Is the blackening of snow along busy streets caused by automobile exhaust fumes?

[Random Variable]

Chicago looks so ugly a few days after a snowstorm. :thumbsdown:

 

Not for the most part. It's mostly a mixture of snow, ice, road salt, dirt from cars/oil/tires/smoke/etc. I would assume that exhaust makes up a very small part of the dirt.

 

[Lorn]

Originally posted by: Vespasian
Chicago looks so ugly a few days after a snowstorm. :thumbsdown:

So does Milwaukee.

 

[GoingUp]

Ive always wondered what the snow gets black from... It looks so nice when you drive through it the first time and then later its just a bunch of brown crap.

It would be interesting to have a couple of completely cleaned cars and drive them around in the same snow to see if it makes it black or not.

 

[Iron Woode]

nope. Just the usual dirt, sand and road salt.

 

[FoBoT]

mold
moldy snow

 

[Looney]

It is from population. Dirt is brown, not black. There's a park there gets A LOT of activity even in the winter, and the trail gets all muddy up from the thousands and thousands of people that walk through it, but it looks nothing like the black crap that are on the roads. And it's not the salt or ashphalt of the road either, because this trail is partially paved, and salted.

 

[jtusa]

Originally posted by: NOLOVE

Originally posted by: Vespasian
Chicago looks so ugly a few days after a snowstorm. :thumbsdown:

So does Milwaukee.

So does my truck.