Since the last posting in December not much has happened......that is until the weather this past week (January 10-16 week). The snow level has shrunk from around 30 cm (12 inches, give or take) to 15 to 20 cm (6 to 8 inches depending upon exposure) in just 3 days. I don't have the rain gauge out but the rain has been less than 1/8 of an inch (according to information collected by the pollution control plant) and the daily highs have been above 0 degrees C since Jan. 11. Luckily, the low's have been below zero for the most part so the melt stops overnight and it takes a little longer to get going the next day. A day with rain and a mean temperature over 0 degrees for 3 days is what happened in December 2007 when we had ice damage to certain greens (see the following pict).
The difference this time out is we have less snow, it has not rained as hard or as long as it did in 2007, and the mean temperature has been below zero. I've been to most greens to take a look for ice. Generally speaking, we have a 1/2 inch crust over top of 6 to 7 inches of "lite" corn snow followed by a very dense (dare I say "icy") surface layer. This is not very cohesive layer (i.e. it is snow that has melted and refroze into small ice chunks that have formed a loose association) and such a layer can be beneficial during the snow removal in the spring. We sometimes call it "snow blower ice"; however, the line between ice called "snow blower ice" and ice called"bobcat ice" is a thin one that you don't want to cross.The one unsettling event this winter is what occurring under the tarps on 7 and 15. Our old tarp were replaced by a new style (see November 23 entry) and have created a situation I haven't seen before. The first image is of the surface on #7 Green under the tarp.
The increased exchange has allowed more moisture through than the previous tarps. The best way to describe the characteristics of the frozen water seen in this picture is to relate it to the hoar frost you see on trees during winter. It seems to be easily removed with a plastic snow shovel so along as it doesn't change form it may be nothing to worry about.The next picture is of 15 green.
The moisture on this green has developed into a clear layer of thin ice that may have the effect of sealing off the surface. At present, the layer is very thin and is easily scraped away. One way to monitor what is happening under the ice is to dig down and remove the ice and "take a whiff". If things smell "green" I don't worry but if things smell like a slough I start to worry. The other problem seems to be that the tarp in sticking to the ice. As long as the ice gets no thicker and the tarp doesn't weld to the surface of the existing ice we should be able to get the green exposed and the ice melted early March (weather permitting). I will keep checking and doing the sniff test to see if things appear to be going south.
