 The entire Lakeland News viewing area saw widespread snow last night up to six inches in some area. The winter storm caused the city of Brainerd to declare a snow emergency. But what exactly does that mean? Clayton Castle tells us. The snow has fallen and now the cleanup begins. Late last night, the Brainerd city engineer declared a snow emergency to aid in plowing the streets. We revised the language so that when I declare a snow emergency, there are certain parking restrictions on streets that we have designated on certain days. The snow emergency has broken up into two days allowing for plow drivers to plow certain streets and routes. And on a day one of a snow emergency, so if I declared it at 5 a.m. on the first day, we plowed north and south streets in Brainerd and anything west of the Mississippi River and in our industrial park. The second day is reserved for the east and west streets. For those who don't comply with the snow emergency, there are consequences. If someone gets plowed around on one of those snow emergency routes, we actually will take it and tow them immediately. The snow emergency is a larger effort to avoid problems the rest of the winter and into the spring. We have our plow drivers have certain routes they take. We still try to plow the whole city in a day. But this gets cars off certain streets on certain days so we can plow them curb to curbs. We don't run into issues come springtime. In the end, the city engineer says the snow emergency is important to maintaining safety on the roads after major accumulations and that your help is needed to make that happen. The real purpose of the snow emergency is to get cars off the streets on certain days so we can actually plow the whole street curb to curb. Now only when all the streets are plowed after the second day will the snow emergency be declared over. Reporting in Brainerd Clayton Castle, Lakeland News. The previous ordinance had a set snowfall total for declaring a snow emergency, but the new revisions call for a snow emergency to be declared at the discretion of the city engineer. If you've enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland Public Television.