Our Own Mini - Freshet Snow Melt Fogout

That thing about snow is... when it is falling from the sky it is beautiful as anything, but after that water, locked up in motion in the form of ice crystals (snow), begins to melt and begins its down hill trek, into the local drainage basin, it can be cause for wide spread flooding if it all melts way too fast..

That is what we appear to be experiencing at the moment, here in Southeastern Pennsylvania on this fine Thursday morning. A rapid freshet flood, post snow and ice/rain storm.

The Sun is out.. but not visible from the ground because of all the fog given off by the sublimating snow.

Temperatures are rising with a pushing warm air mass from the South sweeping up and out eventually to have the cold return, but the melting that is occurring this moment is rapid. And with it comes the sound of rain! But it is just the little chunks of ice and slush falling to the ground from all the branches.

Fog was intense, forming a dense canopy perhaps 50 meters up into the air. Not much able to be discerned through the white hazy horizon.

How much difference a few meters in altitude makes.

The local tributary streams feeding into the Angelica Drainage Basin will be running in a hurry to get down to the Angelica creek, down at the main road.

And this soaking, sopping ground is also cause for concern living out in the wooded areas on hill sides or mountain slopes. The ground can get too mushy when it warms rapidly, possibly uprooting trees as they lean in the wind, or just naturally on the hillside.

Would never want to see someone get caught under one of these massive Nolde Forest pine trees that fall every so often, during times like these, over the road, completely obliterating the side rail.. if a car happen to be under the tree as it fall, would flatten it to a pancake.

A veil of moisture, also known as fog, hovering over the snow about 50 meters up. Not easily discernible, but a trained eye can make out the base of the fog layer.

I imagine the gal/sec flow rate has increased substantially today, and for the next few days of melt, for this tiny tributary stream. Anyone taking actual notice of the substantial increase in overall precipitation, just about everywhere?

Another great example of the fog layer at 50 meters.

Cannot see the Sun, but it is shining down through the fog, heating the surface and atmosphere up. I imagine this fog hanging around for most of the day. There really isn't any breeze whatsoever to blow the fog away, and so thus it will camp.

Snow and ice that has melted into water and sunk to the surface and is now forming under the surface melt-water channels down to the tributary stream. Same process by which super scaled glaciers create depositional land masses via the transportation of sediment by these under surface runoff channels. Another reason why flood waters are so murky brown.. they sweep all the dirt and sediment off the surface of the earth as they drain into the river basins, not accounting for turbulence and grain size.

Was worried for a moment that the bit of snow and ice on the roof might give way and slide down onto me while I was walking in and out of the house, because of the sound of all the falling ice and what I though were the sounds of cracking tree limbs... Must be cautious! Need to be around and healthy for my baby boy in a month!

There really wasn't that much on the roof this time..

Everything which was frozen stiff last night with the ice storm, has now thawed and turned to slush. Simply put, there is water EVERYWHERE. That which gives life, can also take life. Or simply make life difficult. Its amazing to stop for a moment and ponder how many different things in life are in existence solely because of water, H2O. That ponder could last a long time if you let it...

Take care yall!

One thing I must be sure to do is teach my boy about water. That lesson could be endless!