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The Same, But Different
These pictures of the Gill (the stream that runs through the Ramble) were taken five days apart; the second while the snow fell on 1/20, our first significant accumulation since 1996. Now we have even more. I guess I asked for it. The snow is a good thing. It provides protection and insulation, and when it melts, virtually all of the moisture is absorbed into the ground. The Park is so heavily used that soil compression is a big problem. It's packed so hard that much of the rainwater is shed as run off; eroding rather than nourishing. Snowmelt is much more efficient.
Not so good is the ice that came with the latest storm. Glaze storms (the proper term, forget the movie) do terrible damage to trees. Already brittle in the cold, twigs, limbs, and even trunks, snap under the added weight. The accumulation didn't look too bad in the afternoon, but may have worsened overnight. I'll look for damage this weekend. It should be minimal, since the cold stretch leading up to the storm should have forced the flora into full dormancy by now. If these temperatures were to occur during the Summer, most trees would be killed; like hibernating animals, they slow their metabolic processes to achieve Winter hardiness. In the wild, this would all be business as usual, but in the Park, every bit of damage is a real loss. Natural regeneration just doesn't get a fair chance to play out, and even though the Park is well tended, we lose venerable trees too often. Replacements are planted, but won't achieve the same degree of character for at least a generation (in human terms).