The Gale River rose this
morning to nearly level with the road. Yesterday afternoon there were ice dams
clogging the river along Route 18 in Franconia. The temperature was 53 degrees.
On January 30. In New Hampshire.
This morning I dropped two
kids at kindergarten and headed with the third to preschool, following the road
that skirts the river from Franconia into Sugar Hill. The ice was cleared from the
water, dog house-sized chunks of it lining the banks. The preschool is located
in an old farm house, just across the road from the river. Three years ago, the
low room of the preschool flooded. This morning it looked like it might again.
Within moments of our
arrival, the water rose and its flow seemed to speed up. Huge blocks of ice
churned along with the water. Soon we noticed sturdy tree branches and stumps
carried downstream with the ice. The river seemed dangerously close to spilling
its banks and creeping across the road.
This is about the third time
this winter that wildly fluctuating temperatures have made the river freeze,
then thaw. Normally we see ice dams only in the spring. This winter, it seems,
we notice them almost weekly – clogging the river, then melting in a January
heat wave and clearing out again.
In the past week we have seen
temperatures drop to 20 degrees below zero and rise to more than 50 degrees
above. Monday night it snowed nice, light, fluffy flakes that accumulated to a
few inches. I’m happy I snuck out to ski Tuesday morning for a few runs,
because yesterday it felt like April. Last night it poured. This morning the
winter river rose to nearly flood level. This afternoon the wind is howling
through the valleys, causing the tall white pines to dance precariously high above the ground, and
pushing the cooling air through our old windows.
By tomorrow morning, the wind
chill should bring the temperature back down to zero. It is supposed to snow.
That sounds good to me. More winter, please. I’ll take my spring in April.
Original content by Meghan McCarthy McPhaul, posted on
her Blog: Writings from a full life.