Answered Question

tracebook...

February 11, 2009 07:17 PM

How long does it take the ground to thaw in the spring?

Or once it starts getting warm.

Where I live, we had about 2 weeks where lows were in the single digits F. Then the temperatures warmed up to highs near 60 for about 4 days, with sunshine. Lows were in the upper 30's, still above freezing.

Now it's raining, and there are flood watches out because forecasters think the ground is still frozen enough to not be able to absorb the rain so that all the rain will get into the streams and storm drains and cause flooding.

Later in the year, it would take a whole lot more rain than the one inch that's fallen since last night to cause flooding. I'd think that most of a week of warm temps would allow some of this to get into the soil, especially since it's still pretty warm.

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fjpoblam

February 12, 2009 07:17 PM

Yep, varies from place to place, depending upon the makeup of the soil and the amount of moisture. May even vary a lot across town. (In our area, for example, the danged dry soil at the south end of town is brick hard and used to make adobe. At the north end, in the foothills, it's a little softer, up under the pines, with plenty needles and other stuff.) Check with your County Extension Service for the very best details in your area!

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deanmachin...

February 12, 2009 12:55 AM

I found a section of the National Snow and Ice data Center called "All About Frozen Ground," which I figured MUST have how long it takes ground to thaw. But as far as I can tell they don't tell you ALL about frozen ground. The following passage had a little related info at least:

"When frozen ground thaws, the ice in the ground melts. The ground sinks to fill the space left by the ice. The amount of ice and how quickly it melts can vary from place to place."

So..."it varies" is the best answer I could find unfortunately...
Source(s):
http://nsidc.org/frozenground/index.html
http://nsidc.org/frozenground/how_fg_affects_land.html

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