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PrintWe all know about Pittsburgh's parking chairs. We have all gazed in wonder at various incarnations of snow men and snow creatures. We all have stood in awe at the mountains of snow that have sprung up in parking lots and on Pittsburgh's secondary roads.
So on this -- the last day of the snowiest month ever -- we thought it was time to look at some less-appreciated aspects of the snowstorms.
Here is a short field guide to some of the special formations of this February in Pittsburgh:
This is the parking space where the driver leaves a huge mound of snow on either side of the car, digging out just enough to climb into the door and to drive out onto the street.The Burrow is the parking space from which, when a car emerges, one tends to wonder if the car will see its shadow, or if the driver will be able to check for traffic.
There is no snow in the Obsessive Compulsive Disorder space -- or on the car in this space -- nothing but clear and dry pavement. It could be the Fourth of July where this car is parked.We aren't sure if there was aid from a shop vac or a flame thrower to get the snow so completely gone.
The Ronco is in honor of Ron Popeil's Showtime Rotisserie Oven, to which Mr. Popeil applied the catch phrase "set it and forget it."The oven was for cooking dinner. This parking space is for those who park and do not intend to drive until midsummer. These are people who parked it, and forgot it.
Someday the car will be visible again. But until then, take a cab.
In the Service Road parking configuration, a number of motorists have created their own access road, leaving a buffer of snow between the cars and the street.Only the driveways are cleared to the street from which both the cars in the driveway and on the street can emerge.
The Cul de Sac is a drive-through space.A skilled shoveler can get this space to the point that the street-side wall of snow protects the vehicle from flying salt or snow thrown by plows, while also eliminating the need to ever back up.
The Angle Inn is usually the result of someone so frustrated with trying to get their car near the curb that they go back until they can go no further.They leave the car there -- and reuse the ruts again and again.
Often created by a snow blower, The Single File is a valley through the shadow of snow. There is only one way to go -- and that is through.The single file is often marked by yellow snow at the edges, the way trails are marked by blazes on the trees.
Maybe there was an attempt to shovel early on, and there probably was. But as people walked on snow that had fallen, there were no further tries.In The Hardpacked Trail, the snow is going to stay until it melts, or gets low enough that salt will do the trick.
There is nothing more to say about the owner of this sidewalk.
House bang icicles hang evenly along gutters. They come in a variety of styles.There's the chopped bangs -- those that a homeowner, usually wielding a broomstick, has knocked off to a style that resembles what the homeowner probably once did to his kid's hair with a scissors and a bowl.
There are also light wispy bangs and heavy bangs.
A variation of bang icicles, Cousin It formations usually hang from both the main roof and a porch roof.The icicles are so heavy in front, the house is hidden behind them.
Icicles clumped together like hair in those Japanese anime cartoons.
Located at the intersection of the gutters or rooftops of two townhouses, Gargoyles are variations on an icicle. They pile up into an ominous ball instead of hanging down.
Just one lone icicle, the Ponytail hangs from the side of a gutter.A variation is pig tails, which is a house with leaky downspouts on either side.
Ann Belser is a Post-Gazette staff writer (abelser@post-gazette.com, 412=263-1699). Stacy Innerst is a Post-Gazette illustrator (sinnerst@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1921).
The Next Page is different every week: John Allison, thenextpage@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1915
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