Snow More: Winter Is Gone
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One of the most remarkable things about living in New England is how dramatically the landscape changes from season to season. In the depths of a frigid winter it's almost unfathomable that the same place will be enjoying a lush landscape, heat waves, and hordes of people heading to the beach to keep cool. It's also usually about this time of year where I start to remember how much of the year we don't even have leaves on trees! But blink, and within a few weeks the whole place will be greener than Fenway's grass. And the most striking change of late? Watching 110"+ of snow go to zero.
Looking at the latest reports from both viewers and the NOHRSC (National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center) suggest that our record snow has completely disappeared from the southern New England ground. I'm sure there are some nooks and crannies in the forests of the Berkshires or Worcester County with some surviving patches, but in general we have shed winter's coat and moved solidly into spring. Just like that, daffodils are in bloom and trees are starting to awaken.
How long did it take? About 6-7 weeks. The snow depth on March 1st was tremendous and there was a whole lot of water locked up in it. On average, a huge chunk of the Northeast had a snow water equivalent (SWE) of 5-9". So not only did all the snow disappear over 6 weeks, but it did so in such an orderly way that spring flooding has been avoided. I'm not sure of the exact figure, but it's safe to say a whole lot of that snow A) compacted down since it was a 'dry' snow and B) sublimated, or went straight from a solid state to a gas (ice to water vapor). So it's not as if all 110"+ had to melt. The sublimation, which was a big factor when our temps were still quite cold, likely helped to keep some of that water from heading into our streams and rivers. One way or another, all that snow that made life a daily pain and cost many of us in home repairs and lost wages did what it always does - succumb to the sun.
Looking across New England this weekend, there is barely a swollen river to be found. The only river or stream in all of the region that has reached flood stage is the Lower Connecticut, which is in typical minor flood and not posing any major risks this spring. I actually drove by it earlier in the week and was surprised to see how low it was by mid-April standards. Persistent ice could still lead to some jams across northern New England, but otherwise the only snow left to melt is relegated to the Green Mountain peaks in Vermont, the White Mountain region in New Hampshire, and the higher elevations of interior Maine. We escaped!
Also helping the cause was a period of much drier than average conditions. This was especially the case to our north and west, which is key since that's also the headwaters for most of our major rivers. There certainly have been no major rain events this spring, and no complaints about that. Now it's time to dig in, get planting, think about spring, and clean up the yard from winter's mess.
The pattern next week doesn't look quite as glorious as the one we just enjoyed. A trough in the jet stream will return, and unsettled weather is going to likely set up shop for a while...likely until the end of April. This means a lot of 40s/50s for us and a supply of April showers. But the worst is decidedly behind us, the landscape is alive once again, and the snow is gone until next winter. Now stop reading this blog post and go outside!
Winter 2014-15, it's been real. (Photo in Welfleet, early March)