Boston’s St Patrick’s Day parade may be cancelled due to snow

South Boston’s annual St Patrick’s Day Parade may be cancelled due to snow on the parade route.

The parade is scheduled for Sunday, March 15, and while weather experts are expecting temperatures to reach 5-7 degrees this week, that may not be warm enough to melt the snow.

To make matters worse, some forecasts say that even more snow is expected next week, on top of the record amounts that have fallen in the city over the last month.

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A lone car drives over the Zakim Bridge in Boston. Photograph: AP

Boston mayor Martin J Walsh said, "We're trying to see if there is a way to do something creative to continue the parade ... But I don't see how it goes through the neighbourhoods."

Parade organizer Brian Mahoney told the Boston Globe that while he remained hopeful the parade will run as scheduled, he recognised the weather may defeat all best-laid plans.

“Sometimes, reality intercedes,” Mahoney said. “The reality is you can’t see out the front window of your house because the snowbanks are so high.”

“If we get any more snow, it’s kaput. But if we get no more snow and it’s warm and it rains, maybe it can work.”

Walsh told the Globe the city had not yet focused snow-removal efforts on the parade route. Crews are using bulldozers and dump trucks to clear accumulated snow across the city, with a particular focus on polling places in East Boston, where a special election is scheduled for Tuesday.

“I have concerns about the amount of snow on the route and the amount of cars buried that haven’t been dug out on the route,” Walsh said. “It’s not snow anymore, it’s ice.”

Attempting to clear snow from the route would be “very costly to the city and very complicated logistically” to notify residents and get cars moved, the mayor said.

Parade organizers will meet next week to discuss what can be done.