February 12, 2010

This week we have endured two snow storms, both technically categorized as blizzards by the National Weather Service. The first storm came last Saturday and released a fury of hurricane force winds and a blinding snow. Snow accumulations were as high as 20" and drifts exceeded 3' in many places. Wednesday, just when we were about finished digging out from Saturday, the second blizzard came out of the mid west and formed a low off the NJ shore, which eventually pushed north up the coast, sparing us from another heavy accumulation, but still leaving us with 4" of new snow.

The snow really does not hurt the turf. Actually, the snow cover insulates the turf from the cold air, and helps prevent wind caused dessication. The problem that could be, is that if the snow does stay for an extended period of time and/ or forms a suffocating sheet of ice over the grass, it could cause toxic conditions to form by blocking the exchange of air and gasses. This is rare, but if you recall, it happened to many courses in the Philadelphia area in the early nineties when ice laid on the greens for well over six weeks! We have a long time to go yet before we need to worry about that!

Another problem that could occur is the threat of cold weather disease. The melting of snow causes excess water, which breeds certain cold weather fungi that can attack the turf. Like Gilda Radnor's character Rosanna Rosanna Danna would say, "it just goes to show, it's always something!" I am not concerned about it now, but I will need to be on my toes and stay ready for it. Once again, there will be plenty of time to worry about that later.

What did get hurt were many trees - mostly the cedars and white pines. The snow stuck to the green boughs and weighted the "cold made brittle" branches to the point of snapping off. The damage is everywhere, and it will take us some time to clean up the broken limbs, take down "hangers", and prune back the snags. These trees will make it, but many have lost their symmetry and will look contorted and lopsided for years to come. Near the 14th green, two tall native pines leaned over with the weight of the snow and uprooted. These we will have to take down.

The forecast is for sunny skies this coming week. I am hoping the snow will melt and that we can begin getting things cleaned up so that you can get back on the course!