Winter Coastal Storm & Weather

I awoke at some point in the early hours of today by the bashing winds howling by our place.  The storm was said to arrive this morning and low and behold it arrived!  I am a morning person as many of you know and I just love the peaceful start to a day.  Even if like today we have a lot of sound effects tossed our way thanks to Mother Nature.

Just like yesterday, we had a noon ski practice but it ended up being too cold for the elementary skiers.  Wind chill was -25ºF.

Our old skiers who are on the Race Team were able to ski at 2:00 P.M. as the breeze was gone.  We went out at -9ºF and skied up to Picnic Hill all on classic gear. Cold temperatures make for slooooow skiing and this is when we go for a tour on our classic gear.  We had a great group and off we went.

This is so typical for us the temperatures drop and a slight breeze picks up.  The warm temperatures drop to -18ºF and the wind picks up just a tad which throws us right into -34ºF wind chill!

Above was yesterday ski temperatures during our ski practice. The first column is air temp, next is dew point, relative humidity, the purple is wind chill, mph, and wind speed.

In the distance, you may notice the village and then the sea ice heading west.  This hill is traveled by snowmachines all winter.  People heading out to their cabins, trapline, or going ice fishing access the river on this trail.
 One of the things I love about the winter sky at this time of the year is the color.  It seems impossible to capture the light of the northern latitudes but it is stunningly blue, and cold, with various hues of pinks, purples, yellows, and reddy-oranges.

We were all covered in Mother Nature's collection of makeup know as frost!  Everything was painted in frosty shimmering white crystals. Beautifully done in fine detail!

Sun is starting to set about 3:00 now and it takes a long time to get below the horizon.  This is the time of loooong shadows! I never ever get tired of the light and shadows up here in the north.

Once home we realized how much the temps had dropped on us.  The breeze was at our backs so you didn't notice just how cold it had really gotten during our ski tour. I am a frosty skier. Warm as toast at home after always skiing within the "Rudy Principle" which was told to us years ago by one of the guys that helped our school district with skiing out here for years!  The Rudy Principle is "Never ever head out of the village with the wind at your back as you will never get home!"

Back to today's storm winds are now blowing solidly at 40 mph and visibility is down to .25 of a mile which I think is rather generous distance!

As I close this post winds are now gusting over +50 mph!

Tundra Time

I love being out on the tundra!  I wish, I could some how capture how it makes me feel in words but I am not that kind of a writer.  I love the ground color throughout the seasons as the colors are rich, earthy, and unique to the northern latitudes.  The lichens are rich and their shades vary throughout the changing seasons.  Walking on the tundra ground cover is an experience and a great workout.  You are sinking and then you are on top and when you least expect it you sink again.  It is a pretty good balancing act.  I love looking out at the expanse of the tundra that just plain old has no one on it . . . it is empty!  Every time, I am out on the tundra, I think that I am about the luckiest person on earth to be able to enjoy this vast sweeping landscape . . .

Here are some photos from this fall on the tundra enjoy your walk . . .

There is always time for hot tea and a bit of a rest not matter what!

No easy to beat this view!

Tundra trail mix snack 

Endless expanse of open space

One of our more soggier walks!