During our lifetime you will most likely not see any noticeable change to the landscape around you. Construction happens, naturally, but the basic structure of the hills, valleys, streams and rivers won’t change that much and if they do, you probably won’t notice. Erosion is a slow but almost constant process that breaks down surfaces and can, after a long amount of time, change the appearance of our geographic region. There are quite a few ways for erosion to happen. Frost wedging is a type of erosion that is common where it gets cold. When water freezes, it expands. When water flows into tiny cracks in rocks, it will freeze and expand. The rock then begins to crack even more and eventually the rock begins to break apart into smaller pieces. This same process is what gives us those nasty potholes in the streets during the winter. There is a quicker way to change the look of an area and a landslide is one of those ways. When enough material breaks apart on a steep slope, gravity takes over and a landslide can occur. Heavy, saturating rains can make material on a steep slope very unstable. When water seeps into the pores of the sediment it becomes very slipper and the rocks can slide with ease. This is seen on coastlines quite a bit and unfortunately, houses on the coast are lost.
Weather Last Week
Aug 4: 52/88/Trace
Aug 5: 62/96/0”
Aug 6: 62/89/0”
Aug 7: 65/101/0”
Aug 8: 56/90/0”
Aug 9: 60/88/Trace
Aug 10: 58/82/0”
After a hot week, we’re going to cool off a little bit heading into the weekend and next week. It won’t be “cool” by any means, but it will cool down. This will be in part because of a couple of cold fronts. We’ll have some showers and storms to go along with that, too.