All hell is about to break loose in downtown Pittsburgh as Christopher Nolan prepares to shoot scenes for his anticipated The Dark Knight Rises in the city’s Central Business District (colorfully nicknamed the Golden Triangle). Car chases, explosions, gun battles, air mortars and more are on the docket, as well as a meteorological pattern are being planned, according to info leaked to us by a source and confirmed by local Pennsylvania media.

It may be summer, but the Pittsburgh shoot will take place in the snow.

Location managers detailing Nolan’s shoot in a five-page production summary said that the team, operating under the bogus title Magnus Rex, “will be covering Oliver Ave. and Smithfield St. with snow" for the duration of filming, which is scheduled to take place from Aug. 10-21. It is in that paperwork, obtained by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, that the managers mention special effects which will include, but are not limited to, “gunfire, sparks, squib hits, smoke, debris, air mortars and controlled pyrotechnic blasts.”

It sounds like a war is coming to the streets of Pittsburgh, which will stand in as Gotham for Nolan’s third and allegedly final Batman film. So far, marketing materials – from the teaser poster to the short trailer – have suggested a crumbling Gotham, and this report makes it sound like the city’s coming down with a bang. And it’s from those ashes that, we assume, the Caped Crusader will rise. But there’s no mention of whose crew it will be battling Batman on Pittsburgh’s streets. Is it Bane setting off air mortars? Has Liam Neeson’s Ra’s Al Ghul returned to finish the plot to destroy Gotham that Bruce Wayne foiled in Batman Begins?

More than anything, I’m excited by the news that Nolan will coat his Rises scenes in snow. A trick used by Tim Burton in his underrated Batman Returns, snow implies purity, cleanliness, a rebirth… words we wouldn’t associate with Nolan’s grim series so far. We hope to have photos from the Pittsburgh shoot as they happen. In the meantime, get ready for winter in August, Nolan style!