Matching Photos - 9 Days

Spring seems to have actually sprung, even though I'm sure winter will make some short visits back to us yet.  When our warm spell started 10 days ago I didn't believe it would take away most of our snow.  But it has.  Temperatures have continued usually well above freezing, especially in the afternoon sun.  And the rain and warmth forecast for the next two days will take much of the rest!

Feb. 19 - snow still covered the yard, but we had had two bright sunny days when I took my first picture.  The easiest place to get comparable pictures is of course, the back yard.

Feb. 24 - after another 5 days I realized that this warm spell really was serious, and I thought I'd start taking some comparable pictures.  Not much of the snow actually 'melts'; it evaporates right into the air!

Feb. 25 - by this point most of the snow out back had gone, except for the shaded far side along the old fencerow, and that strange shape in the middle of the meadow.

Feb. 25 - later that day mother nature decided that things were moving too fast, and the snow started again.

Feb. 26 - the next morning we woke to white again, but only an inch or two.

Feb. 27 - yesterday stayed cold, but today the sun came out and almost all the open meadow is bare.  From snow a foot or more deep to nothing in 9 days.

That strange shape in the meadow is the outline of our geothermal trench, installed 6 years ago.  We have this magic heating and cooling system that sucks warmth out of the ground to heat the house, so we never have to buy fuel.  But the heat extraction obviously leaves that stretch of ground a little colder than the rest.  The pipes that provide heat transfer are buried about 4 feet down, in a trench 8 feet wide, right on top of the bedrock.

And this patch of bare soil behind our sidewalk is the opposite - the warmth of the soil above our septic tank.  I can tell where it is every spring as the snow melts.

On the other hand, this was our yard on Feb. 17, before this entire warm spell began.  Notice how deep the snow beside our path to the back door is.  The big pile is from the snowblower clearing the driveway.

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