Wal, I wuz a'gunna git me a shotgun er a hogleg and try t'bag me a weatherman 'cuz they kep' a'sayin it were gunna be wa-rum, an' it weren't. But I don't reckon I'll hafta shoot 'em yet.
It was up to 30°F today and things are melting all over the place. It's probably back down to 2o°, or even 0°, right now in the middle of the night, but it will go back up again to continue the melt tomorrow, most likely.
The gol' durn weatherman says this is going to be the trend for the week, which means mountains of snow are going to melt into the streets, yards, some basements, and especially our unpaved gravel road.
I prefer driving in the winter. The snow fills up the potholes, craters, and bear dens (small cars disappear without a trace on our road), the maintenance guys come out and smooth it out once or twice and it's great to drive on. When it's dry and cold outside the snow and ice is sticky, not slippery. It's only when it warms up that it becomes a little difficult to drive. Remember, we are talking about the Alaskan idea of "warm," which is 20°F or higher.
If these warm temperatures keep coming all throughout the week, it's going to look like a tidal wave of mud hit my neighborhood. Each Spring it is Two Sets of Shoes weather: breakup boots (rubber boots) to get out to the car, and then your city/work shoes that just stay in the car until mud season is over. You put on your rubber boots, walk out to the car, drive to work, change shoes and try to tippy toe inside without getting muddy. And still, it's impossible to get to work without mud on you somewhere, usually on your knees where you leaned against the car to put your stuff on the back seat.
Next to the expressway is a big valley, because they built the roads UP and and between the two roads and the exit there is a triangular valley. All winter the city has been dumping snow that has been scraped up from elsewhere into that little valley, and they have nearly filled the thing with snow. There are mountains of snow as tall as white spruce trees. When it melts there is going to be a lake there. I hope they stock it with trout.