Thirteen inches.

Albert Lea set a new record for snowfall in April Monday as the Freeborn County took the worst of a snowstorm that hit parts of the Midwest and eastern United States. Shovels and snow blowers came out of garages and kids got an unexpected snow day.

The cumulative snowfall for the entire month is typically around two inches.

Every school district in Freeborn County, as well as Riverland Community College, canceled classes and businesses sent employees home or told them not to come in. Plows worked to clear streets as police got calls about minor fender-benders and vehicles stuck in the snow.

On Fountain Street in Albert Lea, Eric Swan and Lewis Kelly, a boy who lives next door, worked to shovel off the sidewalk around 10:30 a.m., even as the snow continued to fall. Kelly offered to help shovel for $1.

&uot;I gave him two, because there’s so much,&uot; Swan said.

Swan shovels the sidewalk as part of his agreement with his landlord.

&uot;I had a pretty easy winter until this morning,&uot; he said.

On Summer Avenue, Ed Bledsoe helped Charter Communications employee Craig Lewiston when his van got stuck in the Bledsoes’ driveway, where the snow was drifted knee-deep. Lewiston said he’d been stuck three different times in the morning as he did jobs around town.

Bledsoe got the day off from his job as a driver for Interstate Packaging of Albert Lea. &uot;They said it wasn’t worth going in there today,&uot; he said.

The snow started after midnight and by 5 a.m., more than six inches coated the ground in Albert Lea.

The City of Albert Lea rented three large trucks Monday to help clear snow off the streets, Public Works Director Dave Olson said.

City plows hit the roads overnight and had major roads and most of downtown cleared by mid-morning, Olson said. The city’s nine trucks will work through the day and will probably have the streets back to normal by Tuesday afternoon, Olson said.

The snow was most heavily concentrated in a band along I-90 in southern Minnesota, according to Jonathan Conder, a meteorologist with KIMT-TV in Mason City, Iowa.

&uot;This is very unusual,&uot; Conder said.

Elsewhere, up to 10 to 12 inches were measured in Faribault and Martin counties. Winds of 25 to 30 mph with gusts over 40 mph whipped up the snow in some areas.

Authorities advised no travel on Interstate Highway 90 from Fairmont to the South Dakota border for much of the day.

Along the I-90 corridor, the National Weather Service said Fairmont and Windom received at least 6 to 8 inches of snow. Blue Earth and Wells all reported at least half-foot of snow, and Austin had 11 inches.