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Cottrel: The great glacier finally yields to spring

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By Pam Cottrel, Contributing Writer Updated 12:37 AM Sunday, March 21, 2010

Watching the snow melt during the past 10 days has been like watching paint dry.

After taking glaciology in college — yes, I studied glaciers — I find that those icy drifts that linger for weeks in the shady side of a woods to be a bit too much like baby glaciers for comfort.

After all, that is how an ice age starts. One spring, the snow does not all melt, and the next winter, the snow drift gets even bigger and bigger. Next thing you know, there’s another Great Lake.

With that in mind, this year’s snow just could not melt fast enough for me. “No new glaciers” is my motto.

The record snowfall year was 1910, but I think second place was impressive. Since I was born considerably after 1910, this was the snowiest winter in my lifetime, and that is enough for me. No more snow records.

Cabin fever was virtually pandemic this winter. Everyone had it and, well, started doing unusual things, especially on Facebook. If I were giving out special prizes for the most creative way to deal with the snow, I think I’d give the “Snowman Oscar” to Young’s Jersey Dairy.

On March 11, Young’s began to post photos of a pile of snow in their barnyard and asked people to guess when the snow pile would finally disappear. There were 267 guesses and even more people than that followed the daily updates and status reports.

Last Monday at 5:20 p.m., the snow pile was formally declared as “melted,” and a winner was declared. Susan Brelford Helterbran of Urbana, who had guessed “5:12 p.m. on March 15,” won a gift certificate for $20 worth of ice cream.

“It seemed like a great way to celebrate the snow going away,” said Dan Young, “and I hope the snow will not be back again until December.”

Amen.

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