14 December 2025
This morning my Pittsburgh city neighborhood was a winter wonderland after it snowed overnight. As of 8:11am, there were 6 inches on the ground at Schenley Park and it’s still snowing.
This 8:30am map of CoCoRaHS reports shows less snow north of us and 8-12 inches in the Laurel Highlands.
Since we hadn’t heard any snowplows overnight — which reminded me of the Snowmageddon fiasco — I went out at 5:15am to take photos of our nearby Snow Emergency Route, Fifth Avenue. Hmmm. Wasn’t plowed.
On the plus side I found beautiful Christmas lights glowing through the snow.
By dawn, the private lots in our area had been plowed but still no plow on the streets.
Sixteen years ago the City of Pittsburgh was paralyzed by 21.1″ of snow that fell on the weekend of Feb 5-6, 2010. The suburbs were in good shape (they had plowed all along) but it took the City many days to dig out, in some places more than a week, because they hadn’t kept up with the snow while it was falling. Due to budget constraints Mayor Ravenstahl had forbidden DPW to work overtime unless he personally authorized it. It was the weekend and they couldn’t find him to get approval. He was celebrating his 30th birthday in an undisclosed location and could not be reached. By the time DPW got the mayor’s OK the snow was too deep to plow. They had to use backhoes.
I doubt that’s what’s happening this time, but I still wonder. No plows?
In my 30+ years working at Pitt the roads were never plowed. It was always amazing to me with all of the hospitals there, I never saw a snow plow.
Susan M, Oh my! The City made a Snow Emergency Route plan after Snowmageddon. I am wondering even more.
The City’s PlowTracker has been down since August. They claim it’s a “software issue”. Four months and they can’t fix it? At 10 AM friend posted that Bates St. hadn’t been plowed.
I remember snowmageddon. I live in the south hills so every time it snowed I dreaded getting out of Oakland. I’m retired now so I don’t have to worry about that anymore. Stay safe out there.
A beautiful Winter/Christmas Wonderland, Kate! Thank you for these beautiful pictures. I hope by now, they have the plows moving. I remember these times so well. I miss the beauty of a snow like this, but not the day after! Sunday Blessings to you and your dear husband.
FWIW, I personally witnessed a plow/salt spreader come down my Brookline side street around 1:30-2:00 AM Sunday morning. My road looks the same as your pictures even after the plow came through. So I’m inclined to believe that the city actually did have plows out Fifth Avenue before 5:00 am, and either 1) there was just that much snow falling that the roads don’t look plowed, and 2) they’re being stingy with the salt or using some sub-optimal ice melter. I don’t know what happened, but I can at least confirm they had the plows out last night.