With More Snow Expected, What to Do With the Old?

Even as the Northport-East Northport area is expected to get more snow today and tonight, there's still the problem of what to do with those huge piles left over from previous storms.

Many drivers passing through intersections are reporting having trouble seeing into oncoming traffic because huge accumulations are blocking their view.

Huntington Highway Superintendent William Naughton said, "There are limited resources and we are remediating these problems on intersections of main roads first as that is where the traffic is moving the fastest.

"The town is letting us use some town park parking lots and we have our own facilities for the snow we are removing."

He issued an apology to residents during the most recent storm because of slow snow removal.

Asked about the possibility of dumping snow into the harbor, he said, "The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation state would not like this because of the garbage (bottles, cans, garbage cans, shopping carts, etc.) in the snow."

The Northport Village Highway Department has cleared off most of Main Street in time for the new storm.  The village does not dump the snow in to the harbor, either.

Instead workers fill up the backs of dumptrucks and take the snow to Steers and Scudder beaches. This process caused an uncharacteristic traffic jam in Northport Friday as the team worked feverishly to transfer the accumulation.

Dumping it on the sand slows down the process and provides a natural filter before the melted snow hits the water.

The National Weather Service is predicting another 2 to 5 inches of snow throughout the day Tuesday.