I'm easily amused

[Dave Grubb]

..and so mundane things around me are not so mundane to me

I always am interested in the "performance" of the sun--and the external things that effect that performance.

As we move toward spring the sun is rising in the sky and the radiant heating---independent of air temperature continues to increase as we go.

This morning as I went out to the road with mail I pushed my trusty little "snow plow" which is 18" wide along in front of me. This was in about 4" of fresh snow and since it was fairly cold the snow was very light. I "plowed" a path out and a path back on opposite sides of the lane--similar to wheel tracks.

By the end of the day the parts of the lane not shaded were bare--simply due to the absorption effect of two black strips and the high radiation from the sun. The high temperature today +25 F.

The sun room heats much more effectively when we have a full snow cover since a lot of radiation is reflected off the snow into the room in addition to direct radiation.

If the snow has a crust on it that effect is even more pronounced since the reflectivity is increased.

Today was crystal clear--and dry---tonight the temperature will drop like a home sick rock---the snow does not absorb the radiant energy like the ground--and return it at night--the low humidity and lack of cloud cover accelerates the cooling of the air. I expect at least a 30 degree drop tonight.

I love watching the things that go on around me

[AK Gandy]

The cold weather is getting to you.


You need to go south.


It's only going to be around 20 here tonight.

[07HEMI4ME]

It was a Cold 30F this morning,

It had rained when the cold front came Thur on Tues and this morning I had a Ice cube the since of a soccer ball in by boat cover this morning.

[lemon boy]

http://www.avalanche.org/~uac/encyclopedia/

Dave- you'll especially enjoy all of the topics on snow types and metamorphism there's some really neat stuff in there. Probably no better/easily accessible snow science primer around.

and I may have shared it with you before but the USNs sunrise/sunset (point!) tables are great:
http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneDay.html

[AK Gandy]

Originally posted by lemon boy
http://www.avalanche.org/~uac/encyclopedia/

Dave- you'll especially enjoy all of the topics on snow types and metamorphism there's some really neat stuff in there. Probably no better/easily accessible snow science primer around.

and I may have shared it with you before but the USNs sunrise/sunset (point!) tables are great:
http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneDay.html

The Alaska Railroad has been fighting slides all winter. They had a "perfect" mix of early weather to create unstable snowpacks that will last until summer.

I wish them luck.

[Dave Grubb]

Neat stuff LB--thank you

In this part of the country we have little exposure to avalanches since we have a preponderance of anchors (see---I was reading )---plus a 100" a year is a biggie for us.

I have mentioned this before but the only avalanche I have ever actually seen was in early spring in Whitter AK--I was flat amazed. I was standing on the dock talking to a couple of guys when this thing left loose--probably two miles away. I was struck first by the noise---freight train stuff---and secondly the duration of it

Another source of sky information that I use is www.weatherunderground.com. I have a membership and part of the benefit of that is that I get interactive night sky maps.

I am by no means an astrological scholar--but especially at the cottage we have excellent viewing since there is very little light pollution--the result is that this armature is easily confused

I just go in and call up the map for that particular time and then select what I want to look at (planet, stars, constellations etc either singularly or in combinations)--and in no time at all I know what it is that I am looking at

[AK Gandy]

Originally posted by Dave Grubb
I have mentioned this before but the only avalanche I have ever actually seen was in early spring in Whitter AK--I was flat amazed. I was standing on the dock talking to a couple of guys when this thing left loose--probably two miles away. I was struck first by the noise---freight train stuff---and secondly the duration of it

That one is at the head of the bay toward Door 1. No one is around there so it didn't really affect anything.

I watched one directly on the other side of the bay from Whittier let loose and the wave created swamped a bunch of boats inside the "protected" Small Boat Harbor.

I'll dig up some of my avalanche photo's and post later.

[lemon boy]

dave, you’ll notice where a prior avalanche had came down and wiped a huge swath of old growth/mature timber, I’m sure AKG has some pictures of the aftermath but the huge piles of timber are really impressive up close and one realizes toot sweet that to be involved in any way with such a 50/100yr event is to be way, way up chit creek.

[Dave Grubb]

I've seen the "tracks" often---but witnessing one was another dimension

[AK Gandy]

Originally posted by AK Gandy
I'll dig up some of my avalanche photo's and post later.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

[AK Gandy]

Same spot a second later.

[AK Gandy]

This is actually a small spring slide that came down on its own.

This particular location has had slides across the track 500'-700' long by 50' deep.

And yes, the engineer ran into it and the locomotive has been raised off of the rails.

[AK Gandy]

Same location with one a little bigger but, still not even close to the record. Note the "old" snow in the foreground from previous slides.

Yes, there is a railroad track under that pile.

[AK Gandy]

Here's one that's about to close the only road going south from Anchorage. Note the tracks (on the right) that parallels the road.

[AK Gandy]

Here's a combination early detection system, weather station and remote "blaster box." You can trigger the blaster box by radio signal with the hope that it will be enough to start an avalanche.

The technology came from the Swiss and at the time (2001), was the only one of its kind in the United States.