Looking Ahead to Spring.....What Could It Bring?

It's March 12th, so people are ready for spring. Hell, some are ready for summer. I don't want to sound "doom and gloom," but I thought I'd mention this because we already had to deal with it this weekend.
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There is a very real threat of flooding this spring across all of New England. Not only has there been near record snowfall in many areas (and by the way, winter isn't over yet, and we're probably not realistically out of the woods until April), but the water equivalent of the snow is extraordinarily high this year. The snow pack in the White and Green Mtns isn't unusually high for winters in the past, but it is higher than the last couple of winters. The combination of a deep snow pack and high water equivalent will lead to cause significant melting and the potential for flooding in a couple of weeks. Here are a couple of pictures. First, the snow pack....

Apologies for the lack of legend...I'll explain what the colors mean.


There is a solid 50+ inches of snow on the ground across much of NH, VT, and ME with more in the higher elevations. Its not impossible that snow depths are up around or possibly exceeding 100 inches along favored ridges. Again, thats actually not completely uncommon. But here is what make things interesting....the water equivalent.


Explanation: There is, on average, 10-20 inches of water equivalent in the snow. We picked up another 1-2 inches this weekend, and the snow acted like a sponge and just absorbed it, and locked the water in for later. It also glazed over on the trees, and there is 2-4 inches of glaze on some trees above 3500 feet in parts of the White Mtns.

Example of the glaze, taken this weekend. This isn't my picture.
http://rbhayes.net/latest/Darlene-W48/images/IMG_9216.jpg


I did take pics from a hike, and I'll try to get them posted later. The snow depths are amazing. Trees are just barely sticking out at this point...

Anyways, no matter how slow the melt is this year, we really can't avoid the flooding threat. And I think there is more winter ahead of us, because northern New England might be going into a colder than normal pattern starting next weekend, so any precipitation chances could be in the form of snow. Plus, we haven't had a classic nor'easter all year, and the pattern is shaping up that is a bit more conducive for those to form. These are all "what ifs" of course...

But even if we don't get one more inch of snow this year, the flooding threat is real, and we'll be dealing with it through May. The snow pack isn't going anywhere for awhile, and its hard as a rock up north, like a glacier actually. And there is a good chance it will be hanging around through June in the higher elevations, even outside of the normal places like Tuckerman Ravine.

BTW, Concord has picked up over 109 inches of snow for the season. They need a little under 13 inches to record their snowiest season on record.