Winterscapes

A panorama taken February 2, 2025

Winter's sky is an old blue soul, 

weaving dark clouds with wonder.

Angie Wieland-Crosby 

With snow in the forecast, my devoted summer-loving friends are lamenting another round of winter weather and longing for their flip flops. Personally, I prefer sweatshirt weather to 100-degree humid summer days. And these days, when I no longer have the daily climb into the feed truck, I can enjoy the scenery for what it is ... in a word, beautiful.

 

February 2, 2025

 

 

Sunsets were particularly colorful a few days last week. I guess AI is good for something: When I "asked," here's what the the AI Overlook spit out:

 

Winter sunsets often appear more vibrant and colorful due to the combination of colder, less humid air, which means fewer particles to scatter light, resulting in cleaner air and bolder colors, especially when compared to the more humid summer months. This phenomenon is called Rayleigh scattering, where the longer wavelengths of light like red and orange travel further through the atmosphere at sunset, creating the vivid hues we see.

 

February 3, 2025, south of Stafford

No matter the reason, the sunsets have been worth getting out of my warm house and driving down the road for an unobstructed look.

 

Later on February 3, 2025, Zenith branch, Kanza Co-op

 

The sky at dusk wasn't the only beautiful thing last week. We also had freezing fog and hoar frost. After seeing friends' Facebook photo posts, we likely missed the day with the heaviest hoar frost, since we were in Topeka a couple of days for our granddaughter's sports activities. 

 

Hoar frost is a type of feathery frost that forms as a result of specific climatic conditions. The word 'hoar' comes from old English and refers to the old age appearance of the frost. The way the ice crystals form makes it look like white hair or a beard.

 

Rattlesnake Creek along 4th Street near Highway 281 north of St. John, looking north, February 4, 2025. I made Randy stop on the bridge on our way to the accountant in Great Bend.

 

Looking south from the same bridge on 4th Street near Highway 281

The winter landscape scenes around here looked a little like Andrew Wyeth paintings with the stark scenes offset with fog and frost.

 

We had a little time between getting home from the accountant and my 2 PM meeting in Stafford, so we drove around so I could take more photos. The photo above was taken down an oil field road at our Rattlesnake Pasture. I've taken a lot of spring and summer shots at that same location, but I think this was my first winter scene.

I do have a confession for my summer-loving friends: I'm not sure I ever warmed up the rest of the day after hopping in and out of the pickup into the frigid air. 

 

 

But I think the photos were probably worth the bone-chilling cold. 

The snow drift is still lingering along this tree line. We are supposed to add more to it in the next couple of days.

With another winter storm set to move in, we'll see if there are any other winter calendar contenders in the days ahead.

 

 It is the life of the crystal,

the architect of the flake,

the fire of the frost, 

the soul of the sunbeam.

This crisp winter air is full of it.

-- John Burroughs