Still damn cold, snow machine drive-by

 

Friends are here working with me now and that’s so fun

 

Changes

 The temp was finally above zero today and the critters are out on the tundra!

Cold snap

 Last week, we had a run of early morning temps around -35F. One of my coworkers told me a Fairbanks meteorologist had tweeted that the temps recorded up here at Toolik were the coldest recorded anywhere in North America that morning. That made me feel kinda special! Also the wind was real low, which made the cold feel very tolerable. We shoveled and shoveled and shoveled right through it. And though each day is longer than the next, if this is the last sunset I see up here before August, it sure was a good one. 

A wind storm

There wasn’t any new snowfall but after 36 hours of 40-mph winds, the drifts around camp were very impressive. One of them blocked the main stairs to staff winter quarters and I set out to clear them. It was a job. 

Before and after….

You can’t see it but…

 …the ptarmigans have been having important spring conferences on these little hills and it’s so fun to watch it’s hard to get any work done.