ST. CHARLES, Mo. – At the Streets of St. Charles shopping mall, there are mountains of snow throughout the parking lots, the lingering aftereffect from the storms earlier in the month. The combination of high snow and ice totals and frigid temperatures has kept them around longer than most people like.
Robert Brown moved to St. Louis from Houston two years ago and liked it at first.
“I always wanted to see snow. But I’m getting a little bit tired of the snow,” he said.
The massive piles can be found in just about any large parking lot, which has some residents frustrated, feeling like something should be done about it.
“They’re very obnoxious. They’re blocking parking spaces, lanes, and stuff, and it’s been a while. And I feel like it needs to be taken care of,” Madison Meers, a St. Charles resident, said.
“I wish I was still a kid again so I could jump in them and make some snow angels but as an adult it can be a little annoying,” Taneshia Carey, a St. Louis resident, said.
Another customer leaving lunch said it’s made for challenges with his job.
“I think they’re pretty darn annoying. As a delivery driver, they’re always getting in the way,” Jackson Agnry said. “And it is crazy. They’re always getting in the way. I’m having to wait around for other people to pass them. It’s annoying.”
These piles of snow will be here for some time but dirty snow melts faster than clean snow because of the absorption of the sun’s radiation. Snow piles on blacktop will also melt faster than those on concrete. But as for how long they’ll be around? That’s a tough question.
“Based on how it’s probably packed down to ice at the bottom, I’d say maybe even another month,” Agnry said.
“The good thing is when it gets the right temperature, it’ll melt,” Brown said. “Temperatures are already showing the signs of everything melting, so I would say by the end of this next week it should be all melted, I hope.”
Ultimately, it’ll depend on the temperatures moving forward into the month of February as to how long it’ll take to melt these giant piles away.