A daily journal concerning Lake Vermilion and surrounding areas
Selected real estate, notes, stories, musings, and anecdotes
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Thursday, March 06, 2003
Frost!
And lots of it. This is not news for local Lake Vermilion area winter residents. A rare combination of below normal temperatures and minimal snow cover has caused an epidemic of frost shattered piping. And anyone with buried plumbing is susceptible to this headache. An area newspaper story documents the story.
The Minnesota Climatology Office issues the following statement:
...soil frost continued to deepen across Minnesota during February. Cold temperatures, combined with limited snow cover, caused soil frost to penetrate beyond 30 inches in depth beneath sod-covered surfaces. Anecdotal reports of 60 inch or deeper frost depths under bare soil or disturbed areas have been noted. For many locations, soil frost is at the deepest levels observed in more than a decade. The deeply frozen soil created problems with septic systems and other below-grade plumbing. Soil frost historically reaches maximum depth in late February.