Thursday, April 14, 2011

What a difference a view makes

I was up on the hill behind our house this morning, playing with the dog as yet another snow storm blanketed the ground. Just walking around reinforced how much difference a few compass degrees makes in the battle of sun versus snow.

In our yard, which is on a hill facing south, almost all the snow has melted. We have a few inches, but that is just from last night's snow. The longer hours of sunshine have had their way with the snow.

Up on the top of the hill, the sun comes in at an angle because the sun is still fairly low in the sky and the ground is flat. There is still a good 18" of snow everywhere.

Over at the ski resorts, you go up about 2,000 feet and are on a slope facing north. They have still got 120" of snow on the ground.

It really is amazing that you can have that much variation in locations that are within a mile of each other.

No comments: