*snerk*

[icepixie]

Hey, Northerners: Here is what you need to deal with your excess snow! Apparently it can double as a weed-whacker. Er, weed-burner. For when you really do have a scorched earth policy.

In a similar vein, I recently wondered why cities don't just collect the worst of the snow and dump it into a convenient lake/river/ocean, but I suppose there's salt and motor oil and whatnot in it that the fish wouldn't appreciate. Though maybe if you could run it through a wastewater plant first or something...

Comments

[celamity]

Up here, they do dump the freshest layer of snow in the ocean. Getting 1/2-2 feet at a time is a fairly common occurrence, and when that happens, they scoop all the fresh snow up in huge piles. When the roads are cleared for traffic, they truck the snow away and dump it in the ocean.

The contaminated snow piles are usually melted by mid june.

[icepixie]

they truck the snow away and dump it in the ocean.

This seems wise.

The contaminated snow piles are usually melted by mid june.

But...don't the contaminants still make their way to the ocean, just six months later? (We've been discussing it over on the LJ version of this post, and can't figure out why it's okay as runoff and not as...pushoff. Or whatever the term would be.)

[celamity]

Much of the road dust merges into the soil it eventually lies upon.

Thing is, why worry about car pollutants when it is made visible by snow, and then not worry about it the rest of the year?

[icepixie]

Thing is, why worry about car pollutants when it is made visible by snow, and then not worry about it the rest of the year?

Well, that's pretty much what I meant in my comment. After I made my original post, I thought about it and realized that all the storm drains everywhere I've lived, which the snow would melt into, all lead straight to rivers and lakes, so why not shove it on in there at the start instead of waiting until it melts?

[forsweatervests.livejournal.com]

Well, our rivers at this point are frozen over. I'm not sure they're entirely into trucking tons of snow to the ocean to dump, but I actually really like that idea. Begone, foul snow!

[icepixie]

Well, our rivers at this point are frozen over.

Meep.

I just googled a bit, and the EPA has made it illegal to dump snow in various bodies of water. But, you know, all our storm drains down here go to the nearest river or lake--and I imagine it's the same up there--so it's not like that snow isn't going to end up there anyway. I wonder what the difference is.

[forsweatervests.livejournal.com]

Good for ice-skating! Generally.

Maybe they're worried about flooding the people right around the bodies of water by dumping all the snow there at once, as opposed to the trickle-melt we get as the sun comes out. It makes the most sense to me, but I'm not sure I get why we can't dump it in the ocean. How many tons of New England snow would it take to flood the ocean?

[icepixie]

I think I would be scared to ice skate on a body of actual water. What if the ice wasn't thick enough? Eeek!

[nickless.livejournal.com]

Three to four inches is what's usually recommended for things like ice fishing, which around here, isn't a problem. We've got lots of places where you can drive your car right out onto the lake 'cause the ice is over a foot thick.

That being said, there are lots of times near the beginning or end of the season when you drive past and comment on the idiots who are out there when it looks way too thin. You see a lot of them on the news, too. And there's no way you'll ever catch me out there!

[icepixie]

ZOMG. Yeah, I've seen Ice Road Truckers (you could not pay me enough), so intellectually I get that you can go out on an iced-over lake and it'll support you, but I'm pretty sure my hindbrain would basically be screaming NO NO NO NO NO NO NO if I ever tried it myself.

(The river downtown does actually freeze over once every sixty or seventy years. For like a day. There are pictures of people going out on it in the 1890s and 1940s, but you wouldn't catch me doing that...)

[forsweatervests.livejournal.com]

That's why they have to be certified, first!

[idharao.livejournal.com]

We used to do that, but with the amount of industrial work that goes on and the pollution that cities accumulate, it's illegal to dump snow into the water supply.

I think the difference is if they can see it happening, it's illegal. If not, then, welp-- All storm drains lead to the ocean.

But snow does make things very inconvenient, not to mention the fact that I am very tired of the cold.

[icepixie]

I think the difference is if they can see it happening, it's illegal. If not, then, welp-- All storm drains lead to the ocean.

I think you're right.

But snow does make things very inconvenient, not to mention the fact that I am very tired of the cold.

I am so ready for spring. We don't usually get snow every week, dear god.

[idharao.livejournal.com]

I the snow is really the inconvenient part. I hate the cold, but the snow makes it unpleasant. It's all iced over and there are mounds of dirty coldness everywhere. Urban snow is grossnifying.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

...Okay, that is freaking fantastic. I love vintage ads! ♥

And yeah, there's a whole Thing about the salt and oil and all. Poor fishies, they get it bad enough with the road run-off as it is... But it does seem like kind of a waste.

[icepixie]

But it does seem like kind of a waste.

Especially since the storm drains lead there! Oh, well.

[nhpw.livejournal.com]

WANT.

It's a shame I didn't take pictures. There are snow drifts in my yard that come up to my armpits.

Also, the "lakes frozen over" thing has already been commented on, but - around here that's what public swimming pools do in the winter. They hold all the excess snow. Also soccer fields, and the like.

Yeah. We get creative when mother nature gives us two feet at a time, dontcha know.

[icepixie]

Yeah. We get creative when mother nature gives us two feet at a time, dontcha know.

Heh. That's awesome. (We, on the other hand, would all faint away if we got two feet at a time. Even an inch puts the city out of commission.)

[nickless.livejournal.com]

Here is what you need to deal with your excess snow!

"Quick starts fires!" Oh, I'll bet it does...

The other issue with dumping the snow into "holding pens", whether it be rivers, swimming pools (ours tend to be full of their own snow), fields, whatever, is that you have to GET it there. It takes a ton of time, equipment, and manpower to actually pick the snow up and transport it somewhere else rather than just shoving it out of the way. That's actually what they spent all day doing at the high school today, since the kids weren't there - taking the huge piles out of the middle of the street so it can be used for parking again. But it took a LONG time to move four blocks' worth.

I do know that for the bridges and areas right next to the river, the city has just dumped it over the side. But otherwise, it's just way too inconvenient.

[icepixie]

"Quick starts fires!" Oh, I'll bet it does...

Yep. I liked the "Clears stairs (except wood)" caveat.

I can see why public works wouldn't move snow on a regular basis, but I've heard from people in the northeast that the piles of snow along the side of the road are starting to impede sight down cross-streets at intersections and access of emergency vehicles on particularly narrow streets. That sounds like a prime time for some economic stimulus in the form of hiring some day laborers to help cart it somewhere safer, even if budgets are already strapped.

[rensong.livejournal.com]

In places where we're used to getting lots of snow, we do actually have "snow pits" for a lack of a better term. These are several empty lots turned into grassy holes in the ground, with sides maybe 15 feet high and several culverts around the bottom. In winters with lots of snow, snow plows and dump trucks can load up with all the excess snow and ice and dump them in there. In the summertime, they usually turn into soccer fields or the like.

[icepixie]

Meanwhile, down here we just keep playing soccer (or whatever)... ;) Well, okay, not all winter. But definitely some parts are warm enough for such outside amusements.