalists can be found on MnDOT’s Name a Snowplow website.

MnDOT now has 25 named snowplows statewide, including Plowy McPlowFace, Betty Whiteout, Duck Duck Orange Truck and The Big Leplowski. In addition to the 24 named snowplows selected through “Name a Snowplow” contests, MnDOT staff in District 1 chose to add a named snowplow to their region in 2022. Giiwedin, the Ojibwe word for the North Wind, is stationed at MnDOT’s Duluth Truck Station and covers Highway 33 near the Fond du Lac Reservation.