Minnesota Governor Tim Walz is urging small businesses impacted by the lack of snow this winter to apply for newly available federal loans.
It was the warmest meteorological winter on record in the Twin Cities. Plus, snowfall totals across Minnesota this winter were some of the the lowest on record. That means skiing, ice fishing and other winter businesses saw a limited season and limited revenue.
Walz says the while the loans can't replace that lost income it can help keep staff paid and keep businesses running.
"It's the weather's economic impact, and what we always try and do is, again, this isn't a dog-eat-dog world where the invisible hand of commerce just wipes people away or whatever," says Walz. "That has catastrophic effects and there's things that we can do to lessen that impact."
Walz says making sure that this part of Minnesota's economy doesn't collapse is vital.
"Minnesota has a big, big economy around winter sports, winter outdoor activities, winter things like selling ice houses and, and ATV's, and all the things that go with it," the governor explained. "So we wanted to take a time today to highlight what we can do on this to ease some of that impact."
There are currently 81 counties in Minnesota covered by 13 disaster declarations. The Small Business Administration says this is the first time this funding has been used for this purpose.