by Bill Evans
When I returned to the observatory and took off my gear, my face hurt. My nose burned, my feet and hands were frozen, and I was exhausted. Even through all that gear, the cold wind sent piercing daggers all though my aching body. I have stood outdoors in snowstorms, blizzards, and even hurricanes, but I have never experienced anything that compares to this.
The cold wind made its way through my face gaiter and burned the skin off my nose and forehead. I lost a couple of toenails and several of my fingernails turned black. To this day, when I go out in the cold, my fingers and toes remind me of that unforgettable adventure. I had heard that once you get frostbite, you are more likely to feel those effects again more quickly the next time you are in the cold, and now I know that’s true.
Late the next day, we were able to leave the mountain. The storm had passed and the temperatures had warmed to levels at which the snowcat could operate. I couldn’t believe the change in the conditions. It was sunny, with blue skies and no wind. It was absolutely serene and beautiful. The Presidential Range and Tuckerman’s Ravine were covered in crystals and shining brilliantly. That’s what you can run into at Mount Washington. One day horrific and the next day calm. We thanked the staff of Mount Washington Observatory for their hospitality and for keeping us safe, as well as for the learning experience. I would go back again in an instant—in the summertime!
Colored Snow
I’m sure you’ve heard the universal warnings, “Be careful, do not eat the yellow snow!” Yuk!
But, what if it tasted like watermelon? Yum, yum! Now that’s extreme! In some mountainous areas, Colorado especially, it is not uncommon to find pink snow falling from the sky. The pink is caused by a type of alga called Chlamydomonas nivalis. It’s called “watermelon snow” because it actually has a taste very similar to watermelon.
Can you image, walking outside after a snowfall and finding pink snow all over the ground? And it’s safe to eat? At least the locals there say it is safe to eat…better in small quantities, I’m sure!
There are more than 350 kinds of algae that survive in very cold temperatures. These algae can turn the snow many colors, such as black, brown, or yellow. (Just don’t confuse it with the other kind of yellow snow!)
Chlamydomonas nivalis tends to flourish when the weather warms a bit after the coldest of the winter. It starts out green, then turns pinkish or reddish as the sky brightens. The cells have a gelatinous sheath that protects them from the strong sunlight at high altitudes, and it is that sheath that produces the pink color.
Snow can be colored by other things like sand or soils that can make it appear brownish. Sandstorms in the Sahara lift soil into the air; atmospheric winds carry those particles long distances, such as over southern Europe, where the soil is combined with snow to produce brown or reddish snow.
Snow can be colored by soot from burning coal or wood. Volcanoes and Mongolian sandstorms also can make colored snow. Be careful in urban areas, where auto emissions and other toxins can be mixed in; eating that kind of snow might make you sick. Studies in 2008 from Louisiana State University have shown that different types of bacteria can gather on ice crystals in snow, and that eating it could be harmful.
On January 31, 2007, a weird colored snow fell over Russia. Oily yellow and orange snowflakes fell over 570 square miles (1,500 sq km) in the Omsk region. Russian officials said that they could not explain the snow, which was oily to the touch and had a pronounced rotten smell. Although the official cause is still a mystery, the snow contained four times the normal level of iron. The Russians believe it was the result of a chemical accident or from a rare dust hurricane in neighboring Kazakhstan! Wow! That’s extreme!
Snow Rollers
I love the cartoons where a snowball starts at the top of the mountain and rolls all the way down the mountainside, growing bigger and bigger, moving faster and faster, collecting anything in its path and wiping out the little mountain shack at the bottom. Well, those kinds of snowballs are not just from cartoons, they’re real! They’re called snow rollers. They are an extreme, strange, and mysterious weather sight! First, of course, there must be snow on the ground, and then conditions must be just right. The snow must be light and just a tiny bit wet and sticky; it can’t be heavy snowman-making snow, and it can’t be light, flakey powder, either. That’s why snow rollers are extremely rare.
Fritz Grueter; used by permission.
Strong, gusty winds pick up the snow and begin to push it along the ground, forming what looks like barrels of snow, sort of like if you were trying to make a snowman, except the wind does it. But, unlike the cartoon version, once in motion the rollers tumble on until the wind slackens, until they grow so large that they become lopsided and fall over, or the ground levels off too much for the wind to propel the snow mass any farther.
Fritz Grueter; used by permission.
Snow rollers are a bit mysterious because they are usually formed at night or early in the morning. You can wake up in the morning, go outside, and see a field or a frozen lake covered with hundreds if not thousands of these little rolls in sizes from bowling balls to barrels, all evenly spaced as if they were made by aliens!
Snow Tornadoes
There are many times you may see what looks like a tornado on a snow-covered mountain—giant whirlwinds, or vortices, that pick up snow and create a massive funnel. Those are the snow version of what’s called a dust devil. I’ve seen them while skiing, and for fun and an adrenaline rush, I’ve even skied through them! They are quite a thrill ride; however, I suggest you avoid them unless you are an expert skier.
