What happens after the snow storms? Snow melts. Now there are a bunch of ways you can go with that image, but there is just something about just watching snow melt that is just plain — satisfying, intriguing, meditative … there’s no deep message here, just frozen water, turning to liquid and flowing away.
Some of you are thinking that watching snow melt is about as interesting as watching paint dry. I’m here to tell you that is not true. I did some research here (okay two searches on YouTube), and I found more videos showing snow melting than paint drying so I’m not alone in this thought. It’s hard to see paint actually dry, but you can quickly observe how much snow has melted.
Have you ever looked at your snow covered street and wondered why a certain area starts melting before another? Have you wondered why some areas are dry while others are still wet? No? Well, I’ve spent sometime this week contemplating those questions. I’ve noticed that the street first started melting near the manhole covers over the sewer line. My driveway started melting from the shoveled parts to the edges and the snow over the lawns started melting in the footsteps I left. It’s also interesting that all the concrete paths have melted before the lawns or flower beds.
It should be no surprise that areas in the sun melted first or that where the snow was thinest melted faster. If you really break it down, it’s really a field demonstration of the laws of thermodynamics or how heat moves through … things. After a storm, the air warms, the sun shines and you need to shovel the driveway so you can drive to the store for more pizza.
Yeah, but when you’re stuck inside all week, well this is the kind of stuff that fills your brain.
Okay, my brain. You might not be as interested in thermodynamics or the properties of snow as I am. I’d say more on the subject, but the timer just went and the pizza’s done.
Andrew's View of the Week 
I’m the kind of person who doesn’t shy from watching paint dry, so there you go! I think I’d find melting snow tremendously meditative! I like the way your mind works, Andrew. 🙂
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My mind does work, sort of, from time to time.
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I love watching and listening to snow (or frost) melt. Here, our ‘soil’ is gravelly and it rains a lot. Then if the temperature dips below freezing, the water in the top of the soil freezes and heaves up in big plaques of 2″-long fibrous filaments. A light dusting of gravel stays on top of the iceberg-like protrusion. Then when the sun comes up, the filaments melt and the pebbles clatter back down to the surface. Very cool to see and hear.
Enjoy your pizza! 🙂
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That sounds interesting to watch/listen too. We just get water running down the street.
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As fascinating as the topic of watching snow dry is (yawn)–despite your best efforts–I was completely distracted by where you researched. YouTube! I’ve read it is becoming the research destination of choice for many and my 30 something children confirm that.
Hunh.
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Currently YouTube is either the number 2 or number 3 most popular search engine (depending on your source). When I’m looking for how to stuff, I start with YouTube these days.
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Didn’t know that. Good to know!
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Every day my cat (Wolf Blitzer, our beautiful long-haired black rescue cat) comes into our bathroom after I take my shower and expects some ‘window time.’ This is when I hold him to look out the bathroom window which faces the rear of our property and the wooded valley behind us. Every. Single. Day.
Now he doesn’t realize (or chooses to ignore the fact) that ten feet to the south, is the laundry room window, which he DOES have access to via the second freezer we keep there under it. He could easily sit there and have pretty much the same view, but ten feet south. But he chooses to have me hold him to the bathroom window, which is frosted glass so needs to be opened – rain, shine, or blizzard – for a few minutes to gaze on his domain.
Go figure.
I guess what I am saying is “The Wolf and I get it.” There is a sense of peace just watching.
Enjoy! 😀
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Love this. I’ve been more concerned about whether a certain spot is icy (so I won’t slip on my daily hike). I should just slow down and enjoy watching it go away. (It’s to get into the 40s in central Iowa this week, so it will!)
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My wife has taken a hiking pole with her on her morning walks this week, just incase she comes across an icy patch. Since my foot is up to too much walking yet, I stay inside on my stationary bike and just look at the snow.
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That was interesting. I presume that the fact that the manhole covers over the sewer line started to melt first must be down to chemical processes going on, and/or perhaps, the constant minimum temperature underground of around 42 degrees.
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all that and I suspect that hot water from people’s homes (bath, dish washing, etc) also warms the sewer lines enough to warm the manhole covers to just above freezing.
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Your post made me smile, Andrew. I too have never watched paint dry, but I watched the thick hail we had at the end of last year melting with some fascination. We don’t get snow in Johannesburg.
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We normally only see one or two snow falls a year and this was the biggest event they seen here in 20 years.
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You didn’t mention sublimation, which is a bigger factor than melting and evaporation here in Denver. As to why it has failed to work this time, leaving us glaring at snow-covered yards for some 10 days now, I don’t know. But we’re spoiled and everyone is complaining about it. Usually any snowfall is gone in two or three days.
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Sublimation hasn’t been a big factor here. Humidity is high and there hasn’t been much sun – just a few afternoons and there was a lot of snow. Folks here tell me it’s been the largest snow fall in like 20 years.
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