Blanket of Snow

Here we have an illustration of the term 'blanket of snow.'  Our roof (aluminum shakes) quickly loses its burden of snow with any rise in temperature.  I was interested to watch this develop in the afternoon.

 
Other parts of the roof had already shed much of the snow (leaving substantial heaps along the sides of the house, along the patio, and in front of the garage.)  

The snow blanket drooped over the edge of the roof without breaking off.  I called the DHubby down to see it, since it seemed that it simply MUST fall soon.

 The leading edge developed a decorative rim of small icicles, and a crack in the blanket began to appear.

 A closer look at the curled, almost-frilly rim of the blanket overhanging the gutter at the roof's edge.  


Only ten minutes after these shots were taken, the 'hanging blanket' broke off and fell into the flower bed below.  No doubt there were all sorts of principles of physics at work...none of which I can cite....but it was fascinating while it lasted.