The Thaw

We've had a record-breaking amount of snow this year (global warming, global shwarming!). I think the previous record was set in 1979. Temperatures in the 30s and 40s for a few days. As a result, we have some serious thawing happening. Last Friday, our street, which had become a nearly impassable mass of rutted ice, had turned into a lake. I had intended to get a picture of it but, since it had remained submerged throughout the day, there was no sense of urgency. In fact, I thought that it would continue to get larger as more melting occurred. After returning from picking up my daughter at school I discovered that almost all the water had disappeared (see below).



It couldn't possibly have all evaporated and the gutters and storm sewers were still blocked with ice. Where had all that water gone? Curiosity got the better of me and I eventually found a spot downstream that was bubbling like a mudspring. Bloop. Bloop. Weird. I went to get the camera and when I returned the bloopling had turned into a little whirlpool. As it turned out, there was a manhole cover that must have been ice-covered and was no longer. All the water was rushing down that little hole in the center.



I suppose it doesn't sound all that strange, but I thought it was interesting. One of the things I enjoy about winter is the strange landscapes it creates, both in the midst of all the snowfall and during the thawing stage. These next photos are of the little canyon on our street that was formed after one of my neighbors went and hacked all the ice out of the storm drain. If you give your imagination a bit of leeway, they almost look like aerial views of a real watercourse.