Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Snowdrifts and Icicles

A decent snowstorm blew through on Sunday night and into Monday, not a lot of snow only 4 or 5 inches, but a whole lot of wind.  Wind gusts reached into the 50+ mph range Sunday night and all day Monday causing blizzard conditions and the town of Grand Forks to effectively shut down.  The drift below was in front of the garage door, facing West.
Even though there wasn't much snow, that much wind can leave some large drifts and strange formations carved out of snow. 
This beautiful snow drift was along the south facing wall of the garage, was nearly two feet high, and had a near vertical face on one side.  It was gorgeous and mysterious at the same time.  The force of the wind and eddies created by the buildings worked in combination to sculpt this snow drift.  
Enjoying the unusual snow formations went a long way to make up for the cold early morning snow shoveling and snow removal.  As the front passed, bitterly cold air filled in behind it, leaving the area in wind chill warnings from Monday evening through the end of the day Wednesday.  Chilly.  Even though the calendar says it's coming soon, Spring seems a long way off.

1 comment:

Joel said...

Cool drifts!! Sounds strange, but I was kinda hoping to have drifts like that this year to test out my new snow blower. Liked the dog painting from last post too.