Philadelphia in the Snow
The east coast of the US got hit by huge snowfalls this weekend, and between 20 and 25 inches of snow fell in 24 hours.
The entire city was abruptly and completely under the snow. I went to a friend's house at 10pm on Sunday for a "snowed-in party", and trudged several blocks through the snow to get there. Seeing as cars are much more important than people here, the snow from the roads had been shovelled onto the pavements, where it was up to a metre deep in places, and so pedestrians were walking on the streets.
The next morning, I got up and took these photos around the Rittenhouse Square area (in the centre of Centre City). Everyone was outdoors, playing in the snow. by the time I took these pictures, a lot of the snow had already been taken away. They're now putting it in trucks and dumping it in the river.
Cars were snowed in, and sometimes completely hidden by the snow.
Philadelphia was up and running again quite fast, thanks to a the sudden appearance of many of these!
The beauty of the surroundings was not lost on the locals, who were all taking pictures.
Cycling was not really an option anyway.
The smaller roads were not cleared for ages, and some cars were obviously going nowhere, not that they'd have wanted to, given the conditions of the roads!
In Rittenhouse square, pedestrians quickly recreated the usual paths.
Some people were better equipped than others, and they had the roads almost to themselves
Others cleared the pavement outside their houses as best they could, before the stuff at the bottom turned to ice.
Taking a walk in the park is easier if you own a pair of skis
Even large streets (this is the view north from 19th & Delancey), where cars passed frequently, kept a covering of snow for more than a day
The statues in the park were almost completely hidden by the snow
But everyone enjoyed walking around in the snow.
Posted by nlvp at February 18, 2003 10:00 PM