APOD: The Upper Michigan Blizzard of 1938 (2014 Jan 22)

[APOD Robot]

The Upper Michigan Blizzard of 1938

Explanation: Yes, but can your blizzard do this? In Upper Michigan's Storm of the Century in 1938, some snow drifts reached the level of utility poles. Nearly a meter of new and unexpected snow fell over two days in a storm that started 76 years ago tomorrow. As snow fell and gale-force winds piled snow to surreal heights; many roads became not only impassable but unplowable; people became stranded; cars, school buses and a train became mired; and even a dangerous fire raged. Fortunately only two people were killed, although some students were forced to spend several consecutive days at school. The above image was taken by a local resident soon after the storm. Although all of this snow eventually melted, repeated snow storms like this help build lasting glaciers in snowy regions of our planet Earth.

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[Beyond]

I remember snow like that a couple of decades later, when i was a kid. It took a crew about a week to shovel a one car path through a couple hundred feet or more of really packed drifted snow. That was back when we really had snow storms. One time my father was shoveling a path to the outhouse. I reached up as high as i could, just about to the top of the snow and pulled it down and compressed it into a seat, then kinda turned and hopped up onto it and was comfortably sitting there, when my father turned around and saw me and started laughing. He then took a break before finishing the path. I think i remember staying in the house the rest of the day. There's only so much fun you can have in a path through the snow to the out house.

[Wireman58]

I fail to see what this has to do with the study of the stars!
Also, this pic looks like a fake as the photographer, from this perspective, would be standing in between high tension lines!

[Stendec]

Just a side note: Today's APOD says that this blizzard was in January of 1938. The link titled "The above image" gives the date as January of 1939. Both sources cite Bill Brinkman as the source of the photo; and the link cites him as the source of the photo and the accompanying history which has the 1939 date. I did a cursory internet search and found that the following webpage has the 1938 date: http://wintercenter.homestead.com/photoindex.html. Does anyone else have further information?

[Ann]

The blizzard over Malmö and Skåne in 1978. Just saying.

(For those of you who don't speak Swedish, the reporter is saying that all roads in and out of Malmö have been blocked by snow, so you can't get in or out of the city. He also says that those who live in the area are in deadly danger if they leave their houses.)

Ann

[PepJ]

to Wireman58: This image is not a fake.
They are not high tension lines, neither low tension lines. They are telecom lines with no power. Please, check the "above image" link.

[starsurfer]

I fail to see what this has to do with the study of the stars!
Also, this pic looks like a fake as the photographer, from this perspective, would be standing in between high tension lines!

I knew someone would make a reply like this! This image is related to planet Earth, which is part of the universe!

[Lasse H]

How is this an "Astronomy Picture"? If all Earth photos are astronomy pictures, because we live on a planet in this universe, then all photos are astronomy photos, which is ridiculous. I think you have to at least direct your camera towards the sky.

[Ann]

How is this an "Astronomy Picture"? If all Earth photos are astronomy pictures, because we live on a planet in this universe, then all photos are astronomy photos, which is ridiculous. I think you have to at least direct your camera towards the sky.

Like this?

Ann

[Lasse H]

Nice!

[rstevenson]

There's a natural tendency to think of those snow covered poles as being very similar to the 30' to 40' towers we use today, but it may not be so. I recall, back in the 50s and 60s, driving along rural roads where the poles were only about 12' high. That's still quite a drift, but not as dramatic as a nearly 30' drift would be.

Rob

[FloridaMike]

There's a natural tendency to think of those snow covered poles as being very similar to the 30' to 40' towers we use today, but it may not be so. I recall, back in the 50s and 60s, driving along rural roads where the poles were only about 12' high. That's still quite a drift, but not as dramatic as a nearly 30' drift would be.

Rob

I get your drift.

[MadMan]

to Wireman58: This image is not a fake.
They are not high tension lines, neither low tension lines. They are telecom lines with no power. Please, check the "above image" link.

Which is why, where I live, we still call them "telephone poles" even if they carry power only. Also, we say "Upper Peninsula" or just UP rather than "Upper Michigan", but then, nobody very far away would know what we meant!

[Canadian Grandma]

I laughed at the picture on the screen, because I had just looked at the temperature outside. In central Ontario, at sunrise, it is minus 34C, or 30 below F. I believe in this area the telephone poles were usually about 20 feet tall. Now, of course most lines are buried.

[gcal]

How is this an "Astronomy Picture"? If all Earth photos are astronomy pictures, because we live on a planet in this universe, then all photos are astronomy photos, which is ridiculous. I think you have to at least direct your camera towards the sky.

I agree, Astronomy and Terrestrial are separate domains. There's an Earth Picture of the Day http://epod.usra.edu/ for weather-related and other earthly topics.

[anna moose]

Just what does this have to do with astronomy? I come here to see astronomy pictures not century old weather reports. Maybe you should rename the site "MOSTLY Astronomy Pictures of the Day". If I had wanted to see pictures of this nature then I could have gone to "Earth Sciences Picture of the Day".

[Ron-Astro Pharmacist]

And all this time I thought my Dad was exaggerating!

[zbvhs]

They were called "telephone poles". The wires carried low-voltage direct current, hence the glass insulators. The picture shows the vagaries of weather on Planet Earth and is very much in keeping with the APOD theme considering the global-warming issue. Actually, the picture was probably taken in a road cut that had blown shut. Still, it was a lot of snow. People in California are yearning for snow like that.

[Guest]

Like this?

Ann[/quote]

I, actually, find the linked image you provided more interesting than today's APOD. Particulary how my mind chooses to interpret the flakes. I see several "belts of Orion", for instance, and as I zoom-in I mis-interpret the flakes as stars, then they become galaxies. I, also, "see" constellations and clusters.

[owlice]

Those who are unhappy with this APOD because it shows Earth, please go look at this APOD instead.

Thanks!

Given the current weather across a good swath of the US, I find this APOD relevant, interesting, and informative. And it makes me quite glad for the current weather across a good swath of the US, even with the low high temperature today!

[BMAONE23]

West coast weather patterns seem to be similar to 1977 when Calif was in a drought and the Midwest was being blanketed from the blizzard. Similar weather in 1937 with droughts and massive snow storms

[bactame]

I was born in Newberry, MI after 1939 but not much after; my mother had a picture pretty much identical and she thought the storm was actually pretty nice. Her picture showed a tunnel to get into the house and the streets were the only way to get around. Photography in those days was when you mailed your roll of film in for processing. Interesting that people these days need to imagine telephone poles as short things before they can get their imagination wrapped around a subject.

[mrneutr0n]

Good to know it melted.

[MargaritaMc]

Those who are unhappy with this APOD because it shows Earth, please go look at this APOD instead.

this APOD
Happiness is frequently contagious -- few people are able to watch the above video without smiling.

WOW! - that is a FANTASTIC video! Thanks for posting the link, Owlice - and thank you to the commentators who gave occasion to Owlice to post it...

M

[Anthony Barreiro]

Which is why, where I live, we still call them "telephone poles" even if they carry power only. Also, we say "Upper Peninsula" or just UP rather than "Upper Michigan", but then, nobody very far away would know what we meant!

"Michigan's Upper Peninsula" would be clear to us foreigners and faithful to you UP'pers.