Holiday lights shine through the snow on Clyde Street, Pittsburgh, 5:20am 14 Dec 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)

14 December 2025

This morning my Pittsburgh city neighborhood was a winter wonderland after it snowed overnight. As of 8:11am, there were 6 inches on the ground at Schenley Park and it’s still snowing.

Since we hadn’t heard any snowplows overnight — which reminded me of the Snowmageddon fiasco — I went out at 5:15am to take photos of our nearby Snow Emergency Route, Fifth Avenue. Hmmm. Wasn’t plowed.

Intersection of Fifth Ave & Craig Street, 5:17am 14 Dec 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)

Snowing on Craig Street, 5:17am 14 Dec 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)

On the plus side I found beautiful Christmas lights glowing through the snow.

Christmas lights and snow at Cathedral Mansions, 14 Dec 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)

Christmas lights glowing through the snow, 14 Dec 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)

Icing on the yews, lit from inside, Pittsburgh, 5:20am 14 Dec 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)

By dawn, the private lots in our area had been plowed but still no plow on the streets.

Dawn with snow, Pittsburgh, 7:32am 14 Dec 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)

Sixteen years ago the City of Pittsburgh was paralyzed by 21.1″ of snow that fell on the weekend of Feb 5-6, 2010. The suburbs were in good shape (they had plowed all along) but it took the City many days to dig out, in some places more than a week, because they hadn’t kept up with the snow while it was falling. Mayor Ravenstahl had forbidden DPW to work overtime unless he personally authorized it. It was the weekend and they couldn’t find him to get approval. He was celebrating his 30th birthday in an undisclosed location and could not be reached. By the time DPW got the mayor’s OK the snow was too deep to plow. They had to use backhoes.

I doubt that’s what happening this time, but I still wonder. No plows?