The clouds rolled in before sunset as the snow storm made its approach this evening but today view was a lot different than when I hiked on Lake Superior’s frozen surface.
Superior Cloudy Sun
The frigid temperatures today reminded me of the day I hike out on the frozen Lake Superior to view the ice caves. I knew there was very cold wind chills over the lake when my camera lens would fog up whenever I went inside an icy cave and I used hand warmers to kept my camera batteries warm enough to work.
Icy Cave
The sun peeked out in between snow showers but the wind whipped the snow around to make it seem like it was snowing longer and there was even some like cyclones of snow spinning up into the air. On an icy day, like this photo, the snow couldn’t blow around with the ice layer holding it down.
Icy Snow
The snow was blowing around during stronger gusts of winds today. Old windmills, like this one, will “furl” in high winds which prevent a turbine from spinning too quickly by turning the blades out of the wind. This Aermotor windmill uses an adjustable spring to select the speed point at which to furl the windmill out of the wind and to return the windmill into the wind as the wind speed decreases. It can be manually turned out of the wind also as this one might be.
Furled Windmill
Tonight held a treat of a total lunar eclipse, one referred to as Super Blood Wolf Moon lunar eclipse. “Super” refers to the fact that the Moon will be closest to the Earth in its orbit when the total eclipse takes place. The reddish hue the Moon takes on during the eclipse gives it the “blood” name. The Old Farmer’s Almanac contributes the “wolf” name, as full moons in January are known as Full Wolf Moons. Course when the skies are clear for the full moon in January, it normally means a cold night and very true tonight with below zero temperatures. So I didn’t stay outside to take a picture every few minutes like I have done in past even though I will have to wait until May 2021 to try again.
Super Blood Wolf Moon