Icy Day

Conditions weren't as bad as they could have been but they weren't so great either. Hovering around 32 all day, we ended up with around a 10th of an inch.

Deer at Rock Springs

Freezing Fog at Weldon Springs

Yesterday's freezing fog wasn't all that photogenic though it did prove treacherous on concrete pavement as evident by the slide offs I saw on US51 N en route to Clinton. In spite of limited icing on exposed objects, I still attempted to make the time worthwhile.

The abandoned barns dotting the old farm are very intriguing.






Inside another appearing to still be used to some extent.


Graffiti or legitimate?




Opposite side of the park at the end of Lookout Point Rd., insane sledding hill that the photo does no justice. It has to be at least a half mile or so to the end!


Complete with restrooms :)

SW Dewitt County IL Fog

Ice Sculptures/News

Crossing the Sangamon River on Lincoln Trail, I noted some unusual ice formations so for having a bit of time to spare, I stopped for a better look. Formed by the combination of insanely cold overnight temperatures generating "islands" as well as daytime sunlight responsible for the icicles and a steadily decreasing water level revealing it all, I doubt they will last much longer with the brief warm up expected in coming days.











Pair of cardinals way over on the other side.


Just some gulls.


In other news, the ILX Spotter Page was updated with new info for 2010 and with that, they chose one of my images for use on this page. This is indeed a massive honor for which I am grateful. The storm was from May 30, 2009 and was located just NW of Stonington IL. For as gnarly as the lowering was, upon calling it in to ILX, they noted that it wasn't rotating on velocity scan thus, a tornado warning was not needed. It was an excellent example of a storm whose bark was worse than it's bite and all the more reason trained eyes are so vital to the warning process. There was only one other known chaser on this storm.

No Humans

With an air temp of -6, I took a spin out to Lincoln Trail Park on Sunday to see if there might be hoar frost like the other day. There wasn't much frost to be found but there were scores of animal tracks all over the place. Deer, coyote, fox, rabbit, squirrel, mouse, bird and others that I couldn't identify criss crossed everywhere. Particularly interesting were the stairs leading down to the Sangamon river that had everything but people tracks going up and down.



Aside from the busy path along the water's edge, I could have spent more time with the ice structures but I wasn't able to be out long.


Parting shot and lo', a muskrat pops up like to say "C'mon in the water is perfect!"

Snow Drifts, Macon County IL

So with the first big storm of the new decade, I picked up 5.0 inches that may have increased by at least an inch with light snows filling in on the back of the passing low. I wasn't out much because I didn't need to be but this morning, I did venture out on to a few country roads to observe the drifting. Since I don't have 4WD, I didn't take too many risks as some roads were completely impassable. Once you were out in the open, the winds were extremely intense. Gusts to 24MPH doesn't seem like much but the biting cold and negative wind chill values weren't something easily tolerated for any length of time. My goal was to shoot video and assemble a time lapse series showing how quickly the drifts would overtake the pavement. My tripod wasn't secure thus the clips were shaky hence I didn't but you can still find a video link at bottom.











VIDEO LINK