First onset of winter? Nov 3 2014

Yesterday I took in my kayak and that might have been a good idea, since according to SMHI we’ll get a snowstorm tomorrow afternoon. Today SMHI, the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, released a level 2 warning snowfall for the coastal Västerbotten, which is quite high since there are only three warning levels.

“Varning klass 2 snöfall som kan ge kraftig drivbildning

(Warning level 2 snowfall which can give strong snowdrifts)”
smhi, 2014-11-03

SMHI writes about 15 cm snow fall (locally more) and wind up to 19 m/s, which is almost 70 km/h. The days after we’ll get permanent frost so that snow will remain on the ground which will instantly transform dark and rainy autumn into light, white and snowy winter, at least for some days.

Especially in Skelleftehamn, where I live, and in Bureå 10 km southward, we sometimes get a weather situation called lake effect, which can bring huge amounts of snow in a short time. People living near the Great Lakes know what I’m talking about. So I’m quite curious how much snow we’ll get this time. 10 cm? 40 cm? 80 cm? I bet on only 10 cm, but who knows …

Here’re some photos from the lake effect snow we got on the 1st of December, 2012:
From bare ground to 83 cm snow in 24 hours.

Update (4th of November, 15:07)

An interesting combination: The level two warning is still active and the wind already increased, but the SMHI forecasts exactly 0 mm precipitation for Skelleftehamn. So I guess we won’t get a single snow flake this time.

Update (5th of November, 07:53)

When I was out shopping food yesterday I saw some lonely snowflakes that immediately melted on the still wet ground. That was all. This morning we have -6 °C but no snow at all. Pity!

November: sun and ice Nov 1 2014

I love the combination of sun and snow, or sun and ice. Today I got the latter. I woke up 5:45 and after a short breakfast I drove to Långhällan, where I’ve been four weeks ago. First I tested my new lens, but quickly changed to my old wide angel lens, since I don’t have a 52mm filter adapter for the new one. It was quite cold for the first of November: between -8 °C and -9 °C. The sun slowly went up but was hidden behind a wall of clouds. Långhällan is just a big rugged rock but I could take photos again and again, always trying to find new and better motives. Today I tried to catch both the cold ice covered puddles and the sky with its warm daybreak colours.

After a while I turned the car and drove back a bit, but stopped at another shallow beach. In contrast to Långhällan which is quite exposed, this small bay starts to freeze over. The ice is still very thin and even small waves can break it into large, irregular pieces.

All grass and reeds where covered with hoarfrost which gave the landscape a quite wintry mood, even if it’s only first of November. First I was annoyed with myself because I left home the macro lens. But the new wide angle is surprisingly good for near shots, too.

Now it got cloudy and warmer, +1 °C. So I guess I can have a lie-in tomorrow.

The illusion of winter Oct 23 2014

No, no, it’s not winter yet, it’s October. Yes, it snowed a bit in Skellefteå last weekend. Yes, some frozen snow is left. Yes, the maximum temperature in Skelleftehamn was only + 0.2 °C yesterday. Yes, we even have snow storm this night (snow warning: 5 – 15 cm until tomorrow morning).

But after the snow storm it will get warm. And rainy! 4 °C at lunchtime and 6 °C in the evening. With wind gusts up to 60 km/h. Probably the streets will be full of wet slush tomorrow and I won’t leave the house without rubber boots. But, as I mentioned above, it’s not winter, it’s just plain old October.

Anyway, the snow covering the houses, the gardens and the streets and lighting up the whole nocturnal scenery gives a perfect illusion of winter, even if it’s only for a night and half a day.

Some photos made in the forest two hours before the snow arrived:

And some photos I made in Skelleftehamn just now, between ten and eleven o’clock:

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