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Archive for the ‘Snow’ Category

Springtime at Lake Calhoun

Sunday, April 6th, 2008

Don’t let the large, lingering snowbanks or the (melting) ice on the lake fool you, it really felt like a warm spring day Saturday! More and higher resolution pictures here.

Now that it’s mid-spring, winter is finally melting away…

Everyone was out enjoying the wonderful weather.

Dogs aren’t afraid of the ice

Even dogskateboarding (summer form of dogsledding)

Playing some lawn games (croquet, bocce ball, block throwing/stacking)

Just waiting for the ice to melt.

And, of course, there were still some brave kiteskiers out on the lake

Historical note about the first dwelling in Minneapolis, built by two missionaries on the east side of Lake Calhoun in 1834.

Minneapolis skyline

Cool treehouse in St. Louis Park

More here:

Springtime at Lakes Calhoun & Harriet

Posted in Great Outdoors, Lake Calhoun, Minnesota, Snow | No Comments »

Some pictures from today after the big snowfall yesterday and last night. It was a very beautiful day today and a lot of the snow melted during the day. Thankfully, the crews were out last night clearing the roads, but the cars parked outside weren’t so lucky.

To show how high the snowbank is I took this picture with a car driving by just a few feet in front of it.

Minneapolis skyline from our office seven miles west of downtown.

More pictures here

Snow the day after 2008-04-01 MN Tue

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Snowfall today

Monday, March 31st, 2008

One of the many benefits of living in Minnesota is the snowfalls in late March. You can get a glimpse of it in these pictures:

2008-03-31 MN Mon Snow

Short video of a truck clearing the snow from our parking deck:

http://northbynwa.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/P1020446.MOV

The video may take a while to load.

The total accumulation is not too much since it has been pretty warm lately and a lot of the snow has melted into a messy slush.

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Severe Weather Alert for Minneapolis, MN

Sunday, March 30th, 2008

This should make my first day of work/training up here even more memorable. Fortunately I’m not in my apartment yet so I can walk from to work from the hotel that just down the street from the office.

At least we won’t have to deal with the tornadoes that are expected tomorrow across parts of the central US. Sounds like they could be pretty bad.

Heavy Snow Warning

A HEAVY SNOW WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 7 AM MONDAY TO 6 AM CDT TUESDAY.

HEAVY WET SNOW WILL OVERSPREAD MUCH OF EAST CENTRAL AND SOUTH CENTRAL MINNESOTA AND PORTIONS OF WEST CENTRAL WISCONSIN FROM LATE MONDAY MORNING THROUGH EARLY MONDAY AFTERNOON. THE SNOW WILL PERSIST THROUGH MUCH OF MONDAY NIGHT BEFORE DIMINISHING SIGNIFICANTLY BY DAYBREAK TUESDAY. SNOW ACCUMULATIONS OF 6 TO 8 INCHES ARE LIKELY ACROSS EAST CENTRAL AND SOUTH CENTRAL MINNESOTA WITH SOME 9 INCH AMOUNTS IN THE BALSAM LAKE…RICE LAKE AND LADYSMITH AREAS OF WEST CENTRAL WISCONSIN.

A HEAVY SNOW WARNING MEANS SEVERE WINTER WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED OR OCCURRING. SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF SNOW ARE FORECAST THAT WILL MAKE TRAVEL DANGEROUS. ONLY TRAVEL IN AN EMERGENCY. IF YOU MUST TRAVEL…KEEP AN EXTRA FLASHLIGHT…FOOD…AND WATER IN YOUR VEHICLE IN CASE OF AN EMERGENCY.

weather.com – Minneapolis, MN

I need to work “overspread” into more of my conversations. I didn’t even think it was a real word when I read the alert.

The high tomorrow is 33°F. It was supposed to be clear and really cold tomorrow night (6°F), but now they’re predicting cold and snow.

Posted in Minnesota, Snow | No Comments »

The snow has mostly melted… mostly

Saturday, March 29th, 2008

So the snow has mostly melted in Minnesota… mostly.

They got 8″ last weekend, so the Wild Mountain ski & snowboard hill was still open this weekend. What is left most places is the melting mounds of snow that was piled up during the winter in parking lots and some snow in fields that are partly shaded.

I was also surprised to see car car pulled over on the interstate last night. Who know what that Camry driver was up to… However, while I was driving around today I saw ZERO cops the entire day. Maybe they are in un-marked cars? Or maybe they are still in hibernation?

On to some pictures from the area today.

