BUFFALO, NY - "It's not unprecedented, but it is weird when you think about it," said Storm Team 2 Meteorologist Patrick Hammer, when remarking on the snow piles that still exists near Central Terminal on the Queen City's east side.
The snow was piled there following the "Snowvember" storm which occurred 8 months ago.
Today, despite it being late July, two snow piles remain, although hidden in plain sight.
That's because to anyone unfamiliar with their real composition, the snow piles looks more like a non-descript earthen berms.
The near solid ice, nearly ten feet high in some spots, can be seen if one were to dig away about one foot of soil which covers the pile, due to a long, slow melting process.
Hammer explained that the soil is what is keeping the pile from having disappeared entirely.
"That pile of snow is like a glacier," explained Hammer. "It's very dense and it's covered in dirt and garbage, which acts to insulate the snow from the sun's rays. That's what melts the snow, not just the heat but the sun's rays, and it's protected."
Hammer also noted that because of this, most of the melting of the pile is not occurring from the surface, as one might suspect.
"It's actually mostly melting from below…from the ground which has warmed beneath it," he said.
Hammer says rather than sunshine and heat, water might be more effective in dissipating the pile.
"A lot of rain would do the trick,…but so too could the fire department with a bunch of hoses, which they could use to spray off the dirt and break up what's under it, because it's really the dirt that's insulating it."
Hammer also predicts the hardened snow beneath the dirt will remain for some time in the future.
"The middle of that snow pile is cold despite it being as warm as it is right now, and it's not going anywhere. Yes, there will be a slow melt, but I believe it'll be here through August," Hammer said.
Click on the video player to watch our story on the remaining snow pile from 2 On Your Side Reporter Dave McKinley and photojournalists Dooley O'Rourke and Dave Harrington. Follow Dave on Twitter: @DaveMcKinley 2
