‘The Great Thaw’

Warming temperatures and steady rain this week are melting away mountains of snow left by a historic blizzard. 

To help nature along in the process of evaporating all that snow, which now resembles blackened slush, an industrial snowmelter, like a giant Jacuzzi, was brought in to reduce the piles. In Oak Bluffs, this operation was in full swing over the weekend, all under the watchful eye of the Union soldier standing as a silent sentry above the base of the Civil War memorial near the Steamship Authority terminal, and a small crowd of Islanders mesmerized by the process.

For now, we might call it “The Great Thaw.” 

The snow piles may be dwindling, but memories of record snowfall, measuring nearly two feet up-Island, and the loss of power for some 10,000 Islanders, will not be disappearing anytime soon. State officials, meanwhile, are eying the possibility of declaring the aftermath of the fierce nor’easter a federal disaster, in hopes of qualifying for funding to assist in the cleanup. 

The snowmelter operation was supported by the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA), and conducted by New York–based North Country Snow and Ice Management and New Hampshire–based JSP Site Solutions, alongside personnel from Oak Bluffs and Tisbury. 

The Trecan snowmelter was described by Michael Merrill, CEO of North Country, as a “tractor-trailer-size Jacuzzi” that melts snow with water heated to 33°F. Truckloads of snow and debris were brought to the site to be melted, ending up as a pile roughly 30 feet tall and a quarter-mile long. But the pile was too big for the company’s loaders to safely start moving snow into the melter, so Oak Bluffs provided an excavator to crawl to the top of the snow mound. The process appears to have worked, as the 30-foot mountain of snow is gone. 

“It’s been really beneficial to us,” Jennelle Gadowski, spokesperson for the Dukes County Emergency Management Association, said of the operation. 

The Oak Bluffs excavator put snow into the tub of heated water to be melted; the tub processed around 200 to 500 gallons of water per minute into the municipal storm drains. He also said there was a lot of water because it was “hard, compact snow.” 

The snowmelter ran near nonstop for 40 hours, Merrill said, and the Island had “relatively fresh snow,” but there was some “organic sediment and pine boughs” that also went into the drainage system. And even though the machine ran on diesel almost constantly during the operation, Merrill said it was a better carbon footprint than having trucks moving back and forth to dump snow elsewhere. 

“That pile would have been there until June,” Merrill said. Following the weekend operation, the machine left the Island on Monday. 

It is a longstanding tradition for Islanders to wager on when the big municipal snow piles will finally melt, but now all bets are off. 

Any large solids mixed in with the snow, like road signs, temporary fencing, a shredded safety cone, and “a nice bike,” were removed beforehand and given to the local public works departments to sort through. 

Richard Combra, Oak Bluffs highway superintendent, said it was better to put the water through the municipal sewer system rather than dumping the snow into the harbor because of the debris. The snowmelter has a screen built into it to separate the larger pieces of debris from the melted snow. Combra said the snow mountain produced enough debris to fill three dump trucks. 

He also highlighted the amount of work that remains with tree debris on every street. 

“It was a real big challenge,” Combra said. “We had a pretty big storm a few weeks prior, so that made it harder.”

MEMA is currently assessing damage across Massachusetts to determine whether the state qualifies for federal disaster assistance.

The big mountain of snow may be gone, but the trenchlines of snow mixed with dirt and gravel pushed aside by plows and shovelers still line the Island’s roads. At the bottom of these piles, frozen patches and shallow, slushy puddles meet the streets. And while many of the trees that blocked driveways and caused power lines to sag have been removed, bowed trees with broken branches, and the remains of upright trees with shattered trunks, are strewn across the Island. On some properties, the vegetation that hid homes from view has been stripped away. 

The blizzard last week dumped at least 20 inches of heavy snow on the Island, and blew powerful gusts up to 71 mph, a combination of which led to power outages for more than 10,000 Islanders. The task of clearing the snow was tackled by the collective efforts of emergency responders, public works personnel, and private contractors. 

“It was a severe snow,” Joseph LaCivita, Tisbury town administrator, said during a select board meeting on Friday. 

Nicole Bilzerian, secretary and scheduler of Bilzerian Tree and Land in Vineyard Haven, said there’s been a stream of people requesting tree and snow removal, sometimes 20 calls a day to the office. She highlighted that there was a lot of snow this time, so the plows had to be careful not to damage driveways. Bilzerian said tree management companies have been prioritizing the hazardous trees, like those leaning on homes or wires, before determining other arboreal debris to handle. 

“They’re out there every day,” Bilzerian said of the company’s crew.

Riley Dobel, owner of Tabor Tree Service, said he’s been across the Island, and Oak Bluffs and Edgartown seem to have taken the worst of the damage. But while trees blocked roads, and hit some cars and houses, he said this was smaller property damage than some other storms he’s cleaned up after. Dobel, who’s done tree-service work for 13 years, recalled back-to-back nor’easters in 2018 that uprooted trees, especially pitch pines, and hit many houses. 

Although it caused less property damage, Dobel said, the recent blizzard was still the highest amount of damaged trees he’s seen. “I have never seen so much damage,” he said. “This is the most destruction I’ve seen.” 

Now that the emergency work is done, Dobel said there’s still cleanup to do on residential properties, particularly from pine trees and ornamental trees like Leyland cypresses, the “No. 1 driveway offender.” But even after parts of trees have been cut down, more snow needs to melt so that crews can go in and clean and chip wood without getting equipment stuck. “It’s difficult,” he said. 

While there is still a significant amount of work left, some contractors are looking forward to taking a break after the bulk of the critical debris has been cleared. 

“I don’t think many people have been resting much after the storm,” Brian Beasley, owner of Martha’s Vineyard Tree Care, said. 

The blizzard even led some companies to add services. Nicholas Peters, owner of Acme Excavation and Septic, said his company had cleared roughly 100 driveways since the blizzard. Acme normally doesn’t clear driveways, “but people kept calling, so we had to keep up,” Peters said. He said that was especially true for those who had no power.

The state is determined to get a handle on the extent of the damage as part of the process of qualifying for federal relief funds. Damage to private homes and businesses can be reported to MEMA’s online survey at forms.office.com/g/W7V1kzB3wk, which will remain open through Friday, March 6. If you need assistance completing the form, want to submit information by phone, or need access in another language, call Mass 211, ext. 20, or 877-211-6277, ext. 20.

“Residents and business owners are strongly encouraged to document all storm-related damage with photographs and written records for insurance and potential federal assistance purposes,” the release said. 

Towns are currently reviewing the responses to the snow. While emergency responders have been applauded for their efforts, the Chilmark Select Board highlighted on Tuesday evening there was difficulty in determining whom to contact for certain tasks and that a post-storm plan was needed. 

Dukes County officials have requested feedback from residents and business owners regarding the Island’s “preparation, response, and recovery efforts” during the storm, which can be filed at forms.gle/upE8kzcGV8pg1mRR8. All answers will remain confidential, and be reviewed by local emergency management directors to improve planning and responsiveness in the future.