Mud Season in Vermont this year has been described as “biblical.” We haven’t experienced the worst of it, because we are “Frippin Out” (see yesterday’s post), plus we live on the stretch of Gilead Brook
Road that is paved.
This fellow set out on his four-wheeler to experience the season first-hand. You may want to skip around a bit, but this will give you a sense of what Vermonters are up against.
Editor’s Note: This story by Claire Potter first appeared in the Valley News on March 22. Later reprinted in VTDiggger.org 3/23/2022
“Mud season takes hold in early spring because frozen ground melts from the surface down. Ice in the soil turns to water, but it cannot move past the still-frozen ground below it. A thick layer of mud pools, and it lingers until the water can percolate down into the groundwater or flow into rivers.
It may seem counter-intuitive, but frost penetrates more deeply in a warmer winter. When more precipitation falls as rain than as snow, snow melts faster and snow cover is scant, Contosta explained. While a thick blanket of snow insulates soil from cold air, exposed soil is vulnerable to the icy temperatures that still punctuate even a warm winter in New England.”
But the essence of Mud Season– the despair, the hope, the resignation, the exhilaration, the depression, the sensuousness– is best expressed in this epic ballad. Listen and laugh; listen and weep.