Here's how freezing and thaw cycles have changed over the last 25 years in Pittsfield

With each freeze and thaw cycle, a little more of Pittsfield's roads are eaten away by the expansion of water in the asphalt's cracks. Over the last quarter century, the number of freeze and thaw cycles have ticked up in the Berkshires. City leaders say that's shortening the lifespan of city roads.

The number of freeze and thaw cycles is based on a count of the number of days in which the max temperature exceeded 32 degrees and the minimum temperature was below 32 degrees over one 24 hour period. Historic temperature data recorded by the Pittsfield Municipal Airport was gathered from the National Centers for Environmental Information database.
Chart: MEG BRITTON-MEHLISCH — THE BERKSHIRE EAGLESource: NCEI databaseGet the dataCreated with Datawrapper