Enjoying The Snow
Mike,
I’ve been enjoying the snow here in all its myriad forms, so much that I’ve been neglecting my duty to the blog. It’s so much more difficult to write something “bloggable” about good times. Sad, distressing, disastrous events make much better copy. But I have to say something about how fine and wonderful the snow is here. It’s 90% air! Take a look at these closeups I shot of some snow that fell a couple of days ago on our garden.
When you multiply this a thousand fold, you get piles of crystals with mostly air around them. No wonder the skiing is so much fun. And no wonder the snow disappears so fast. It just blows away to Kansas in the winds. There has been more than 50 inches of snow here since winter started, and right now all the roads are clear. I even saw a crocus blooming today.
But lest everyone move out here enmasse, I should point out that spring snows here are not like this. The snow is wet and slushy. My memory from the 60’s is not so clear on this, but that’s what the Boulder Daily Camera says. I’ll let you know.
rakkity
PS: I’ve found a racquetball partner! We’ll see what transpires. Maybe I’ll break my right shoulder this time, and we can get some more X-rays on the blog? (Just some dark humor loved by the blogmeister.)
Beautiful.
Comment by LaRad — February 17, 2007 @ 6:11 pm
Rakkity, You HAVE been neglecting your duty; I’m still waiting on the answer to my question about directions in space. I feel almost entirely confident that East and West only apply on the surface of a body, but wonder whether North and South are used to describe directions in space, and if so, whether the North/South line is parallel to the Earth-to-North-Star line or it is perpendicular to Earth’s orbit (these two lines diverging at a 23 1/2 degree angle).
Beautiful photos by the way. When does spring snow fall? After March 21?
Comment by Jennifer — February 17, 2007 @ 8:01 pm
Diane can vouch for those Kansas winds. Don’t be thinking for a second that we’ll be packing our belongings so we can be closer to more snow. How about down near the Black Canyon? A view of the mountains but out of the white stuff?
And more racquetball stories? How hold is this guy? Twenty-two?
Comment by michael — February 18, 2007 @ 9:47 am
Fantastic snow crystal close ups, Rakkity!
Just read this morning of a man-made avalanche that covered I-70 headed into ski country and caused a 10-mile backup. Were you any wher hear that???
Comment by smiling Dan — February 18, 2007 @ 6:19 pm
In reverse order–
Smiling Dan–I was here safely in Boulder at the time of the avalanche, but I am planning to go over that pass sometime this winter. And they’ve had 2 big avalanches there since December.
Michael–Twenty two? Hah, he’s 62. (Almost blind in his left eye, though, so my Z shots may cause him problems.) He’s a foot taller than me, though, so he may cause ME problems.
Jennifer–the answer is both. The cosmic astronomers use a (sidereal) coordinate system that has north in the line of the earth’s axis. The solar system astronomers use ecliptic coordinates where north is perpendicular to the ecliptic plane. We all have programs that convert between sidereal and ecliptic coordinates. so as long as we are clear in our nomencature, there is no confusion. And you’re right about east and west; all the planets & planetoids have their own east and west, where east is in the direction of rotation.
And when does spring snow fall? Usually in May.
Comment by rakkity — February 18, 2007 @ 9:57 pm
Thanks! So “North” on Venus is roughly (siderial or ecliptic) “South”? (I thought that retrograde Venus was described as rotating East to West.) And do either cosmic or solar system astronomers use either East or West for anything? How do astronomers describe where our solar system is in the galaxy?
And about snow — so spring snow is defined by its consistency, not the time of falling?
Comment by Jennifer — February 19, 2007 @ 10:22 am
Answers to Jennifer’s questions:
Well, “spring” as it is known here in the high country means the time when there is more snowfall, more avalanche danger, more sun, and less powder. All that comes in April or May, somewhat later than March’s vernal equinox. Of course, “spring” flowers can come anytime, as today, when doomed crocuses are popping up all over, and optimistic restauranteurs are placing tables out on Pearl St’s sidewalks.
As you noted, Venus rotates backwards, so her east is the reverse of ours. Uranus has an east which is particularly perverse, since his axis is almost in the plane of the ecliptic.
Locations in the Milky Way Galaxy are defined by yet another coordinate system, with Galactic north perpendicular to the plane of the galaxy (somewhere in Draco I think), and Galactic Longitude zero in the direction of Galactic Center (in Sagittarius).
There is even a “universal” coordinate system, defined by the center and orientation of the “dipole moment” of the redshifted blackbody radiation. That’s the most cosmic of the coordinates.
Comment by rakkity — February 19, 2007 @ 4:58 pm
This is one of those times that you would all confuse Jen and Jennifer. I have nothing to add except, “oooo, pretty.”
Comment by Jen — February 20, 2007 @ 10:52 am