More than 180 Minnesota Department of Transportation snowplow drivers in southeastern Minnesota will complete additional training in February using a state-of-the-art snowplow simulator that can create nearly any roadway emergency, traffic or weather condition without ever leaving the shop.

The mobile unit replicates the view from inside a plow using three 42-inch flatscreen plasma monitors, and includes almost everything but a coffee holder. The software that accompanies the simulator allows drivers to practice hundreds of plowing scenarios, from two-lane highways and rural areas, to interstates and city streets, in daylight and nighttime.

The simulator site stops are:

• Feb. 1-10 in Owatonna.

• Feb. 21-23 in Rushford.

• Feb. 27-March 2 in Rochester.