Today it was above freezing for the first time in a couple of weeks, up to 41ºF. While it felt nice it also means all the snow on the roof has compressed into thick sheets of ice which are falling off with loud crashes.
I missed getting clobbered by a 4' wide, ~9" deep slab of ice by about a foot when I was out shoveling slush and ice. I was working on the thickly coated bricks in front of the front stoop when I heard a thunk, snow and ice falling from the roof. I didn't see it but it must've landed on the ground since it wasn't that loud.
I looked up to check on the snow hanging out past the roof's edge. This is not uncommon and it's been like this for weeks. However, I could see that a slab right over where I was working had slid further out from the roof and shifted to an angle which suggested it could fall at any time.
I had sent my Dad off to get the spade to try to break up the ice on the stoop, but I knew it was now a no-go.
He was coming up the stairs towards me and I took one step down away from that main zone to tell him he couldn't work on the front stoop when CRASH!
The ice slab fell behind me and broke into large pieces and small particles. The finer debris spread out on impact hitting the gators I was wearing over my calves. Like I said, I missed getting clobbered by about a foot.
I'm grateful I'd sent my Dad to get the spade so he was out of harm's way and that I stepped away just in time.
Huge chunks have been crashing onto the deck since we came in. I told Dad right off he wasn't allowed to shovel it off. It often doesn't fall straight down so it's not like you can safely reach over with a shovel.
He wasn't happy about it but the persistent loud crashes and many large, thick ice chunks littering the deck convinced him it's wiser to stay in.
Unfortunately it will all freeze to the deck as temperture's drop tonight and remain below freezing for the foreseeable future but, ya know, life.
10 years ago on TTaT: 57 Degrees
