Post Snowpocalypse

February 25, 2010 at 9:46 AM

YET AGAIN, A COMPUTER GLITCH PREVENTS READERS FROM READING MY ENTIRE BLOG AND FROM ADDING OR READING COMMENTS. PLEASE CLICK ON MY NAME AT THE TOP OF MY BLOG, AND YOU WILL BE TAKEN TO MY COMPLETE. I'D LIKE YOU TO BE ABLE TO SEE MY PHOTOS. I APOLOGIZE FOR THE INCONVENIENCE. PAULINE

We seldom get snow where I live (near Washington DC), and when we do, the accumulation is usually very small. The temperature generally hovers around the freezing point, so the snow melts during the day and freezes at night, leaving the roads and pavements icy and dangerous. Not a pretty picture.

This winer has been different. We had two snowstorms within a week of each other, and the accumulation ranged from about 24 to 36 inches. The city was all but shut down. For about a week I had no students, but had something fun to keep me busy: the snow.

The snow is usually prettiest while it's falling, when it is still pristine. I like to go out on my covered balcony and photograph the snow during these times, and I had plenty of opportunities to do that recently. When the snow stopped falling, I went out for a walk with my camera and took lots of photos because I seldom see anything like this. When I was indoors, I had fun working on my pictures with Adobe Photoshop Elements. I recently got PSE 8, and my previous version was PSE 2, so there were a lot of new things to learn. I converted many of my photos to the black and white format, and I had a lot to learn about working in this genre, too. I kept busy working, learning, and enjoying it all.

I'm posting some of my photos here, and you can see more of them here.

From Snow, winter 2009-2010

These lacy looking branches hung right over a power cable. If they actually fell on the cable, the electrical current could be cut off. That disaster didn't happen here, but it may have happened elsewhere because I was without electricity and heat for about two days.

From Snow, winter 2009-2010

Some closeups

From Snow, winter 2009-2010

In this area, we seldom get to see snow on spruce trees.

From Snow, winter 2009-2010

The snow had a high water content and was very dense. It dragged down some of the branches on this spruce. Nearby, another spruce was felled by the wet snow.

A few days after the second storm, snow ploughs came by and pushed the snow into big mounds, covering pavements and parts of streets. Then things got ugly. The mounds of snow gradually changed color from white to mottled gray to mottled black -- vivid evidence of vehicle emissions. I'm glad I have my photos to remind me of prettier sights right near my home.

Post Snowpocalypse

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