Minneapolis snow emergency: About 200 cars towed

About 200 cars were towed in Minneapolis Tuesday night into Wednesday morning during what was the city's first snow emergency of the season, according to the city's impound lot. 

The vehicles were towed between 9 p.m. Tuesday and 7:30 a.m. Wednesday And only about a dozen people had gone to pick up their vehicles as of 8 a.m. on Wednesday.

For those needing to pick up their vehicles, the city has launched an alternative to waiting in line to pay to get your vehicle – there's now a QR code people can scan to pay their fee, which should help speed up the process. 

The snow emergency continues in Minneapolis on Wednesday and Thursday. 

Minneapolis parking rules

In Minneapolis, the emergency took effect at 9 p.m. on Tuesday. At that time, you were not allowed to park your vehicle on either side of a "snow emergency" route until 8 a.m. on Wednesday.

At 8 a.m. on Wednesday, drivers are not allowed to park on the even-numbered side of a non-snow emergency route or either side of a parkway until 8 p.m. During that time, you can park on snow emergency routes or roads that have been plowed.

Then, on Thursday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., drivers are asked to not park on odd-numbered non-snow emergency streets.

You can click here for a guide to parking rules.

St. Paul parking rules

A snow emergency is also in effect for St. Paul. It went into effect at 9 p.m. on Tuesday. So until 8 a.m. on Wednesday, drivers could not park on any night plow routes, as crews work to plow those streets.

Starting at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, drivers cannot park on day-plow routes. You can click here to find out which streets are day-plow routes and which are night-plow routes. Night plow routes are marked with signs.

Vehicles that are not parked on the appropriate streets will be ticketed and towed, the city warns.