It may be the middle of summer, but in Winnipeg, a little shred of winter just won't go away.
A filthy, muddy, massive snow pile has defied the seasons and survived the summer heat at the Kenaston snow dump site on the edge of the city. The 18-metre snow pile is the largest of a handful of snow piles still lingering at Winnipeg's four snow-dumping sites, where the city stores the snow it collects in the winter.
Jim Berezowsky, Winnipeg's manager of streets maintenance, says it's not unusual for snow at the dump sites to survive into August. But this year, he's seeing more snow than usual. "It is significantly higher than in years past," Berezowsky told CTV's Canada AM on Friday. "We didn't receive the extreme heat that we usually do."
Winnipeg does not use salt or heat to dispose of the snow. It simply allows the temperatures to do most of the work.
Berezowsky says his crews typically wait until the second week of August before they step in to speed up the melting process. City workers will use bulldozers to crack through the 18-metre snow pile's icy crust, speeding up the warming process.
"It allows the air and water and moisture to leave, and the air to penetrate," Berezowsky says.
The Kenaston site is close to a well-travelled city route, so Winnipeggers are well aware of the massive snow pile. However the site is closed to the public, so locals can't take advantage of the opportunity to go tobogganing in August.
