Winter Snow and what the heck are Ice Pellets 2

Winter in the Flathead Valley is pretty awesome as well. We had a few low temperatures allowing me to finally try a Photography project that I had been trying to complete forever..

The Ice Bubble. What is an Ice Bubble? It is a soap bubble that freezes if the air temp gets low enough. The problem with that is that it takes almost perfect conditions. The wind has to be nonexistent and the temp has to be low enough (less than 15 degrees) to freeze a fragile soap bubble as sharp ice crystals form in the structure. As my wife can attest there was lots of swearing and frozen fingers along the way. I was able to find perfect conditions only twice this year but look forward to trying again!!

Crystal Ice Bubble

As the snow fell sometimes in the mornings the wind would blow and the sun would come out and snow would fall from the trees like diamond crystals.

Diamond Crystals falling from the sky

All the tourists had gone and our neighborhood was silent except for the sounds of wildlife looking and sometimes begging for food. The lower valley was frozen but beautiful.

Lower valley Barn

Drives around the area became a winter wonderland and sometimes we thought we were in another country

Highway 2 East

Winter was magical and we will see what the promise of Spring brings!!

Hoar frost along the Flathead Mountains.....Home!

Winter, Snow and what the heck are Ice Pellets 1 of 2

      Winter has come and Spring is right around the corner. How did we survive? Pretty well actually! In Montana's defense she was pretty easy on us first timers. Yea we had snow and ice and it did get down to 5 degrees, but it didn't get to minus nor did we have feet of snow. I am not a fan of the winds here but I will put up with it as it allows me to witness some beautiful things. 

So as winter began to get started we had prepared a couple cords of firewood (in case of power outages), stocked up on icemelt and sand, prepped the snowblower and switched to snow tires. we were ready. But except for a small snowstorm in late October winter really waited for January to start. 

The first confusion for us began with a morning forecast of Ice Pellets? What the heck are Ice Pellets? 

Ice Pellet Storm Kalispell Mt.

Apparently Ice pellets are a form of precipitation consisting of small translucent balls of ice. Ice pellets often bounce when they hit the ground or other solid objects, and make a higher-pitched “tap” when striking objects like windshields and dried leaves, compared to the dull splat of liquid raindrops.We had a few of these storms and it was crazy to see the world transformed into what we called  "a Styrofoam factory". It looked as if a bean bag chair exploded all over the landscape.

Now I was a bit nervous driving on Ice tires and in the snow at first but when I realized the most dangerous temps were 29-34 as that is when the ice was forming or melting and it was slipperiest. After learning that  I began to gain confidence.

 Glacier National Park was back on the table and I went for the beauty and the solitude. I rarely saw anybody and as they started to close the roads I saw even less.

White-tailed Deer first snowfall Glacier National Park

Frozen waterfall near Hungry Horse Mt

Frozen waterfalls, icy lakes and snowy scenes were all around, although they were sometimes treacherous and the parking areas were slippery the pristine beauty made it all worthwhile. 

Glacier National Park in winter

 There are endless compositions and it seems like sunset can be at anytime after 3 although its officially @5 this time of year the lighting is just magical.

Snowy Reflection on Lake McDonald

The Log Cabin Glacier National Park

Middle fork Flathead River