Malden’s trash snow mountain finally melts! Experience the slow-moving demise of Malden’s ‘Brown Glacier’

May 30, 2026 Neighborhood View Features, Nature & Environment, Video 1
A massive pile of snow behind a fence with a lone young person on a bike riding by.
The massive pile of shoveled snow from Malden streets following the "Blizzard of 2026." (Photo: James Mudge)

By Ron Cox

After three agonizing months, Malden’s least favorite landmark, the 50-plus-foot snow mountain spawned by the historic February 2026 blizzard, has finally melted.

That epic two-day storm dumped 20 inches of snow, prompting the DPW* to pile the icy mess in an empty lot at the corner of Charles and Middlesex, formerly the site of Ryan’s Amusements. As this brown glacier slowly thawed, Maldonians realized it wasn’t just frozen water and dirt. Plowed into this manmade peak were broken space savers, miscellaneous trash and even parts of our bike trail markers.

Now that the majestic pile has vanished, we aren’t left with a beautiful spring meadow. Instead, we have a sad, muddy museum of local litter. The snow is history, but its legacy lives on as a trashy reminder of winter 2026!

*This story is inaccurate. The lot is privately owned and was not used by the Malden DPW. Please see this story “A Lesson in Community Journalism, which explains and corrects the errors.

A small heap of dirty brown trash in an empty lot.
This heap of trash is all that remains of the “snow mountain” that was stored in the empty lot at the corner of Charles & Middlesex Street. (Photo: Ron Cox)

In the time lapse video below, Ron Cox documents the months-long melting of Malden’s snow mountain from two different angles.

Ron Cox is an artist, humorist, Malden native and retired community media professional. He is currently everyone’s favorite Uber driver and a contributor to Neighborhood View.

About Neighborhood View 85 Articles
Neighborhood View is a citizen journalism program and online publication covering local news stories in Malden, MA. It is a program of Urban Media Arts (UMA) in Malden and is a member of the Institute for Nonprofit News, a national organization that networks local news initiatives. To learn more about Neighborhood View, subscribe (for free) or learn about how YOU can become a citizen journalist, click on the heading at the top of this page.
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1 Comment

  1. Yet, another summit to be examined! How “fortunate” to have an empty building lot to store the trashy snow pile. How “fortunate” that this trash was not funneled into the Malden River via the storm water system. This pile captures and illustrates all of the street litter that contaminates our city and our Malden River. This is the time for a forensic study! Thank you, Ron for the illustrative tour! James, thanks for the summit photo with the cyclist!

    Reply

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