scolding

 With the departure of ice and snow from our walking route, we have gone back to walking the full route of 41/4 miles, boots being replaced by sneakers. Red squirrel and pileated woodpecker scolding us yesterday as we made our way around. In the spring and the fall, with snow and temperatures around freezing, there are some interesting (for me, Shawn) manifestations of thermodynamics. Some of these are the angle and direction of terrain, shade, and the ability of dark colored objects to absorb light, and emit heat.

The most interesting phenomena to me has to do with a section of our walk. It's through a narrow valley running north and south. Every year at this time the snow on the east-facing slopes disappears before the snow on the other side of the road, the west-facing slope. I googled it, and was surprised I couldn't find anything. The only thing that comes to mind is that the daily temperatures are warmer when the sun is shining directly on the east-facing slopes in the afternoon, and that it's some kind of interaction between the temperature and the direct sunlight.