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Author: TriSec    Date: 05/30/2015 12:45:23

http://www.wcvb.com/image/view/-/33297328/medRes/1/-/maxh/460/maxw/620/-/2fijg7/-/Boston-dirty-snow-pile-5-28.jpg




Yes, that's an epic pile of snow still lingering somewhere along the waterfront in the Seaport District. Some of these were 80 feet tall, so go find a nearby 8-storey building and ponder a mountain of snow that high where you live.

Snow like that doesn't melt quickly; snow is actually quite heavy, and much of the lower layers were compressed into a glacier-like mass. Except unlike glaciers, these weren't made by gently falling snow. Plows, Front-End loaders, and a whole host of heavy machinery built these up from all over the Greater Boston area last winter. And there's a lot of "bonus material" that's been added to the pile.


BOSTON —It's disgusting enough to put you off snow cones for the rest of the summer.

A Boston public works official says the towering piles of filthy snow left over from the city's record-setting winter are even more grotesque than most people can imagine.

Daniel Nee says one giant pile contains an estimated 86 tons of debris, and much of it is household garbage. Nee says two snowstorms struck after Bostonians put their trash out, and it all got swept up by passing plows.

Nee said Friday that as the piles melt, they've revealed fire hydrants, parking meters and other items. But he says a lot of rotting garbage is still buried in the leftover snow.

Officials think the piles easily could last until the Fourth of July or longer.


But the hell of it is - we're in a slight drought around these parts. Since the last snowfall we got back about March...there hasn't really been that much rain. For the month of May, we've only received 3/10 of an inch of rain. That's right, not even a half-inch. You get more from that in a decent passing thunderstorm.


After a record-smashing snowy winter, the Boston area has settled into a spring of sun-baked lawns and slow-growing crops. According to the National Weather Service, the region is in the midst of what could be the driest May since 1944.

Only 0.31 inches of precipitation have fallen so far this month, less than a 10th of the average. This will be the second-driest May on record if no rain falls before Monday.

This month’s weather — also about 3 degrees warmer than average — has exacerbated an already dry period, leaving the region in a period of moderate drought.

Meteorologists say a steady storm lasting a day or two and dropping at least an inch of rainfall could help bring the area out of the drought.

Right now, there’s a chance this type of rain could fall from Saturday afternoon to Sunday morning, said meteorologist Kim Buttrick at the National Weather Service’s Taunton office.

The other spring months of March and April were also drier than normal, the National Weather Service data show. To date, this spring’s rainfall total is the eighth lowest since recordkeeping began in 1872.

Hayden Frank, who is also a weather service meteorologist in Taunton, said the moderate drought is not a cause for grave concern. Other regions, like California, are facing much worse dearths of rainfall.

“It’s not something that happens every year, but a moderate drought does occur here from time to time,” said Frank.

The Boston area did not see the nor’easter rainfall it usually gets in the early spring, said Frank.

“We’ve just been dry,” said Frank. “Every year is different.”

Usually, Southern New England sees between 3.5 and 4.5 inches of precipitation a month, said Frank. May, June, July, and September tend to be slightly drier than the other months, but the rainfall averages are pretty steady throughout the year.

Despite this, the Boston area has seen varied rainfall totals in the last 143 years, and even a one-100th of an inch of rain could move this May to the third-driest spot in the record books.


There's no talk of shortages, or watering bans, like other places in the country...primarily because of that aforementioned snowfall, all our reservoirs are full. I felt a little incongruous standing out watering my garden and parts of the lawn the other day, since I have friends in Southern California that have been posting increasingly dire news about the expansion of the Mojave Desert into Los Angeles.

It sure is some interesting weather we've been having recently...I wonder why that is?
 

1 comments (Latest Comment: 05/31/2015 14:04:36 by BobR)
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Comment by BobR on 05/31/2015 14:04:36
Daniel Nee says one giant pile contains an estimated 86 tons of debris, and much of it is household garbage. Nee says two snowstorms struck after Bostonians put their trash out, and it all got swept up by passing plows.


That sounds like an environmental nightmare.