The image that captures our long, long winter in Minnesota

If there's one image that captures our long winter, this is it: Perched on top of a giant snow pile in a mall parking lot is a lonely red Target shopping cart, looking out over the frozen landscape.

How did it get up there? Was it a prank or a performance art piece commenting on our angst over our never-ending snow and ice?

Whatever its origins, it caught the eye of Hutchinson resident Judy Coleman when she was killing some time Wednesday at the Eden Prairie Center before a chiropractor appointment.

"I've seen this huge mound of snow many times," Coleman said. But on Wednesday, something was different.

"With that shopping cart sitting on top, I had to take a picture," she said. "I couldn't believe it. It was so Minnesota."

She posted the image on a Facebook group, Quirky Minnesota Places, and it seemed to touch a winter-weary nerve, quickly garnering 7,000 likes, 4,000 shares and more than 500 comments, ranging from "only in Minnesota," to "The most Minnesotan picture ... ever," to "Accurate depiction of my emotional state."

On Wednesday night, Northfield resident Chad Mellies took some more pictures with a new Samsung Galaxy S22+ phone and also posted them to Facebook group.

"A lot of people are commenting on what a beautiful post," he said. "It's a picture that captures Minnesota."

Mellies estimated the snow pile is about 40 feet tall. Some Facebook posters were predicting that the shopping cart wouldn't touch the pavement again until May or June.

Later in the week, Facebook commenters were saying the cart was gone.

"I'm not certain how it got up there," said Nancy Litwin, senior general manager of Eden Prairie Center.

Guess it's not easy to stay king of the snow hill for long.