You’ve Heard Of Minnesota’s ‘Mt. Eden Prairie’, But What About Duluth’s ‘Superior Glaciers’?

There's no other way to put it, Minnesota has gotten a lot of snow this winter. For example, Duluth has seen the third-snowiest winter on record so far - and is very close to breaking the snowiest winter ever record.

All of this snow has created some memorable visuals across Minnesota. One case of that is what became known as "Mt. Eden Prairie", a giant snow pile that ended up with a Target shopping cart on top of it somehow.

When this massive mound of snow started trending online in mid-March, some experts guessed it might live until May. This was, of course, before the Twin Cities saw the summerlike temperatures they are getting this week.

Not to be outdone, Duluth has a bit of a winter weather artifact that led to a lot of locals exploring and taking photos in recent days.

Get our free mobile app

Last week, Duluth got hit by a winter storm that didn't leave a ton of snow on the ground, but did bring with it nearly 70 MPH wind gusts that pounded the Lake Superior shoreline.

The wind pushed in chunks of snow and ice into a sheet that lined the shore all the way from Canal Park to along Park Point. The sheet, which was hundreds of yards wide, eventually dissipated as the weather changed once again.

While things have since warmed up, the storm did leave behind what I'm lovingly referring to as the "Superior Glaciers", spanning a big part of the Duluth Lake Superior shoreline. Now, I'll readily admit that they might not be quite as tall as "Mt. Eden Prairie", but these things are still quite massive, and very impressive.

Some of these "glaciers" in Canal Park are over 20 feet high, and are pretty well packed onto the shoreline.

As warmer weather has arrived after the storms, dirt in the snow has started to show, revealing what also tends to look like a mountain glacier - especially in the warmer weather months.

The scene drew people out onto the shore, where some explored and others took photos of the visuals.

The scale of these "glaciers" is really hard to capture in photos, but they do feel very impressive in person. You can see people in some of the photos to give you some perspective of how big these hunks of compacted ice and snow really are.

While exploring the shoreline, it was impressive just how much cold these things radiated. While Monday was a pleasant day that required no more than a T-shirt or maybe a long-sleeve shirt, being near these hunks of ice definitely brought the temperature nearby down by quite a few degrees.

The "glaciers" span from one grouping by the Northland Vietnam Veterans Memorial to another grouping along the Canal Park shoreline.

Things are also quite impressive across the bridge, along the Park Point shoreline. While I didn't venture over there, a lot of snow and ice is packed along the shoreline.

One word of caution - if you plan on checking out these things for yourself, do be aware that some of these could have hollow parts underneath that could lead to collapse. Add in the warm temperatures melting them, and I would advise against climbing around on them or venturing out onto territory that would otherwise be covered by water. That could lead to a dangerous situation of being trapped or potentially drowning. It's probably best to just enjoy them from the fringes, and not from on top of them.

If you want to travel back in time a bit, here's a look at how Canal Park looked right after last week's storm, which packed quite a bit of snow and ice onto the shoreline from the strong winds that accompanied the storm.