So much for a three day weekend
Feb. 17th, 2008 08:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
altivoSo, last night's projected ice storm did not materialize. It got too warm for ice. The temperature at dawn this morning was well above freezing and kept rising. Unfortunately, though it wasn't freezing, the rain kept falling. The winter storm warning was converted to a flood warning.
Now, we live on relatively high ground. It's downhill in just about every direction from here, at least somewhat, but when you have a foot of snow on the ground, water doesn't flow so well. The snow soaks it up like a sponge. Then what looks like snow turns into a puddle with snow floating on top like the froth on draft beer. Snow melt from the barn roof, combined with rain flowing downhill under the snow, started to seep into the barn itself. By 11 am, Asher's stall was largely wet, with a half inch of water. Outside the Dutch doors of the boys' stalls, there was a real flood, with five inches of water held back by dikes of saturated snow. This poses a serious hazard. If that water freezes at that depth, those doors cannot be opened because the bottom two inches of the door itself would be encased in ice. Even if the door can be opened, glare ice right outside is dangerous to the horse when he steps from his dry floor onto the slick surface. The water had to be drained, and quickly, before it could freeze.
So we spent most of the afternoon shoveling snow. It was necessary to create drainage channels to get that water through the accumulated snow and down to the creek. It's amazing how small an amount of snow it takes to hold back flowing water. By 3:30 or so, things were finally draining. We were able to get Asher's floor dry, put down new bedding, and bring everyone in early. Why? Because the wind was turning from NE to SW, and the barometer and temperature started dropping like a stone. By sunset all those puddles and lakes of water on top of the snow were looking decidedly gelatinous. It started to snow rather than rain. Now we're in for an inch or so (they say) of white stuff overnight, followed by plummeting temperatures down to zero F. for tomorrow night. Then it will snow again every day for the rest of the week.
I'm still waiting for the earthquake. We've already had everything else possible just since the beginning of 2008: blizzard, tornado, flood, ice, and heat wave (at least, relatively speaking.)
Now, we live on relatively high ground. It's downhill in just about every direction from here, at least somewhat, but when you have a foot of snow on the ground, water doesn't flow so well. The snow soaks it up like a sponge. Then what looks like snow turns into a puddle with snow floating on top like the froth on draft beer. Snow melt from the barn roof, combined with rain flowing downhill under the snow, started to seep into the barn itself. By 11 am, Asher's stall was largely wet, with a half inch of water. Outside the Dutch doors of the boys' stalls, there was a real flood, with five inches of water held back by dikes of saturated snow. This poses a serious hazard. If that water freezes at that depth, those doors cannot be opened because the bottom two inches of the door itself would be encased in ice. Even if the door can be opened, glare ice right outside is dangerous to the horse when he steps from his dry floor onto the slick surface. The water had to be drained, and quickly, before it could freeze.
So we spent most of the afternoon shoveling snow. It was necessary to create drainage channels to get that water through the accumulated snow and down to the creek. It's amazing how small an amount of snow it takes to hold back flowing water. By 3:30 or so, things were finally draining. We were able to get Asher's floor dry, put down new bedding, and bring everyone in early. Why? Because the wind was turning from NE to SW, and the barometer and temperature started dropping like a stone. By sunset all those puddles and lakes of water on top of the snow were looking decidedly gelatinous. It started to snow rather than rain. Now we're in for an inch or so (they say) of white stuff overnight, followed by plummeting temperatures down to zero F. for tomorrow night. Then it will snow again every day for the rest of the week.
I'm still waiting for the earthquake. We've already had everything else possible just since the beginning of 2008: blizzard, tornado, flood, ice, and heat wave (at least, relatively speaking.)
