Black Ice and White Snow
Still learning about this climate . . .
I was surprised at how icy the roads get here when there is cold weather and some snow. If we get snow that accumulates a bit, the roads turn to ice. Not because there is icy precipitation -- blessedly that doesn't happen.
But the strong New Mexico sun, when it comes out, easily melts snow on pavement, and cars heat it as they drive over it, and the remaining melted moisture constantly re-freezes into sheets of black ice or into a crust of slippery ice over snow.
It's been so cold that the sun-melt car-thaw action doesn't ever get to bare pavement. There is always a little moisture on the road, even on heavily trafficked downtown roads, and it refreezes.
On our quiet street, which the town does not plow until school is back in session, the packed snow now has an impressive melted-frozen coating over it.
Dealing with Santa Fe's deceptively clear black ice or icemelt over snow surprised me. I didn't expect these conditions in the arid southwest. I thought any snow would evaporate, not turn to ice.
Fortunately the New Year's Eve party we went to was in the neighborhood, just around the corner, and we could walk there. But even the sidewalks were treacherous, especially when tottering along carrying wine and cupcakes *.
I can drive in snow and I can ski on ice -- I was raised in New England after all -- but now I have to learn to drive on Santa Fe ice roads. Mostly I don't go out. I stay in, where the cupcakes are.
I was surprised at how icy the roads get here when there is cold weather and some snow. If we get snow that accumulates a bit, the roads turn to ice. Not because there is icy precipitation -- blessedly that doesn't happen.
But the strong New Mexico sun, when it comes out, easily melts snow on pavement, and cars heat it as they drive over it, and the remaining melted moisture constantly re-freezes into sheets of black ice or into a crust of slippery ice over snow.
It's been so cold that the sun-melt car-thaw action doesn't ever get to bare pavement. There is always a little moisture on the road, even on heavily trafficked downtown roads, and it refreezes.
On our quiet street, which the town does not plow until school is back in session, the packed snow now has an impressive melted-frozen coating over it.
Dealing with Santa Fe's deceptively clear black ice or icemelt over snow surprised me. I didn't expect these conditions in the arid southwest. I thought any snow would evaporate, not turn to ice.
Fortunately the New Year's Eve party we went to was in the neighborhood, just around the corner, and we could walk there. But even the sidewalks were treacherous, especially when tottering along carrying wine and cupcakes *.
I can drive in snow and I can ski on ice -- I was raised in New England after all -- but now I have to learn to drive on Santa Fe ice roads. Mostly I don't go out. I stay in, where the cupcakes are.
* Jim's timeworn recipe for cream cheese cupcakes, which we brought to the New Year's Eve party. He cuts the top half ingredients by a third (eggs, cream cheese) to a quarter (sugar, vanilla) but not the bottom half and swears the math makes sense.
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| Unadjusted for high altitude but they came out great anyway. |
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