Sometimes, the conditions are right for an actual tornado to form over a mountaintop during a blizzard or heavy snowstorm. Up-sloping winds on the mountaintop, big blasts of wind shear, heavy bursts of precipitation, thunder, and lightning, all can provide the same things as in a thunderstorm, only of the frozen variety.
Even though there is not one confirmed report of a tornado actually forming in a snowstorm, once in a while they travel over snow-covered fields and forests, and suck up the snow, making them look like a white tornado. In Utah, on December 2, 1970, a twister came across the Timpanogas Divide, where some 38 inches of snow cover had accumulated. The tornado was powerful enough to snap trees 1 foot in diameter, and to suck snow over 1,000-feet high into its funnel. The tornado looked like it was a solid expanse of white, and had a ghostlike appearance.
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Looking at Snowflakes
Try This at Home!
Let’s take a look at snowflakes and here’s how to do it! This activity is from the Weather Wiz Kids Web site (www.weatherwizkids.com/examining_snowflakes.htm).
Materials:
Black paper or black fabric
Magnifying glass
Process:
Place the black paper or fabric in the freezer for a couple of hours.
Take the black paper or fabric out of the freezer and put it outside when it’s snowing.
Let some snowflakes land on the paper or fabric.
Use the magnifying glass to see the beautiful shapes.
Explanation:
This experiment allows you to see the six-sided snowflakes up close and personal. No two snowflakes are identical, so have fun looking at their different shapes.
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Great Snowflake Web Sites >>>>
If you would like to grow your own snowflakes in a bottle, visit this site:
www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/snowcrystals/project/project.htm.
Check out this site for other ideas for projects with snow:
www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/snowcrystals/kids/kids.htm.
Section 4
Extreme Weather
Zap! Pow! Bang! Ba-da-Boom! Ba-da-Bing! It’s Lightning!
When you were in elementary school, you likely heard the story of the great Benjamin Franklin and how he discovered that lightning was electricity by flying a kite in a thunderstorm. It was a remarkable idea—but as it’s told in school, it doesn’t seem
very smart, which doesn’t make sense when you remember that Ben Franklin was a genius and inventor. Franklin knew that his experiment had to be done—and done as safely as possible—if he wanted to prove his theories about lightning and electricity.
In June 1752 Franklin, with the aid of his son, flew a kite in a thunderstorm. Franklin tied a key to his end of the silk kite string and tied the string to a post. Many people believe that the key was struck by lightning, but that’s not true. On an episode of MythBusters, the crew reproduced Franklin’s experiment and concluded that if the key had been hit by lightning, Ben Franklin would have been killed.
Currier & Ives
Instead, Franklin used the kite, key, and silk thread to collect an electric charge from a storm cloud. As the silk became wet from the rain; the string became a great conductor of electricity. Franklin put his hand next to the string and could feel the static from the electric charge of the storm cloud.
Ben Franklin went on to invent the lightning rod, which we still use today to protect homes, businesses, and other buildings.
Other people weren’t as smart about electricity as Franklin. The very next year, 1753, a Russian scientist, Georg Richmann, set out to prove that he knew electricity better than Franklin. During a demonstration of ball lightning at a science exposition in St. Petersburg, Russia, Richmann replicated Franklin’s experiment, flying a kite in a storm. He didn’t use a key; instead, Richmann tied the kite string to the metal box he was standing next to. When the electrical charge ran down the wet string, it filled the metal box with electricity—which zapped Richmann and killed him!
Julie Rozzi; used by permission.
Lightning is very cool and beautiful, yet powerful and destructive. The leader bolt of lightning can reach a temperature of 54,000ºF (29,982.2°C), which is nearly twice the temperature of the sun. If lightning strikes a beach, it can fuse the sand into glass. Sometimes, while digging in a garden, you may find a long piece of a mineral that’s green, gray, and white. It’s called fulgurite, and it’s created when a lightning bolt melts soil into a glasslike state.
Even though we know that lightning is caused by electrical charges in a cloud, how those charges get ramped up still remains a mystery. Lightning can also occur within ash clouds from volcanic eruptions, and can be caused by violent forest fires, which generate sufficient dust to create a static charge. The launching of the Space Shuttle and other rockets from Cape Canaveral causes lightning as well.
When you drink sugary soda or eat lots of candy or other sweets, you’re likely to feel a burst of extreme uncontrolled energy—a “big charge.” That’s lightning…except lightning needs water and ice crystals to work its magic. Most lightning occurs within a cloud or between a cloud and the ground. Oddly enough, even though a bolt’s temperature is hotter than the surface of the sun, lightning only forms in clouds that contain large amounts of ice crystals. The melting and freezing of the ice creates massive electrical charges in the cloud.
There can be lightning in a snowstorm. In March 1996, during a blizzard in Minnesota, a man was struck by lightning and lived. He was dazed and confused, but alive!
