Hontz Resort
Shickshinny PA
2021

Pines are believed to be among the oldest trees on Earth. Some can live as long as 6,000 years. There are 90 species, or types, of pine. They are most common in the mountains.

This tree-trapped snow, caught and held by conifer needles and branches, plays an important role in snowpack in the mountains. The Forest Service has been studying it since at least the 1960s.

Snow stops before hitting the ground for five main reasons, according to a 1966 Forest Service research paper: “vapor flux from melt water, vapor flux from bodies of snow, stem flow and dripping of melt water, sliding of bodies of intercepted snow from branches, and wind erosion and transport of intercepted snow.” Sublimation, drips, slips, and wind.

https://www.lastwordonnothing.com/2021/02/19/how-snow-falling-on-pines-changes-the-forest/


The phenomenon is called interception, describing the way conifers capture and hold snow as it falls. In one study, mature conifer trees were shown to intercept 60 percent of snowfall. Much of that can sublime quickly, meaning it does not trickle down as meltwater, and does not go into the ground or feed streams that the West relies on for water. Even when it doesn’t sublime, the powder clouds I enjoy watching can remove another 30 percent of snowfall. The rest leaves the canopy as meltwater.