Here to stay? Snow cleared from capital area’s streets and public places may not melt before next winter

More than 130,000 truckloads of snow already dumped in Helsinki

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The snow dumps in the Greater Helsinki area are so full that this winter’s snows may last until the coming winter.
      Head of department Pekka Isoniemi from Helsinki's Public Works unit reckons that the largest piles of snow in the dumping areas contain enough snow to last until September.
      “If the summer is not too warm, this runs the risk of the piled up masses of snow not melting in their entirety by next winter’s first snow. But of course we can minimise such a risk by fluffing up the snow with our machines once the weather starts to get warmer”, Isoniemi continues.
      Dump trucks keep bringing in more snow almost day and night.
      Helsinki’s snow dumping areas have so far received more than 130,000 truckloads of snow this winter. In an average winter the entire season’s total figure remains at around 35,000 loads, so we are clearly dealing with a bumper crop.
     
A fervent search continues for new areas in which to take the snow cleared from the streets and public places of the Finnish capital.
      Unfortunately such sites are in short supply.
      Maintenance engineer Jyrki Vättö explains that a couple of spare sites have been located on the city’s own land.
      “They are minimal sites, however, compared with the main dumping areas. An actual permission is not really required for opening a new snow dumping area, but all the same we have requested an approval from the Environment Centre.”
     
According to Vättö, when opening new snow dumping sites, one must take into account the people living in the area and ensure that they will not have to put up with too much excess noise due to the increased traffic.
      Also, the water from the melting snow must not cause problems.
     
Just over a week ago, a new snow reception area was opened in the vicinity of the Longinoja rivulet in the Malmi district.
      This worries the area’s residents, however, who fear that the melting snow will cause floods in the spring and that the impurities in the snow will contaminate the creek.
      Head of Department Isoniemi offers words of assurance to the residents. The snow is free of poisonous agents now that lead is no longer added to petrol.
      “We have taken samples from the springtime snow piles to examine how many impurities they contain. The dirt in the snow primarily consists of stone dust. In addition there are some particles from fuels used in the city as well as from the wood that people burn in their fireplaces. There are no heavy metals in the snow”, Isoniemi affirms.
     
The winter’s exceptionally heavy snowfalls have cost the southern cities a pretty penny.
      In Helsinki the budget reserved for hauling away the snow has been exceeded by EUR three million and in Espoo by EUR two million.
      For the City of Vantaa, getting rid of the snow has thus far cost an extra EUR 0.8 million.
     
The weather forecast for the next few days at least does not promise any very large falls of yet more white stuff, and the temperature may even sneak 3 or 4 degrees above freezing point today and Thursday.
      It is not only the city authorities who are concerned about what will happen to the snow: many home-owners in Southern Finland fear the consequences of a damp spring or an uncontrolled thaw, as houses are surrounded by deep piles of snow that has come sliding down from roofs.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Helsinki struggles with towering drifts of snow (2.2.2010)
  Police urge motorists to avoid narrow streets with accumulated snow in Helsinki (1.2.2010)
  Slow clearance after heavy snowfalls over the holidays leads to blocked streets in Helsinki (5.1.2010)

See also:
  GUEST COLUMN: Winter mayhem could be reduced by listening to researchers (9.3.2010)

Links:
  Finnish Meterological Institute - five-day Helsinki forecast

Helsingin Sanomat