The Big Melt Down

Sunday morning I had to wear Yak Traks to walk up to get Saturday's mail.
The snow had melted all night and the fog misted down ... so the driveway was a combination of ice and water.

I had to run to the nearest gas station/convienience store before breakfast. I thought the Subaru could handle the driveway. Icy but not pure glare ice.

The gravel roads were somewhat of a nightmare, soft in some spots, icy in others, and in one spot a culvert was plugged and icy chunks of water was beginning to run over the road.

By the time I got home our township had rescued the day and had spread gravel on the worst spots and down the steepest part of our driveway. I parked the Subaru and did a short happy dance.

Since water was running I thought I'd do a quick hike down to the creek and see if any run off was occurring yet.

The fog was intense even down in the creek bottom. But the air temperature had changed so rapidly in 36 hours from -32 on Thursday morning to 42 degrees on Saturday and Sunday.

I figured that one of the dry runs could bring water off the ridge. So I walked the length of our creek starting from the west and heading towards the east. I could hear the run off before I saw it.

And as I climbed closer, I could hear the sound of the water change from above me in the dry run.

I quickly backed up.

Somewhere an ice jam had given way and released dirt, clay, and ice with water all at once.

I backed off to the other side of the creek and watched it roar.

It soon subsided yet the water still ran. I looked upstream and didn't see any of the tell tale white bubbles or discolored water heading my way.

So I set up to take a few shots before I had to get back home and check on Rich.

The top shot is looking upstream 

and the bottom is looking 

downstream from the same spot.

I wish I'd had time to stay for a while, but I grabbed some photos and headed home.

The weather calls for rain again today with ice jams and localized flooding in small streams.
This truly is my kind of weather.
Okay, it isn't pleasant, but it sure makes the creek very interesting.