05/05/2026
You're not imagining it. The roads are worse this year.
Pennsylvania’s 2025–26 winter was classified "extreme" by regional weather scientists — and the damage it left behind is now visible on many roads. Local mechanics are calling it the worst pothole season in years. PennDOT crews were out throwing down cold-patch fixes they admitted wouldn't hold.
Here's why: it wasn't just the cold. It was the swings. Every time temperatures crossed the freezing point this winter, water trapped in asphalt cracks expanded, fractured the road surface, and left a void. Then a record-warm, high-precipitation March caused early snowmelt that saturated Pittsburgh's clay soil — heaving the ground upward and buckling roads from beneath. Bigger holes. Deeper holes. More of them.
Climate researchers say these extreme freeze-thaw seasons are happening more often, not less.
Know a pothole? Turn it in. pittsburghpa.gov/311 | 1-800-FIX-ROAD
