Wow - so my flight to TC has been cancelled due to a snowstorm. Is this normal to have a snowstorm in April? What happened to Spring?

Just that folks, myself included have been spoiled with earlier Spring weather the last decade or so.

http://addins.kwwl.com/blogs/weather/2009/04/april-blizzard-in-1973

But I would have been happier if it hadn't.  Oh well.

Farmers and ranchers should be happier, making food cheaper, making more funds available for this hobby.

Only in MN can you be wearing shorts and sunscreen one day and boots and a parka the next day!!!  
Gotta love MN!!!

9-10 inches of blowing and drifting snow.   I came out in the morning to the parking lot and all the cars were literally buried in snow.  You could not see them.  Snow plow went straight down the middle of the parking lot and we all had to shovel the rest of the way out.

LOL...  Had to cancel all plans today.  I was going to make a storm in the bedroom !   Oh Oh!

i was in iowa at that time, my mother died that weekend, so that storm stands out in my mind

I remember playing in a softball tournament the first week in May back in the early 80's and there was snow on the ground.

So what!

It's the odd temperature that was the problem.  

There was a recent trip in which we were waiting on the plane and the snowy weather finally broke enough so we could prepare for takeoff. We were then de-iced but then the queue for planes to depart was so long and it was still snowing a bit that we had to be de-iced a second time before takeoff. So what?!...one might ask? Just sharing in the convo.  
I wonder how much it costs to de-ice a typical 170+ passenger plane?

...I was thinking maybe up to $1,000 for the chemicals (seems like most of it gets lost to overspray and the wind) and $2,000 for the workers and truck.
It's no wonder that I only got one measly bag of peanuts on that flight!

$180 million per year.

And the funny thing about  fuel costs...  On many airliners, the fuel itself accounts for well over half of the entire airplane's weight.  Here's some things that you don't often think about...
- Early in a flight, the airplane is actually traveling a bit slower than it will be flying later in the flight.
- When the plane is flying at a level altitude, it is actually flying a bit more nose-high earlier in the flight, and a little bit more nose-low later in the flight.
- When you take off, you are actually burning more fuel carrying the fuel for later in the flight than you are carrying the airplane itself.