Winter

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Winter is the season in the temperate zones that occurs between autumn and spring. It is the season with the shortest days and the lowest temperatures and is often marked by snowfall.

Snowfall in the lowlands of the Pacific Northwest is typically widely variable. The nearby Pacific Ocean moderates temperatures so there is very little, if any, snowfall in the lowlands in many years. However, moisture from the Pacific typically falls as snow in the mountains beginning late autumn and lasting through late spring. The abundant mountain snowfall of most years results in glaciers and snowpack which store water for streams for the long dry summer ahead.

Common occurrences in the Pacific Northwest are late autumn or early winter floods where warm air in combination with warm rain on many feet of snow in the mountains causes enormous runoff. While these floods are often catastrophic and cause a lot of damage to humans, fish, and other creatures that live in streams, they are also very important biologically speaking (but counterintuitively) as they also help create habitat for many stream dwelling species.

When winter starts to lose its grip, runoff from the melting snowpack increases and streams often experience minor flooding. More rarely there are major spring floods from exceedingly deep snowpack or rapidly melting snowpack..

At this point I have fewer winter photos since I spend much of the time in the winter months trying to catch up on everything that I let slide during the summer and fall

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