Saturday 15 February 2014

The Snow Line.

Coming, as I do, from the lowlands of the country (Lincolnshire) where the land is all flat, the horizons are far away and there is no hill in sight (Lincoln Cathedral is built on one of the few hills and is therefore visible for miles around), I still find it strange that whichever way I look the land rises up and the view is limited.

This does however lead to an interesting phenomenon, which I still marvel at - and that is the 'snow line'.   The forecasters will say that there will be snow above, say, six hundred feet.   Our farm is six hundred feet ASL and quite often I will look at the hill leading out of our village and there it will be.   Straight across the middle of a field will be a line - below it green grass, above it snow.

This was so when we went down to our Feed Merchants one morning this week.   Water was lying everywhere in the fields and many of the roads were flooded - perhaps two or three inches of water running across the road where a beck was overflowing.   There at East Witton Fell was the snow line; I tried to capture it from the moving car.   It is not a good photograph but you should get the general idea.

And, speaking of snow, wonderful news about Lizzie Yarnold and her winning of the Gold Medal at the Winter Olympics.   We have never enough snow here on a regular basis to make us shine at the Winter Olympics but how wonderful to see a young woman with such dedication that she has, literally, devoted the last five years or so to winning the Skeleton.   We watched her do it - it looked absolutely terrifying - 85 miles an hour, head on.   And she was so cool about it afterwards.  I do so admire that kind of dedication.

Water lies in all our fields.   The sheep do not seem to mind; they eat their way round the puddles, huddle up against a wall when the wind blows too strongly.   But of course, they have a warm woolly coat - us lesser mortals huddle up against the fire and just wait for the first signs of Spring - she has deserted us again, hasn't she?

16 comments:

Frugal in Derbyshire said...

We can see a snow line from our front window. It can be seen towards the top of a hill called "The Hagg", which is less than a quarter mile away.
Gill

Cro Magnon said...

The nearer to the sun one goes, the colder it becomes. Odd!

Willow said...

Those sheep just go with the flow don't they , good for them. I am with you give me a fireside and some warmth and while I am thinking of it let's put a fire under this Winter weather and make way for Spring !

Mary said...

Wow! We are thrilled here this morning at the wonderful news about Lizzie's great win! Way to go UK.
Your glimpse of snow is pretty over the hillside Pat - this morning we have heavy rain helping to wash away the 5 inch accumulation of snow here on Thurs. Yesterday the sun shone all day and melted much as it reached 55F - I sat out on the front porch in just a light sweater and took even more bird pics!!

Happy weekend - stay dry.
Mary

Pondside said...

I could see yours snow line quite clearly when I enlarged the photo. Interesting! Up here, we get snow when the city doesn't - just that much higher.

Maureen @ Josephina Ballerina said...

Hi Pat! Well, we are just a bit above sea level here on the East Coast. Right now the snow line is about 1 cm out the front door. We had fluffy snow changing to wet snow changing to all day cold rain changing back to 5 hours of wet snow at night. The end result is 50 cm / 20 in of white concrete! Really, you can knock on it and it is like rock. We have had 2 more days of snow on top of that, and it is snowing right now. But, the quality of the light is still saying "spring" to me.
Happy weekend to you :)

MorningAJ said...

When we went to Scarborough a few weeks ago it was snowing. But only on the left of the road as we left town (up to the Wolds). I'd forgotten how odd it looks.

Twiggy said...

We can see Holme Moss above Holmfirth when we are out and about, it looks very odd seeing it covered in snow and then suddenly everything is green.
Twiggy

John Going Gently said...

Pat, I never knew you were a yellowbelly

The Weaver of Grass said...

Cro's comment is food for thought.

Yes, John I am a yellowbelly and proud of it.

Dartford Warbler said...

And so you should be ( I`m the daughter of a yellowbelly!).

Not a flake of snow down here so far, but far too much rain and wind!

Jenny Woolf said...

How interesting - the snow line. I have always been interested in the idea of being on the edge of weather - raining here, dry across the street, etc. I'm always fascinated to stand on a hillside and feel the sun arrive as the clouds are blown away, or vice versa.

Em Parkinson said...

I find it amazing too as we cross the cattle grid onto the moor and the rain turns to snow. Looking from below it in town, it is so very obvious that moor equals land above that line, here anyway. I find it quite exciting living above it, as if we are somehow in a different world. It certainly feels like it sometimes. Good to be back Pat. x

Heather said...

I thought I saw snow on high ground on the way back from shopping the other day, though it might just have been sunlight on frosty ground. We can't see any 'distance' from our house as we are surrounded by trees and other houses. We get a wonderful view across the river Severn to Wales and the Forest of Dean when we get up to the main road. It hasn't rained today and we managed to secure a wobbly shrub, but not without squelching!

angryparsnip said...

The snow line is so strange and yet so wonderful.

cheers, parsnip

The Weaver of Grass said...

Thanks everyone for the visit.