It's Late May, And There's Still Snow on the Ground in Boston

Carolyn Williams
Published: May 29,2015


 

It may be spring in Boston, and despite warmer temperatures, giant piles of snow still lie on the ground months after the city’s snowiest winter on record.
Garbage and debris litter one pile that was reduced from 75 feet to three stories, creating an unsightly view in the city’s Seaport District, the Boston Globe reports.
Cleanup crews have cleared about 85 tons of trash from the still massive pile, according to the Associated Press. As the mound melts, debris continues to break away.
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“It’s vile,” Commissioner Michael Dennehy of Boston’s Department of Public Works told the Globe, “We’re finding crazy stuff; bicycles, orange cones that people used as space savers — the funniest thing they found was half of a $5 bill. They’re looking for the other half, still.”
Why is the snow taking so long to melt?
Michael Dietze, associate professor in Boston University’s Earth and Environment Department, told Boston.com that there are three contributing factors: pile thickness, the amount of energy required for melting and a rainfall deficit.
With these factors taken into consideration, it looks like Beantown will be stuck with the dirty winter reminders a little while longer. 
MORE: Boston Snow 2015