Can March sunshine melt the last snow pile?
All that wishing and hoping last month has finally gotten some traction. The National Weather Service is serving up almost a full week of fine late-winter (or early spring) weather for Central Maryland as stormy weather moves farther out to sea, and high pressure builds in from the northwest.
After the snowiest February on record, and one of the coldest in the last 40 years, we're looking at six straight days of sunshine ahead, with daytime highs in the 40s today and tomorrow, snapping 
to 50 degrees or more through the weekend and well into next week. The average high for this time of year in Baltimore is 50 degrees. Overnight lows will rise above freezing by next week.
It's going to feel positively spring-like, except for the huge piles of snow and ice that persist on parking lots, along roadsides and in shaded spots all across the region.
We still have a small pile on our front yard, and a big one in the rear, where we threw the snow we shoveled off the WeatherDeck, and where sunshine doesn't penetrate until afternoon.
Kinda makes you wonder whether any of the heaps will survive until April 1. If you'd like to register a candidate snow pile, keep an eye on it this month, and report back to the WeatherBlog when it vanishes, feel free to send me a note.
Please include your name and email address, and the precise location of the heap. A picture would be fine, too. That's the Loveton Business Park in Sparks at right, sent to me by L.J. Kirk.
Let's see if we can identify the last remnant of February's storms (in the city and five surrounding counties) when it finally trickles off into history.
No prizes. Just glory for the last pile standing.
(AP PHOTO/Rob Carr at BWI-Marshall)
Comments
On Aviation Blvd by the entrance to BWI one of the daily/light rail lots was used almost in it's entirety for snow removed from the runways. The snow piles are over 20 feet high and overflow onto one another giving them a lot of mutual support and radiant cooling. Unless these warm temps are accompanied by a warm rain those piles will be there through April till Mothers Day!
Posted by: drew | March 4, 2010 12:17 PM
I think I'm going to get this one. We've had piles ploughed off the side of our parking garage sometimes last until late April. This current batch is still up to the second level.
I'm in Sparks in the Loveton business park.
I'll run out and snap a couple of photos ... how do I get them to you?
FR: Email them to me at frank.roylance@baltsun.com Keep the files small, please.
Posted by: LJ Kirk | March 4, 2010 12:49 PM
Given the relatively smooth melt we've been having (no big flood waters so far) I am wondering if this is a positive for recharging groundwater? It would seem that the relatively warm weather prior to the big snowfall would have minimized ground freezing as well, and permitted water to sink in rather than just becoming run-off.
But there are a lot of factors at work here... Any opinions??
FR: Groundwater levels in Maryland were above normal in January, even though precipitation was below normal. With all the snow in February, and the slow melt, groundwater levels have been rising in recent weeks in most locations. And there's rain in the forecast.
Posted by: Pat Kingman | March 7, 2010 8:13 PM