The Melt Begins, Even As A Spring Storm Arrives

31 March 2012
7:47 AM

Sunrise at	7:09 AM	in direction	78°	East-northeast
Sunset at	8:43 PM	in direction	283°	West-northwest

Duration of day: 13 hours, 34 minutes (6 minutes, 45 seconds longer than yesterday)

A view from our deck this morning

Winter weather has returned and is expected for the next several days, even while the spring melt has begun in earnest.  These few days of snow and below freezing temperatures won't alter much of what has already melted.  Once the temperature rises again, the ground will look much like it does in these photos .. well actually when the dusting of snow melts, there will be more exposed ground.  Spring in the subarctic is an exercise in faith and patience.

I thought to take a photo from our deck yesterday and that photo would have shown clear sky through the trees, bare spots under the spruce nearby, and a dry deck except for where the snow melt dripped over the gutters from the roof.  I didn't, because I had taken photos on campus earlier to show how break up is on the way.  Ground is exposed along the sidewalks where it had previously been shoveled, but is still abundantly evident in areas not bordering walkways or roads.  Unless there is a freak warming trend, ground is not exposed in the depths of winter in subarctic Interior Alaska.  Walkways are snow packed or covered with a fine film of ice and snow.  Neighborhood roads are never dry unless they have been bladed recently.  Even after snow plowing along our road, we do not usually see the ground.  Major thoroughfares will have a lot of snow build up at times before road crews remove the trampled and compacted layers of snow and ice.

When we lived in Colorado seeing large patches of melted ground after a snow storm was not unusual.  There the snow would fall, and then melt entirely before the next storm.  Well, there were a few years when it didn't fully melt, like the year I was pregnant with my son and shoveled the walks every few days or so.  But generally, those who live inland at mid-latitude are accustomed to snow, but then can fully expect the snow to melt revealing dry, bare ground.  I never really liked the dry parched look of winter in Colorado.  I knew that much of the moisture was frozen under the surface, not like deep permafrost frozen, but still not soaking fully to the roots and once it truly warmed and we had spring rains, all would be green.  But, winter for me became an experience of never ending brown.  I will be honest.  If I am not going to be surrounded by the green of my native California in winter, then I greatly prefer the pure white of snow.

Clear spring melt on south facing slope

A little greening along the sidewalk

Predictions are for highs of 35 to 37 today with highs remaining below freezing for several days thereafter.  I am hoping the high temperatures are not reached as all of the recent snow will melt and continued precipitation will be rain causing roads to freeze over night.  So far, the spring melt has been civilized, exposing dry, safe roads.  This type of spring sputter can put a kink in the works for a few days.

The house has remained warm, but we are still firing up the wood stove two or three times a day.  It hasn't been cold enough to require a constant fire, so we often start the fires now in a cold fire box.  We need more kindling and paper than we did in deep winter when we loaded it up enough to get through several hours and would have warm embers to fan into flames around additional fuel.

Gary has gone to get a load of wood from Northland Wood.  Our wood stove is so inefficient we have burned more wood than my daughter and son-in-law who have a much bigger house.  The borough does have that program whereby they will pay for replacing an inefficient wood stove.  They take the one we have away for scrap (so it won't be used elsewhere) and we agree to not remove the new heating appliance from the house, opening the door to a different, but equally inefficient stove being installed.

Despite exposed ground along the sidewalks, there still is plenty of snow