Will heavy snows bring spring floods? (Maine)

[jpak]

http://news.mainetoday.com/updates/022365.html

PITTSFIELD - As snow continues to pile up across Maine, officials are monitoring snow and water levels with an eye toward spring flooding.

The conditions now show that Maine is in the upper 25 percent of historical snowpack levels, and that the snow has between 4 and 10 inches of water in it, said John Peckingham of the Sen. George J. Mitchell Center for Environmental and Watershed Research at the University of Maine.

"This definitely means we keep our eyes on it," he said, adding that the weather watch will "get more interesting as we get into March."

For Robert Higgins, emergency management director for Somerset County, the conditions bring back memories to the April 1 floods of 1987. "It has not left my mind," he said.

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[htuttle]

1. I'm expecting that to be the case in South Central Wisconsin

We broke a winter snowfall record here, and winter isn't even over yet. I KNOW it's going to flood this spring. Absolutely no doubt about it...

[notadmblnd]

2. lake levels have been below normal here in Michigan the last few years

Last time I was up in Bayport on Lake Huron, lake front property had expanded by a good quarter mile. I literally collected a ton of stones from the bottom of the lake bed for my little pond. I imagine that some people's sump pumps are going to be working some overtime, but there has so far been no mention having any problems with flooding. Hopefully all this snow will go a long way in reversing the water levels of our Great Lakes.

[lazyriver]

3. We've got between 3 and 4 feet on the ground around here

and it's really dense snow with lots of water content. A rainy spring with a quick warm up could be very bad indeed for those of us living near rivers like the Penobscot and Kennebec.

[jpak]

5. We have at least that much - I shoveled off my porch roof and can't see over the snowbank

If we have a warm spell and heavy rain, I'm thinking 1987......or....

1936....

:scared:

[lazyriver]

6. Another scary thought - the ground got positively saturated

late in the fall. When the cold arrived, we had a few small ponds freeze in my yard. Where is all this water going to go? I'm hoping for a gradual warm up and a mini-drought for March-May or I just might be paddling back and forth to work.

[jpak]

7. I live on a dead end road- if the rivers and brooks flood, I'll be cut off for days

If I'm home (or in town to get back home), that would be OK, but If I'm out of town, I won't be able to get home.

Which would suck.

[lazyriver]

8. It would sure suck to be stranded away from your home.

I wasn't in my current house in 1987 but my neighbor said our road washed out about five miles to the south and at a few points to the north. The only option was a small crossroad a quarter mile to the north of us. He said you had to drive through a foot of water around the small bridge that crosses a brook. When the water crested, there was no way in or out for two days and the bridge needed to be replaced afterwards as it took on some damage. Let's hope we don't see that this spring.

[all.of.me]

9. 1987

That was my LAST winter in New Hampshire. That was the last straw. I spent the following winter in Tucson, then went home and sold my house on the Lamprey River. Yeah, the same river that was in the basement of that house after 9 days of rain after record snow fall - a foot every other day. I still can't believe it. It traumatized me, so I left.

We are actually seeing a winter like that here in northern NM now. It so reminds me of 1987. We have had tons of snow, now it is in the high 40s every day. There is water where I have never seen it before, and the roads are a foot of mud.

[ExtraGriz]

4. York County Maine

i live in york county and you wouldnt believe the snow that we have down here in southern maine.....we have 8-9 ft. snow banks all around the house, and the snow is really heavy, more like ice than snow. its going to be a mucky spring for sure, with lots of flooding.....get your life raft ready.