Snow and ice on Diablo Lake
I woke this morning to what has become a common weather event at the learning center this spring, snow. Perhaps snow in April is “normal” and I’m simply not aware of what “normal” is here on the shores of Diablo Lake. What wasn’t normal however was the thin coat of snow-ice on the lake.
I have no explanation of why the lake was covered in a thin sheet of snow-ice this morning, just a handful of ideas. So I’ve decided to share a few photos of this interesting event rather than speculating. I would, however, love to hear readers stories of similar events and perhaps hear some of your speculations about why Diablo Lake was covered this morning in a slushy mix of snow and ice.
(Top photo) This is a view from the dam, note how much of the lake is covered. (Above) An upclose look at the slushy mix of snow and ice.
Looking across Diablo Lake towards Highway 20. The snow ice layer covered nearly the entire lake, aside from a few areas near the dam and around the islands.
My Mt. School students noticed the ice this morning on our walk to the dam. We all loved how you could still see ripples in the slushy ice layer. My speculation is that the water is so cold that the snow that falls on it doesn’t melt, but just floats on the top and starts to accumulate. My Golden Eagle trail group also watched as the Seattle City Lights’ Boats cut a path is some of the slush. Pretty cool observations.
WOW! It must be cold up there. I never saw that happen when I lived there. So neat that you could see the ripples. Perhaps the water temp was just above freezing… and the air temp was below freezing…so the snow got caught between the two layers…I don’t know. That’s CRAZY!
I suspect an April Fool’s joke! Ok, who was it….!?
I’m glad Jenny got pictures of this–I’d never seen anything like it anywhere before, including in Alaska. It could only happen when the air was totally still; and the lake water must have been very close to freezing for the falling snow to pile up as slush on top of it. Amazing!