BALTIMORE — An urban mountain of icy snow looks more like a demolition site at the Old Town Mall parking lot.
WATCH: How long until the last snow pile melts?
Its slopes, covered in dirt and debris, tower over street lights.
It's become one of three dumping grounds for stubborn snow over the last month, alongside Pimlico Racetrack grounds and M&T Bank Stadium.
It may not be pretty to look at, but it's certainly caught the attention of passersby and scientists like Sinead Louise Farrell, an assistant professor at the University of Maryland.
"This is piquing the interest of glaciologists all over the world," she said. "We've been talking about this huge man-made glacier in the middle of downtown Baltimore."
Farrell studies sea ice within the geographical sciences department, and almost never gets the opportunity to see her area of study in her own backyard.
"It has all the components of a glacier that we would find in the polar regions. Glaciers are actually snow that compresses over time and slowly moves under its own weight like a frozen river," she explains.
While much of the snow on the ground has already melted, she says the larger piles are different, with blocks of ice mixed in. It depends on how compact the ice is.
"If you pour some boiling water on a on a cup of crushed ice, it will melt quite fast versus pouring boiling water on a fancy boutique ice cube, shall we say that you might put in a cocktail," she said. "That's gonna take a lot longer to melt."
The rain, coupled with warmer temperatures this week, as well as the debris in the pile, will help to melt it faster.
A delayed melt is healthier for the environment, slowing the amount of pollutants that will end up in the Chesapeake Bay.
But it's something Farrell will be keeping close watch on.
"This one could be there for several weeks. One of my colleagues even thinks it could be there for several months, stretching through the end of March, maybe even into April," Farrell said.
There are no clear plans by the city to remove the snow at the Old Town Mall parking lot, and its snow melter remains at M&T Bank Stadium.