I Can Almost See Springtime From Here. Almost.

The arrival of Springtime(-ish) in Wyoming is always a bit of a moving target. We’ve had some early Springs in our eight years (meaning something sort of April-y) and we’ve had some late ones (falling a bit more in the mid-to-late May range). But it’s all part of the charm, right?

Besides, as Sean (Second Son) remarked recently at the table as our latest round of flakes fluttered gently to the ground, “it’s only March.” So there’s no reason to expect warmer weather any time soon. This fact frustrates Dominic (The First) to no end, because he a) wants to play baseball and basketball as soon as humanly possible, and b) does not understand that attempting to persuade me to put up the basketball hoop when it’s actually 19° outside is not humanly possible.

You know who needs to start thinking about Spring right about now, though? Even if it doesn’t feel particularly (or remotely) Spring-Time? The folks at Yellowstone, who put together this fun little video a few years back on the challenges of getting the roads ready for visitors:

Each spring, a Yellowstone National Park crew of 20-25 workers take to the snowy roads of Yellowstone starting the first full week of March to tackle one of the most complex, costly and expansive jobs in the park.

Road crews, including some seasonal workers hired just to help with plowing, work for up to three months removing snow and ice from more than 320 miles of road in Yellowstone. The operation burns as much as 1,300 gallons of diesel fuel each day and typically costs $1 million or more. This video from Neal Herbert of the National Park Service offers a behind-the-scenes look at spring snow plowing in Yellowstone.

Attribution(s): Pictures provided by Shutterstock.