Winter is staying

The last of Boston's record-breaking snow still hasn't melted

With highs well into the 80s these days, Boston's record-breaking, snowy winter seems like a distant memory. That is, unless you visit the city's last pile of snow: a 12-foot, trash-choked mound of solid ice whose slow, steady melting is a lasting reminder of the grueling winter, The New York Times reports.

The last of Boston's so-called "snow farms," the pile was created in an empty lot so plows would have somewhere to dump some of the 110 inches of snow that blanketed the city. Once 75 feet high and covering a full four acres, new snowfall could make it look "beautiful… like the White Mountains," said Michael Dennehy, the commissioner of public works. These days, the slowly shrinking snow pile is mostly notable for its trash — the tons of urban detritus also swept up by the snow plows. City workers have pulled out everything from candy wrappers to newspaper boxes and manhole covers. And as the mound gets smaller, more and more trash is revealed. As the Times notes, city workers cleared 12 tons of trash from the pile in May. In June, 56 tons.

Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh has asked people via Twitter to guess when the snow pile will finally be gone. The winner gets a "meet and greet" with Mayor Walsh.

For many, though, they'll just be happy to see the snow go. One woman summed up what surely must be the feelings of many Bostonians in regards to the snow: "It's almost gone — thank God."