snow

New paper: Seasonal versus transient snow and the elevation dependence of climate sensitivity in maritime mountainous regions

Jefferson, A. 2011. Seasonal versus transient snow and the elevation dependence of climate sensitivity in maritime mountainous regions, Geophysical Research Letters, 38, L16402, doi:10.1029/2011GL048346. Abstract: In maritime mountainous regions, the phase of winter precipitation is elevation dependent, and in watersheds receiving both rain and snow, hydrologic impacts of climate change …

Bacteria in the sky, making it rain, snow, and hail

Cross-posted at Highly Allochthonous Even though we all think of the freezing point of water as 0 °C, very pure water remains a liquid until about -40 °C. Water crystallizes to ice in the presence of tiny nucleation particles in the atmosphere. These particles can be sea spray, soot, dust …

Snow, water, digital imaging, metamorphism…and a guillotine!

Cross-posted at Highly Allochthonous When water infiltrates past the ground surface and begins to percolate through the soil’s unsaturated zone, it doesn’t move downward like an even sheet. Instead, fast fingers of water move downward along pores, roots and other places where flow is easier than through the soil matrix, …

When it rains a lot and the mountains fall down

Cross-posted at Highly Allochthonous The geo-image bonanza of this month’s Accretionary Wedge gives me a good reason to make good on a promise I made a few months ago. I promised to write about what can happen on the flanks of Pacific Northwest volcanoes when a warm, heavy rainfall hits …

Snowfall map from 1-2 March 2009

The National Weather Service has produced a pretty map of snowfall totals from the storm a few weeks ago. Mecklenburg County (Charlotte) got around 4″, which is a hair more than I measured at home on Monday morning (~3.5″ plus an ice layer). At our field site in Gaston County, …