The winter of 2022-23 was one of the most brutal in recent years, and it cost the Minnesota Department of Transportation a fortune.

MnDOT spent nearly $174 million to remove snow and ice from roads, the most the agency has ever spent on plowing operations, according to the agency's Winter Maintenance Report ironically released Thursday, the hottest day of the year.

"The factoids remind us about how cold it was not so long ago," spokeswoman Anne Meyer said. "Hopefully we are not talking snow again until November."

Last year flakes started flying on Oct. 14 with the first measurable snow at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, launching what turned out to be the third-snowiest winter in the Twin Cities since weather records started in the 1880s.

The metro area picked up 90.3 inches for the season; Duluth saw a record 140 inches.

All that snow kept MnDOT's 800 plows on the roads often and its 1,600 plow drivers busy. Plow operators logged more 850,000 regular and overtime hours clearing roads, a 100,000-hour increase over the previous season, the report said.

"This was an extremely challenging winter season, but our crews worked tirelessly to conquer each storm and keep travelers safe and moving in Minnesota," Commissioner Nancy Daubenberger said. "Our service and commitment to this state and keeping your roads safe and clear will never change."

Expenditures for salaries, materials such as sand, salt and brine and higher gas prices contributed to the record spending, eclipsing the previous high-water mark of $148 million set in the winter of 2021-22. MnDOT spent $44.3 million in the Twin Cities metro area, the most of its eight districts.

Despite the heavy snowfall and blizzard conditions that forced plows to repeat their routes during a single snow event, the agency beat its goal of getting to bare pavement 70% of the time within hours of a storm, the report said.

MnDOT aims to reach bare pavement within three hours after a snow event ends on the most heavily traveled roads, and nine to 36 hours for secondary roads. In 2022-23, the agency met its goal 84% of the time, according to the report.

"We are grateful to Minnesotans for their patience and safe driving during tough winter conditions," Daubenberger said.