the.com/spring thaw
Winter admits defeat slowly, one muddy pothole at a time.
means The seasonal period when accumulated snow and ice melt and frozen ground softens, usually turning everything damp, dripping, and muddy.
from A straightforward compound rather than a buried etymology: 'spring' (from Old English 'springan,' to leap or burst forth, describing the season when plants shoot up and ice breaks apart) joined to 'thaw' (from Old English 'þawian,' meaning to melt, with cousins in other Germanic languages carrying the same sense of ice loosening its grip). No myth hiding underneath — just two old words for 'bursting forth' and 'melting' put side by side to name the messy in-between season.
- frost line
- ice retreats downward before it retreats upward
- mud season
- vermont declared it an unofficial fifth season
- risk
- rapid thaw causes more flooding than rain
- permafrost version
- can take centuries, not weeks