A snow melting vehicle works by scooping snow into a melting pit located in a large tank at the rear of the vehicle. Around the melting pit is a smaller tank full of warm water, heated by a powerful burner. The gases from the burner are bubbled through the water, causing some of the water to spill over into the melting pit, melting the snow instantly. The meltwater is discharged into the storm drains. As they have to carry the large water tank and fuel for the burner, snow melting machines tend to be much larger and heavier than most winter service vehicles.
Deep: Caleb Panning shovels snow on Monday in Bowling Green, Ohio as frigid, dense air swirled across much of the U.S.
For a big chunk of the Midwest, the subzero temperatures were moving in behind another winter wallop: more than a foot of snow and high winds that made traveling treacherous.
Thousands of travelers remain stranded or delayed following a chaotic weekend of canceled flights. FlightAware reported that more than 4,400 flights had been canceled by Monday morning – on top of the 4,100 flights canceled on Sunday. Chicago’s Department of Aviation said on Monday that airlines have canceled more than 1,600 flights at O’Hare International Airport. Another 85 were reported at Midway International Airport.
