Watch Crews Tackle Epic Snowbanks in Sault Ste. Marie

I’m a lifelong Michigander, and I'll admit I have never really thought about where all the snow goes once it gets plowed. I mean, here in West Michigan we're used to seeing those massive gray snow piles hanging around forever, sometimes well into full-on spring. They just sort of exist as wet, dirty mountains until one day they're gone and you realize it's nearly summer.

But in the Upper Peninsula's Sault Ste. Marie, there is actually a system for dealing with them, and it's pretty neat!

Get our free mobile app

How Sault Ste. Marie in Michigan's U.P. Moves Snow

A video shared to the I Love Sault Ste. Marie Facebook page shows how it's done. City crews use massive snow blowers to move the snow into waiting dump trucks. They're not just pushing it aside, but loading it all up and hauling it away.

That matters this winter especially. According to the National Weather Service, Sault Ste. Marie has gotten 132 inches, which is more than 40 inches above normal for this point in the season. That is a lot of snow to leave piled up along streets and sidewalks, especially with big events like the I-500, the nation's largest snowmobile race, bringing extra traffic into the city.

READ MORE: Snow Plow Blocked Your Driveway? Try This

Dump Sites and Snow Mountains

So where does all that snow go? The trucks haul it to designated snow dump sites around the city. These are large, planned locations designed specifically to handle massive amounts of snow. Once there, heavy equipment pushes the snow into towering piles. In some cases, snowblowers are used to stack it even higher.

UP NEXT: Wild Photos Show Why U-S 2 Was Impassible in the U.P. 

Canadian Sault Ste. Marie’s Approach

The Canadian side of Sault Ste. Marie actually recently shared a cool video about this too:

👇BELOW: 20+ PHOTOS THAT REVEAL THE QUIET BEAUTY OF MICHIGAN IN WINTER👇

The video shows just how epic snow removal can get. Crews run full shifts with trucks, loaders, graders, and blowers, clearing up to five kilometers (about 16,400 feet) of snowbanks in a single day. At the dump sites, the piles get so massive that machines can’t push them anymore—that’s when blowers launch snow even higher, building mountains that can exceed 125 feet. Watching it all in action really makes you realize the scale of the operation.

It is one of those things you never really think about until you see it. And once you do, it is pretty fascinating!