Settle and Squish

OK, we get a lot of snow here in the Keweenaw. You get that. Here's a photo I shared previously that was taken on Sunday, January 26.

I snapped some photos of the same clothesline pole on Tuesday, February 4 - just 9 days later - after we received an additional 10.5 inches of snow.  

Did you notice the difference between the two photos? Besides the fact that Cocoa was in the second picture? That photo and the next one clearly show snow around the clothesline pole that's not as deep as it was 9 days earlier. Remember, we had 10.5 more inches between those two photos. It didn't melt. The temps have been extremely frigid. So, where did it go?

I've written previously about how the snow compacts over time. Our local weather guru, John Dee, melts it down into simple language on his website. He writes, "The majority of the snow we see in the Keweenaw is Lake Effect. It is very light and fluffy because it is composed mainly of air. After a period of time, gravity will cause the snow to settle and squish much of the air out of the snow. I have found that lake effect snow generally settles at a rate of about 6:1, meaning that over time, 6" of lake effect snow will settle to about 1". Much of the settling takes place in the first 24-36 hours after falling and then slows down over the next few days and may take up to a week to finally settle completely. The settling process is why we can have over 20 feet of snow fall in a season, but yet have only 4-5 feet on the ground." 

I like how he put it: settle and squish! We've now had over 19 feet of snow this season, so we're thankful for settling and squishing!

All is well in the Keweenaw.