STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — A massive effort is underway by the Department of Sanitation to melt the foot of snow that buried Staten Island and the rest of New York City.
Melting machines are operating around the clock on Staten Island and throughout the five boroughs. The operations are conducted at eight sites, with one location each on Staten Island and in the Bronx, and two locations each in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens.
The Staten Island site is located in Midland Beach.
Sanitation started melting operations on Tuesday evening and the effort has been going full steam since Wednesday morning. Citywide, more than 40 million pounds of snow have been liquified in the melters.
The snow is deposited into the melters and each machine is able to liquefy 60 tons, or over 120,000 pounds, in an hour.(Dennis Rees for the Advance/SILive.com)
As of Friday morning, over 5.5 million pounds of snow was melted on Staten Island. The totals climb every hour in an effort that probably will last for weeks.
Tour of melt hub in Midland Beach
Vincent Gragnani, a Sanitation spokesman, gave the Advance/SILive.com an exclusive tour of the melting operation at Midland Beach.
Snow is being trucked to a parking lot at Capodanno Boulevard and Hunter Avenue, where three melting machines are located. Two melters are used at a time while one is kept as a spare.
By Friday morning, about 645 truckloads of snow had been delivered to the lot.
The initial push was to collect snow from schools and hospitals, but the cleanup has been extended to residential and commercial areas.
“Staten Island got hit especially hard, and we can’t wait around for Mother Nature to melt this,” Gragnani said, noting that all borough Sanitation garages measured 12 inches of snow as of Monday morning.
Front loaders are being used to lift snow from huge piles.
The snow is deposited into the melters and each machine is able to liquefy 60 tons, or over 120,000 pounds, in an hour.
“These are running constantly and they probably will be for a very long time given that these sub-freezing temperatures aren’t going away anytime soon,” Gragnani said of the melters.
The water flows directly from each machine into the sewer.
Midland Beach was chosen partly because “we have plenty of space here,” Gragnani said.
“We’re grateful on Staten Island to have the space,” he said. “You can see we have plenty of space to put the snow and run these operations. Trucks and front-end loaders can move back and forth freely.”
Snow is being trucked to a parking lot at Capodanno Boulevard and Hunter Avenue, where three melting machines are located. Two melters are used at a time while one is kept as a spare.
(Dennis Rees for the Advance/SILive.com)Attacking storm on all fronts
Gragnani noted that since the beginning of the storm, about 2,500 Sanitation workers have been on duty for each 12-hour shift citywide. Their efforts have been supplemented by temporary workers known as emergency snow shovelers.
At least 572 Sanitation workers have been on duty on Staten Island, working 12-hour shifts during the storm and throughout the clean-up operation.
“We’ve attacked the storm on all fronts,” Gragnani said. “We start out by pre-brining roadways, then we salted the roadways, then we plowed.”
Melters are being used on Friday, Jan. 30, 2026, in a parking lot at Midland Beach at Capodanno Boulevard and Hunter Avenue.(Dennis Rees for the Advance/SILive.com)Focus shifts to pedestrians
In the last few days, workers have been focusing on snow removal at crosswalks, bus stops and fire hydrants.
“We know that pedestrians rely on this infrastructure every day to get to work and need to be safe,” Gragnani said.
Despite the deluge of snow, workers also have been picking up about 24 million pounds of trash citywide, albeit with some delays.
Commuters in particular have complained about being snowed in at bus stops. The responsibility for clearing bus shelters falls to the city Department of Transportation. Adjacent property owners are supposed to clear not only their own sidewalks but also the areas around bus sign posts. Some property owners have not been complying.
“Sanitation workers have been out there attacking all of the bus stops,” Gragnani said, clearing not only all the space around the bus stop, but also a path between the bus stop and the street.
Property owners have been legally required to clear their sidewalks since Monday at 12:30 p.m. Since then, about 400 summons have been issued each day citywide to violators. Contact 311 to report snow-covered sidewalks.