| Wednesday, March 17, 2010 |
05:36 - Grissom, we may have something here
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It's been quite warm for a few days now: 60 degrees or so at the high. It's been great. All the giant piles of snow from two weeks ago are rapidly disappearing, even from the parking lots where they've been heaped up, and I'm sure by tonight there'll be nothing left of them at all.
One side effect is that there's a lot of water melting off the snowbanks, and not all of it goes into the proper drainage. On the Saw Mill Parkway last night, on the way down the far side of the hill just south of the Reader's Digest road crossing in Chappaqua, there was a heavy, rushing torrent of inch-deep water flowing across from the highlands on the right (west) side of the road and occupying the left lane. I felt the wheel drag to the left as I crossed it; I thought at the time, damn, that's bound to catch someone off guard.
This morning I passed the same spot going the other direction. There was a cop and a HELP truck parked at the side with their lights on. Up the hill to my left, in the wide median that climbs the hillside, there was a car facing northward, wedged up against a tree, a long way from either side of the highway. As I passed it I realized that the track it had plowed in the leaves and dirt was coming from the downhill (southbound) side.
He must have hit that same patch of water, I thought. But then again, it wasn't that deep. Surely it was only dragging at the wheels for a second or so? And surely it would have lessened its flow by the time morning came?
Then I checked my thermometer:
Oooh.
You gotta watch out for the damnedest things around here.
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Brian Tiemann
