Sun and Snow

The clouds rolled out but the snow stayed. On the top of the 10,000-foot mountain, we were almost in the clouds. The clouds dropped heavy snow and nearly made a whiteout. On one of the lifts, there were so many clouds, I couldn't even see the chair ahead of us. The clouds also brought 5 inches of snow, temperatures in the twenties, and a wind chill in the single digits.

Pine Cones

These pine cones must have thought the warmth meant spring. They appear to have started growing to bigger pine cones but the snow covered them up. What happens to the pine cones, or any plant, when this happens? Do they stop growing and wait for the warmer temperatures to return? Do they continue growing?

Old Wagon, New Snow

The snow continued to fall in big flakes as I walked by the wagon. It was very hard to take this picture since I had to keep my camera warm and protect it from the falling snow. I was able to put a plastic bag over my camera then cover it with some cloth to keep it warm. I must have been weird to see someone with a plastic bag and cloth taking pictures of an old wagon.

Standing Tall

This snow fell and stayed in its crystal formation. It is very easy to see the snow flake on the top of the intersection of the branch. The snow flake seems to stick out among the others. The flake is on top of the others which helps it be seen and it also has the most shape out of any of the flakes. It is mostly intact with the bottom half of the pile of snow with the other snowflakes.

Wet Snow

Towards the end of the snowstorm, heavier and more wet snow fell. This is caused by temperatures that are higher to freezing. As the snow falls, it melts on the outside but still has a frozen core. Closer to the ground, the snow starts to freeze again but the temperature must not have been cold enough for the snow to completely freeze.

Fallen Branch

The snow came down all around this pine branch that fell. The bright green branch seems to blend in with the snow. I focussed on the branch trying to capture the detail of the snow on the branch. I belive I succeded since it is easy to distinguish the different snow flakes that fell on the branch.

Ice

As the snow fell, the warm branch instantly melted it. The water formed into droplets and the droplets hung from the branch. I like how there are water droplets in focus than out of focus is the snow that is still falling.

Falling Light

While on a walk during the snow storm, I found this light lighting up a sign not seen in this picture. The snow turned to the color is the light as it fell into the light's path. I found it interesting that the snow looks like pieces of burning ash falling to the ground when it is in the path of the light. 

Fresh and Old

From this picture, it is clear to see that new snow has fallen. The trees are covered in the new snow and the rocky mountainside has no new snow on it. I like to see the white trees since it is something that I nearly don't take pictures of. Most of the pictures I take of trees, the trees are only green or have an interesting flower on it. These trees are green and white.

Accumulation

Another pine tree, more accumulation fell. The snow fell so lightly that if you zoom in on the picture, it is easy to see the flakes. From this picture, it is clear that the snow stopped falling. This is true but only for a few hours. The snow fell very heavily for two hours then stopped then resumed snowing very heavily after about three hours of no snow.

Pine Needles

This pine tree was the first on many to accumulate snow. One of the reasons why is because this tree is an evergreen, meaning that it always has leaves/needles on it. The needles help to hold the snow on the tree which makes it one of the first trees to collect snow. I like how close I was able to get to this tree. We are able to the shape of the snow on the tree and some of the snow that has already melted. 

Down the Road

One of the cool things that snow does, is it turns anything it lands on white. If the conditions are right, the snow will fall on itself and start to accumulate. When not touched, you are able to see the separation of the flakes. I took this picture at the beginning of the storm but the accumulation is coming and the trees are just started to get covered.

Snow Time

As the heavy snow continued to fall, I found this clock. As the snow fell all around it, I knew it was the perfect picture. If I could change one thing about this picture, it is the red sign in the top right corner. I would have liked for the background to be a perfect white from the snow, but I still do like this background.

Spring Snow

One of the days while we were in Colorado, a heavy snowstorm blew in. Snow fell in the mountains and in the valleys. In the valley, heavy snow fell for a couple of hours, stopped, then heavy snow fell again four hours later. Overall, about six inches of snow fell. I tried to capture both the branch and the falling snow. The snow almost paints the photograph with white dots.

Split Forest

The next night, more than a dusting of snow fell. The snow was carried by a strong wind from the West. It blew the snow across the picture from the right side to the left side. This is why half of the forest of white and the other half of forest is the normal color green. What doesn't make sense, is the trees that are covered in snow are covered in what seems to be almost a foot of snow. It must have been one crazy storm that blew through.

Snow on Ice

During the same night as the Snow Specks, rain fell before the snow fell. The rain hit this grill and froze, this created the domes on the grill. As the temperature dropped, snow started to fall. Since the ice is frozen, the snow fell on top of the ice domes and stayed there. When I first saw this I didn't understand. I touched the water to see if it was frozen or not. When it didn't move, I knew it was frozen and perfect to post.

Snow Specks

Very very light snow fell overnight. Some of the snow, when it hit the Earth, split into smaller specks. These specks are really cool to photograph. The wood grains give a scale to show how small the snow really is. While I wasn't able to capture a full snowflake, these snow specks are just of great.

Winter Bird

Birds like this bird are very interesting. They are able to live and strive in freezing temperatures. I have never understood how they do this. Their small body mass shouldn't be able to hold much heat but it must if it wants to live in Colorado during the winter.

Icy Reflection

As the sun started to set, I took a reflecting shot of this bush growing out of the icy water. This water is from the snow that has melted, froze, then melted again. At night, the temperatures reached around ten degrees below freezing, this froze the water. During the day, the temperatures reached at least 40 and if not then higher. All of this freezing and melting made the snow start to look more like ice and not snow. 

Snow Line

On this smooth snow, I focused on this single line. The snow is perfectly white and you are able to distinguish between the different flakes. This picture has more snow circles than the last picture. The circles closer to the focused line are smaller and more defined. As you move away from the focus line, the circle become much bigger and the boundaries of the circle start to blend with other circles.