[Editor’s note: My colleague Patterson Clark has a new science column in the redesigned print edition that features a weekly graphic. Last week it was on frost heaves using cross section profiles in 3 panels.]
Republished from The Washington Post.
Weather conditions have been favorable for the formation of frost heaves: Heavy rainfall and melting snow from the last week of December, followed by a long bout of freezing weather, created dynamic subsurface freezing that lifted some exposed soils up onto a bed of sharp ice crystals. (Looks spongy; feels crunchy underfoot.).
Frost heaves can damage soil structures, making soils more prone to erosion. Heaves can also lift overwintering plants out of the ground, breaking roots and exposing the roots to freezing temperatures. Heaves can also shift, and possibly damage, fence posts, sidewalks or other structures set into the top couple of feet of earth.
