Thursday, February 5, 2015

February 6


Thinking more of snow today. The weatherman predicts a major nor’easter in two days hence, and evidently we are to receive between 12 to 20 inches of heavy, wet snow.

This means work of the physical kind, and so much snow at once makes it difficult to enjoy it much afterward.

Years ago in college, I took a course with the comely title of the “Physics of Snow” as a part of my general studies. (I thought wrongly at the time that the course would largely address aspects of snow skiing). What did interest me the most concerned the characteristics of avalanches – how they are affected by the weight, crystal structure, age and incline of the snow mass, among other variables. If we do receive a heavy snow in a couple of days, I will think about these variables when I watch the accumulation on the roof. This is particularly true for the valleys of the joining roofs, where drifting and settling can cause pileups of 2 feet or more.

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