Timothy Jones knows cold.
But bundled in a heavy coat and snug-fit, black wool cap, the Shaler man appeared unfazed Tuesday morning as he quietly paced in one of the region’s coldest spots: a narrow walkway, exposed to the elements 60 feet above the ice-covered Ohio River, at the lock-and-dam facility Jones helps run.
The air barely broke 2 degrees on the riverbank below; the wind chill checked in at minus 10. Patches of ice formed in Jones’ facial hair.
“Nah, this isn’t bad — bad is when the air temperature is minus 10 and the wind is blowing 30, 35, 40 mph,” quipped Jones, 53, lockmaster at the Emsworth Locks and Dams in suburban Pittsburgh.
“Yeah, it gets cold up here, and people don’t always realize that,” he added. “It’s always cold, it’s always windy. But, these guys are so used to it, it’s just an everyday thing.”
Jones is one of the hundreds of die-hard workers tasked with keeping the Pittsburgh area running when temperatures plummet or weather turns treacherous — as forecasters expect it to do through much of the week.
Those workers count among their peers Postal Service mail carriers, public works employees salting roads or riding garbage trucks, crews of “snowfighters” keeping traffic moving at Pittsburgh International Airport — even young men and women braving subzero wind chills to corral shopping carts in supermarket parking lots.
It’s hard to put a dollar figure on Pittsburgh’s — or Pennsylvania’s — cold-weather economy. But experts say numbers related to it are pretty big.
Countless industries depend on products and cargo shipped via the Ohio River, where a vessel’s 980-mile journey begins at the Emsworth Locks and Dams and ends in New Orleans.
More than 44.6 million tons of cargo passed through Pittsburgh-area locks and dams such as Jones’ facility in 2022, officials said. That’s roughly the same amount that passes through the Port of Seattle each year.
Clearing roads essential
Keeping the state’s roadways clear also is a large task, officials said.
About a half-million vehicles drive on the Pennsylvania Turnpike each day — from tractor-trailers shipping goods between Chicago and New York City to tourists or Pennsylvanians commuting to work.
Keeping the iconic highway open in winter costs roughly half of the turnpike’s $87 million maintenance budget, spokeswoman Marissa Orbanek told TribLive.
Private businesses also rely on people working in the cold.
Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer, would not comment on its Pennsylvania operations. But officials there confirmed the company spent more than $8 million last year in winter supplies for its staffers, about 30,000 of whom work in Pennsylvania.
For those not relying on a cold snap for goods or a paycheck, relief won’t be coming Wednesday.
Though sunshine is expected in Pittsburgh, the day’s high temperature is forecast at 13 degrees, according to the National Weather Service in Moon Township. The mercury could drop to 5 degrees Wednesday night.
Thursday should be relatively warmer, but Pittsburgh isn’t expected to inch above the freezing mark until Sunday, when meteorologists say temperatures could climb to the mid-30s.
Postal carrier delivers
Snow was falling with the temperatures last week as Chris Baker, a Postal Service mailman — his formal title is “city carrier” — exited his iconic white mail truck on Irwin’s Longview Drive.
Baker’s been delivering mail here since he started working for the Postal Service about five years ago.
He also has developed a rhythm to walking his route. He wraps up his “Longview loop” each day in 17 to 20 minutes, depending on the weather.
“We all know it — neither snow nor rain,” Baker said, referencing the familiar Postal Service saying as he dropped a handful of letters and a Norwin Star newspaper into a mailbox.
Delivering the mail through all sorts of weather is no small task.
There are nearly 4,900 carrier routes in Baker’s district — Pennsylvania No. 1, which serves ZIP codes beginning with 150 to 179, a Postal Service spokesman told TribLive.
Those routes account for more than 2.8 million potential deliveries per day in Western Pennsylvania. Last week, Baker had more than 600 stops on his daily route.
Baker said he previously worked for 18 years — and indoors — with special-needs children. He’s not particularly an “outdoor person,” but he enjoys delivering the mail — even in the snow or during cold snaps.
Baker said it’s important to dress in layers. But he will not glove his right pointer finger; sometimes, he said, you just need bare skin to leaf through letters.
“It really is a lot more physical,” said Baker, 48, sporting his profession’s thick, navy blue jacket and winter pants as he plowed through a snow drift.
“You can ask any mailman, though,” he added. “We’ll take this over rain any day.”