Nice farm, with a racetrack carved in the lake in the foreground

Still driving around on the lakes… gathering their ice fishing houses?

Welcome to Lindström

Wild Mountain – not as wild as I imagined

How did that get there? Must have jumped out of a moving truck.

St. Croix Falls Dam & Hyrdopower Plant

This hydro plant located in St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin on the St. Croix River, is owned and operated by Xcel Energy Inc. The plant was constructed between 1905 and 1906. According to Xcel, the St. Croix Falls Hydro Plant is its 2nd highest producer of electricity among the Xcel’s-Wisconsin’s 19 hydro plants. The plant utilizes eight hydro turbines, and has the capability of producing up to 117,363 kilowatts of power annually.

Here are a couple before and after shots to illustrate the difference in snow from two months ago to today:

Target parking lot

Movie theater parking lot

More pictures in this album:

2008-03-29 MN-Wis. Sat

Posted in Great Outdoors, Hydro Power, Minnesota, Snow | 4 Comments »

Back in MN; Starting my six-month training rotation

Friday, March 28th, 2008

I’m back in MN for the beginning of my six month training activities.

Spring is here and most of the snow is GONE! I even spotted a blonde driving a Miata convertible with the top down on the interstate – she did have a heavy jacket on. This was in 38° F weather.

Still no sign of ANY law enforcement here (outside the airport). I’m sure they’re here somewhere, but I haven’t been able to find them.

In the Safe Driver class I took last week for work training they stated that one cause of dangerous roads in Alabama is a lack of enforcement. The fact that there is practically NO enforcement around here, yet traffic flows smoothly, drivers are courteous to each other and most people don’t drive recklessly (changing lanes, speeding, etc.) makes me think that enforcement isn’t the cause of dangerous roads in Alabama. The more likely explanation is that the need for more officers on the roads to enforce the laws is a symptom of another problem – bad drivers who aren’t courteous and drive dangerously. Come on Alabamians – you can drive better (myself included)!

Posted in Alabama, Minnesota, Snow | 3 Comments »

Ice overhang in New Hampshire

Monday, March 10th, 2008

My aunt took this picture of a huge block of snow and ice in North Conway, NH. The snow/ice had slide off the roof and was on its way down to the ground, but got stuck on the ledge. Unfortunately, there have been many roof collapses in that area this winter due to the large snowfalls this winter. According to USAToday, Concord, NH, recorded 100.1 inches of snow this season. Before that, the record had been 78 inches, set during the winter of 1886-87, according to the weather service.

Posted in Destruction, Snow | No Comments »

Arrived safely for the last week of classes & Minne-Etymology

Sunday, February 10th, 2008

-7 just doesn’t feel as cold as it used to (when the wind isn’t blowing). I saw lots of hard packed snow on a lot of the roads tonight. Expecting a couple more inches of snow tomorrow in addition to the inch of snow that fell over the weekend.

Did you know… the Memphis airport is the world’s busiest cargo airport. The airport owes it’s status to FedEx’s “world hub” in Memphis.

Minne-Etymology lesson:

The word Minnesota comes from the Dakota language name for the Minnesota River: Mnisota. The root Mni (also spelled mini or minne) means, “water”. Many locations in the state have similar names, such as:

Minnehaha Falls (“waterfall”, not “laughing waters” as is commonly thought)
Minneiska (“white water”)
Minnetonka (“big water”)
Minnetrista (“crooked water”)
Minneapolis (“water city”, polis is the Greek word for “city”)

Posted in Etymology, Geography, Maps, Minnesota, Snow, Trivia | No Comments »

Back in MN; 90% chance of snow Monday!

Sunday, February 3rd, 2008

The current forecast for Monday is 3-5 inches of snow accumulation!

Posted in Minnesota, Snow | No Comments »

Ice fishing and more on Lake Minnetonka

Tuesday, January 29th, 2008

I got to drive across a lake for the first time this past Sunday afternoon. The 50 mph lake speed limit on Lake Minnetonka was no problem to follow (inside the 150 foot shore-zone the limit is only 15 mph). People I talked to around here assure me that it has been frozen for a long time now (so it must be pretty thick), but no one has been able to say how thick the ice is.

Driving on a huge lake gives you that same feeling you get on a huge roller coaster. You think in the back of your head that you might fall through a crack in the ice and freeze to death while at the same time you reassure yourself that there is the chance of that happening is practically zero and besides, there are so many other people doing it, so don’t worry!

State law says that all ice fishing houses have to be off the lake by April 1st, so if you want to come see one, you had better hurry!