Amazing Ice Crystals

A little break from all the warm posts about warm birding down in Texas. Today I went out to check on a quinzhee we built at work. A quinzhee is a giant snow pile that is hollowed out to make a shelter.  The one we built is very large, probably big enough to fit 15 kids or more inside. It can be up to 30 degrees or more warmer inside a quinzhee than outside.

When I approached the quinzhee with my co-worker Brett we notices some ice crystals around the entrance. There must have been moist air inside (possibly from people's breath) and it crystalized as it slowly escaped into the colder air.

When we moved inside, we discovered even more amazing ice crystals. Upon closer inspection we could see they had formed on a few strands of human hair that had stuck to the ceiling during the construction process. Each flake was over an inch wide.

I decided to take a quick video to show off how beautiful they really were.

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From the field: icy sunset rainbows

Atmospheric conditions were just right this evening for a spectacular sight. As the sun set in Minnesota, Ice rainbows appeared on each side. This is the same atmospheric lens effect that causes sun dogs during the middle of the day in the winter. These atmospheric effects are usually about 22° to either side of the sun. Tonight there was a rainbow on both sides of the sun as it set. Unlike rainbows in the summer that are caused by tiny water droplets in the atmosphere refracting the sunlight, these are caused by ice crystals in the atmosphere. The end result is similar but you only get a bright spot instead of the full arc. It didn't snow today, so that means these ice crystals may have been whipped up from the ground and into the atmosphere by the blizzard force winds.

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