Clearing the runways
When the weather gets grim, Jim Moorhead enlists the “snowfighters” at Pittsburgh International Airport.
The Findlay airport’s maintenance and facilities teams, which account for more than 100 workers, tend to most outdoor surfaces at the 9,000-acre site.
“It’s roughly like managing a two-lane highway — that’s about 500 miles along,” Moorhead said with a laugh.
When winter weather threatens to slow or stop airport operations, the crews shovel snow from roads and lots. They tend to cold jetways, too.
And because they can’t use rock salt on an aircraft runway, they remove snow manually, with brooms and shovels, making sure everything stays as dry as possible, Moorhead said.
Sometimes, the “snowfighters” bring in massive machinery, officials said. One airport vehicle’s propeller — think of the chute on a walking snowblower — stands nearly 7 feet tall and can blow snow 250 feet at a speed of 25 mph.
The Pittsburgh airport’s snowfighting team has won national awards multiple times, officials said. When a lake effect snowstorm dumped nearly 3 feet of snow last month in Erie, PIT’s team was the one called in to help.
Moorhead said it’s hard to overestimate the importance of the team in keeping the airport functioning.
“You lose the respect of your tenants if you start closing because of the weather, and you can’t put a number on that,” said Moorhead, 50, who lives in the South Hills and has worked at the Pittsburgh-area airport for about 30 years.
“Snowfighters” will use an arsenal of 15 machines to battle an “average” snowstorm. A heavy snow could call for 30 of them.
“They’re called snowfighters because you’re putting them in the middle of a snowstorm when you’re telling everyone else to stay inside — it takes a unique individual to do that,” Moorhead said.
“When you get into a bitter cold, like we are now, it becomes a tougher fight,” he added. “But you can count on Pittsburgh to be open.”
Some welcome the cold, snow
Some in the region welcome winter storms and cold temperatures.
Just ask Brett Cook, the vice president and general manager at the Seven Springs, Hidden Valley and Laurel Mountain resorts.
Cook started as a seasonal lift operator at a Harrisburg-area resort in 2009. He was quickly hooked.
“It was one day in, and I said to myself, ‘I’ve got to find a way to do this year-round!’ laughed Cook, 43, who moved to Somerset County in 2022.
Winter tourism is a booming business.
The size of the skiing and snowboarding market in the U.S. topped $5.5 billion in 2023, according to the firm Grand View Research. And it’s expected to keep growing, with some analysts expecting it to grow 5% a year through 2030.
Travelers also are drawn to the Pittsburgh area, in part, for winter amenities like Seven Springs and the scenic Laurel Highlands, said Emily Hatfield, a spokeswoman for the tourism agency VisitPittsburgh.
About 1.7 million people stay overnight in the area during the winter months — or the first quarter of the year, Hatfield said. Nearly two in every five people who come here participate in outdoor activities year-round.
Vail Resorts declined to provide visitor counts or dollars spent at Seven Springs, which is one of nearly 40 resorts it owns and operates across North America. Opened in 1937, Seven Springs today boasts 33 ski and snowboarding trails, and 285 acres of skiable terrain.
For Cook, though, the equation is simple: The colder it is, the better the conditions are for skiing.
“Essentially, man-made snow is a ball of ice, pellets of ice,” Cook said. “And it’s more much dense than actual snow. So, when it gets colder, the more dry the air, the silkier the snow is.”
“This is what we look forward to all year, that natural snow,” he added. “That’s what we work for.”
Justin Vellucci is a TribLive reporter covering crime and public safety in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County. A longtime freelance journalist and former reporter for the Asbury Park (N.J.) Press, he worked as a general assignment reporter at the Trib from 2006 to 2009 and returned in 2022. He can be reached at jvellucci@triblive.com.
Despite the bone-chilling cold and treacherous conditions, these heroes are out on the front lines, clearing snow-covered roads, responding to emergencies, and ensuring that essential services continue to operate smoothly. Their hard work and dedication often go unnoticed, but their contributions are vital to keeping the city running smoothly during the winter months.
So the next time you see a snow plow driver out in the early hours of the morning or a sanitation worker braving the cold to collect trash, take a moment to appreciate the hard work and sacrifice that these unsung heroes make to keep Pittsburgh moving. They truly are the backbone of our city, and we owe them a debt of gratitude for their tireless efforts in the face of adversity.
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