At first I felt kinda bad for city trees when they would shovel snow off the sidewalks and up against the tree. “Oh no! The trees are being buried!” But actually this must help the trees. The water underneath would melt and and give a refreshing drink to the thirsty tree. The snow pile acts like those slow-release water bags they put around trees during periods of no rain in the summer. Just like a nice continuous flow of water. Hooray for snow piles around trees!
It’s also fun to think that the snow just got up and walked over to the tree to give it a hug.
You are exactly right, that’s why our increasing lack of snow is not so good. Grass and trees and other flora need snow in states where it’s supposed to snow. Rain would be OK, but the total lack of precip isn’t good … except maybe for people who don’t like to walk or drive in it.
i like to think of the snow pile around the tree as a mountain. Thus making the tree coming out the top of the mountain quite tall.