It's cold outside. Very snowy, very blowy. Yesterday the snow began around 10 am and the winds picked up shortly thereafter. The kids were let out of school at 12:30. School was closed today, and will be closed again tomorrow.
We've actually only received about six inches of new snow. It's the winds that are dangerous. The high today was -9, and while that in itself is pretty cold, it's not school-closing cold. But we had 25 mph winds bringing the windchill to -34. Those same winds can turn six inches of snow into eighteen inches of drift on the road.
Road plowing in rural areas is vastly different than plowing in the city. Generally, rural plows don't bother going out until the winds have stopped blowing. We have yet to see the plow drive by our house. If we were living in a city, the plows would have been by three times already. In the city, folks will ring up city hall if they can't make it out of their driveways by 8 am. In the country, we've all learned to keep a few days extra of everything on hand in case we're snowed in. I hope to see the plow sometime tomorrow afternoon, assuming the winds have died down a bit.
I did manage to take a picture of a rare winter beauty -- a snowbow. It's created by light refracting off snow crystals blowing across the ground. You can't get one from falling snow, only blowing snow, because the sun also has to be shining. The kids were excited to see it. 'A rainbow in January is pretty rare,' Owen said. Yes, indeed it is.
5 comments:
Gorgeous images! I remember when I lived on the farm, it was on top of a hill and we used to blow shut and wait for days for the wind to quit atop the hill to get plowed out. Sometimes we used to go into town and stay at my Grandma's house if we knew it was going to be bad!
Beautiful!
We call them sun-dogs, indeed a rare treat!
Beautiful pictures! Winter time really does have a beauty and wonder of its own, doesn't it?
The weather provides a chance to pull back in, slow down and think about the little things in life that are important.
Beautiful pictures! Beautiful only if you are prepared for that kind of winter and being homebound. I'm sure there are those that aren't and are suffering as a result. By now though, you dudes on the prairie expect it!
We use to see them when I lived in Alaska and we called them sun dogs!
Tammy
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