Moisture laden spring snow graces our streams and wells. Bear Creek near my home is running swiftly once again.

Around hear a deep blanket of snow along the banks of Bear Creek is as welcomed as a down comforter on grandma’s four-poster bed.

It’s been a long time coming but after weeks of no moisture the spring snow storms have graced our foothills and the eastern plains. Firefighters, ranchers and farmers were more nervous than an AIG executive receiving a letter from a Senate subcommittee.

Forest floors were tender box dry and provided an eerily spooky crunchy sound. The green shoots of winter wheat were desperately parched and yearning for any droplets of relief.

Sometime in February our mountain snow pack was above normal virtually throughout the state but a fluctuating  jet stream played havoc on our late winter storm flow and two weeks ago several regions of the state saw their future water dropping rapidly. At one monitoring location the snow pack had dropped 30 per cent in less than two months. The first of three recent storms in the past week and a half was pegged as the “Miracle Storm”.

Firefighters in our area were confident enough with the recent saturated ground cover that they began several controlled burns to help mitigate summer fire activity.

Weather experts claim a foot of snow brings about an inch of water. Snow this weekend appeared to reach about a depth of 12 to 15 inches.

So if you will excuse me, I am going to  go have a nice cool glass of water.

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