NEW YORK: After more than a foot (30 centimeters) of snow fell over parts of New York during this past weekend’s historic winter storm, the city is working to melt away the remains before the next blizzard strikes.
Though the storm has passed, temperatures remain below freezing, impeding natural snowmelt, with no relief in sight for the forecast.
The snow has been shoveled to the side, but it remains hazardous for both pedestrians and drivers, and needs an extra boost to go away in a timely fashion.
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“The problem there is that if we don’t melt it, then it’ll sit there for a while,” said Javier Lojan, who oversees New York’s sanitation department, at a Wednesday press conference.
Their secret weapon? Giant snow “hot tubs” capable of melting between 60 and 120 tons of snow an hour.
Trucks filled with excavated snow dump their trailers into the machines, filled with water, to rapidly melt it. Although the ensuing steam gives the machines a jacuzzi-like appearance, the water inside is heated only to 38F (3C).
The water is then filtered and dumped into storm drains.
More than 2,500 city workers are mobilized for the 24/7 operation.
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“Our priority right now is to get the bus roads open, because we want to make sure that people can get on and off the buses and get to work or school as needed,” Lojan said.
The snow melters, which are used at other cities and airports across North America, have not been used at such a high scale in New York since 2021.
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