Frank Picini
During a thunderstorm, turbulence in a cloud causes electrical charges to separate. Positive charges rise to the top of the cloud and negative charges fall to the base. Then, because like charges repel, just as magnets do, some of the negative charges on the ground are pushed down, leaving a positive charge on the Earth’s surface.
Since opposite charges attract, the positive charges on the ground and the negative charges in the cloud are pulled toward each other, and lightning forms. The first visible lighting stroke is called the stepped leader.
When the negative and positive parts of the stepped leader connect, a conductive path is created between the cloud and the ground, and an electrical current begins flowing. Negative charges rush down the path, causing the lightning stroke. After contact, the return stroke begins. This is a blast of positive charge that is traveling upward at about 60,000 miles per second (one-third the speed of light). This is the brilliant light that you see.
What’s really cool is when the process repeats several times along the same path, making the lightning flicker. It all takes place in about half a second!
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Department of Commerce
Lightning is so brilliant that it looks like it is hundreds of yards or even miles wide. Not so! The width of lightning is the size of your pencil!
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Department of Commerce
Hey Ben! Why Don’t You Go Fly a Kite?!
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How Benjamin Franklin Made His Kite
From a letter written by Ben Franklin to Peter Collinson, a fellow of the Royal Society, on October 19, 1752:
Make a small cross of two light strips of cedar, the arms so long as to reach to the four corners of a large thin silk handkerchief when extended; tie the corners of the handkerchief to the extremities of the cross, so you have the body of a kite; which being properly accommodated with a tail, loop, and string, will rise in the air, like those made of paper; but this being of silk is fitter to bear the wind and wet of a thunder gust without tearing. To the top of the upright stick of the cross is to be fixed a very sharp pointed wire, rising a foot or more above the wood. To the end of the twine, next the hand, is to be ty’ed a silk ribbon, and where the silk and twine join, a key may be fastened. This kite is to be raised when a thunder gust appears to be coming on, and the person who holds the string must stand within a door, or window, or under some cover, so that the silk ribbon may not be wet; and care must be taken that the twine does not touch the frame of the door or window. As soon as any of the thunder clouds come over the kite, the pointed wire will draw the electric fire from them, and the kite, with all the twine will be electrified, and the loose filaments of the twine will stand out every way, and be attracted by an approaching finger. And when the rain has wet the kite and twine, so that it can conduct the electric fire freely, you will find it stream out plentifully from the key on the approach of your knuckle. At this key the phial may be charged; and from electric fire thus obtained, spirits may be kindled, and all the other electric experiments be performed, which are usually done by the help of a rubbed glass globe or tube, and thereby the sameness of the electric matter with that of lightning completely demonstrated.
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Make Ben’s kite! Go to www.pbs.org/benfranklin/
The Thunder from Down Under, Up, and All Around!
When I was a child, I was deathly afraid of booming thunder. To soothe me and to calm my nerves, my parents would try to take my mind off it by saying silly things like, “It’s just God moving furniture,” or “It’s God rolling watermelons under the bed,” or my favorite, “It’s just the angels bowling!” Fear of thunder is known as brontophobia or as I like to put it, “I just feel safer hiding under my bed!” Astraphobia, brontophobia, keraunophobia, and tonitrophobia—all are abnormal fears of lightning and thunder. (I suffer from “Gagaphobia,” which is the fear of Lady Gaga!)
Thunder is the result of lightning. Thunder could not exist without lightning. It’s obvious when you see lightning that first you see the flash and then you hear the thunder. Experiencing lightning and thunder is one of the easiest ways for people to understand that sound travels much more slowly than light.
Thunder can be heard up to 15 miles away from a lightning strike.
Ever notice how dogs behave when they hear thunder? They hide, or whine, or bark and run around like crazy. My dog, Sandy, barks like mad! I don’t know why dogs are affected like this, but if I find out, I’ll let you know!
Save Me from This Madness!
Lightning blasts the ground 20 to 30 million times a year. The top six places people get zapped:
standing in an open field
underneath a tree
on bodies of water (boating and fishing)
near tractors and other hea
vy equipment
on golf courses
on the phone (excluding cell phones and cordless)
How can you stay safe? Get inside a building, or inside a car or truck with the windows closed!
You can survive being struck by lightning—in fact, the majority of people who are struck do not die. This definitely does not mean that you should ignore the danger and stay outside during a storm!
Your chance of surviving a lightning strike is greater if someone nearby knows CPR. Unlike the cartoons, lightning does not blow up a person, cause someone to burst into flames, or fry anyone into a smoldering black lump! Lightning can burn off your hair or singe your clothes, but mostly it affects your body’s electrical system.
Most people who are struck by lightning appear dead, but they are in cardiac arrest and need CPR. Many people think that if you touch someone who has been struck by lightning, you will get electrocuted. That only happens in cartoons! There is no danger in touching or aiding someone who has been struck by lightning.
