[Ellendra]

Everything is sloppy - we’ve got standing water puddles in places where I’ve never seen puddles before - slow melt doesn’t result in runoff like rain.

If you can identify and reach the ice dams holding those puddles, see if you can cut a channel through them. Up to you what method you use, my favorite is to drizzle boiling hot water where I want the channel to be. Once the meltwater has a way to escape, the remaining ice and snow will melt a lot faster. And you'll be less likely to slip on a frozen puddle in the morning!

[Qiviut]

Actually, there are no ice ‘dams’. The water is just slowly melting and standing pretty much everywhere enough for really sloppy conditions. Any slightly ‘low’ place in the yard/fields is particularly susceptible, but there’s nothing to be done to let it go somewhere else.

The nights are in the 20’s so the ground is freezing overall & water is not seeping in very much. We have rain again tomorrow, then about 3 days with some ‘warmer’ weather - Wednesday should be a high of 64, which will give us all spring fever. The somewhat warmer days (upper 40’s, 50’s) should thaw the ground a bit & the water will have a place to seep in. Starting next Saturday, it looks like 4 days of rain, but at least it’s not winter mix - highs in the 50’s, lows in the 40’s.

Thanks for the advice - if I do run across any ice ‘dams’ in the future (winter is not ‘over’ yet ... sigh), I’ll have a good idea what to do!