[Alberta's Child]

New York City has some cool snow removal equipment that they use when they need to clear streets in a hurry. I saw it used in Manhattan a few years ago to clear snow out of Times Square before New Year's Eve.

Basically, you place it over an open manhole and dump snow into it. It has a diesel-powered engine of some kind that generates heat and melts the snow, and it passes through a filter to screen out debris. The specs that I've seen indicate that it can melt 60 tons of snow in an hour.

[DJ MacWoW]

That is really cool! But I’d bet they don’t have enough of them. Not too long ago (2 to 4 years?) they were trucking it out to barges.

[SamAdams76]

I've seen those, they are pretty cool. Basically the snow is compressed, melted, filtered and shoved down into manholes throughout the city where it then moves through the massive sewer system. That snow is filthy dirty too.

If your stomach is strong enough, you should read about how New York City sewage is handled. It's quite amazing how much...fecal matter...gets processed on a daily basis. Yet somehow, New York City has some of the cleanest drinking water in the world (that's probably the secret for the pizza tasking so good).

[Vince Ferrer]

All I can say is that device had better be solar powered. Fossil fuel snow melters are evil.

[C210N]

To keep some rail lines open, all one needs is a decent sized jet engine. This one is currently in use for big storms, may see action here in Boston this storm... Great way to combat glowball cooling with its incredible fuel usage.