Holey Night

Bostonist seldom delves as deeply into the weather as our big siblings at Gothamist, not least of all because we don't have a trained meteorologist on staff. One thing we do have, though, is someone who observes our city's pavement from close up. Based on these observations, it appears that, just as snow and its accompanying fender-benders have definitively arrived, so too have potholes. Usually, "pothole season" is said to begin with the spring thaw, but we seem to be noticing an unusual number of new craters on our route to work now that the temperature is fluctuating around the freezing mark (for a neat explanation of how potholes form,with pictures, look here). So drive carefully, dear readers, and if you do incur damage to your car as a result of a pothole, make sure to report the incident to the city within 30 days if you hope to get reimbursed. Of course, legally, the city is only liable if it knew about or should have known about the pothole and failed to fix it, so make sure to call to report potholes: 617-635-7555, or go to the special Dept. of Public Works website for potholes (which directs you to another site that is - surprise! - under construction). Or, you could take matters into your own hands, either the cheap way or the expensive (but totally awesome) way.

Say what you will about the state of Michigan, they make lovely pothole diagrams.