New York weather: Massive hot tubs deployed across the Big Apple to melt snow from deadly winter storm
Huge hot tubs have been deployed across New York to melt snow from the deadly winter storm.
Eight so-called “snow melters” were rolled out Tuesday morning to rid streets, sidewalks and bus stops of snow that would otherwise linger for weeks due to consistently below-freezing temperatures, city sanitation officials said Wednesday. The hot tubs - which can melt roughly 60 to 120 tons of snow per hour - are stationed at sites like Broad and Water streets in lower Manhattan.
Football field-sized mountains of snow are dumped into the melting tubs at 38 degrees Fahrenheit (3 degree Celsius). The water is then dumped directly into a sewer with permission from the Department of Environmental Protection.
The last time the hot tubs were fully deployed was in February 2021 after a monster nor’easter pummeled the city with several rounds of snow. There was also limited use of the tubs in February 2022, sanitation reps said.
Winter Storm Fern dropped nearly 15 inches on some parts of the city - including a whopping 11.4 inches of snow in Central Park and 14.9 inches in Washington Heights in upper Manhattan. It was the first time a storm dropped more than a foot of snow in the city since 2021.
The eight snow melters are stationed in Inwood and lower Manhattan; Orchard Beach in the Bronx; East New York and Red Hook in Brooklyn; Maspeth and Queensboro Hill in Queens and South Beach in Staten Island.