Filming “Strangest Weather On Earth” A Year Ago Today

A year ago today, I was at the Lake Erie shoreline in Cleveland Ohio to be in FRONT of the camera for a segment of The Weather Channel series "Strangest Weather on Earth” being filmed by a UK production company.  The temperatures were below freezing with rain, freezing drizzle, and high winds. The topic being covered was the Cleveland Harbor West Lighthouse becoming completely encased in ice from a weather phenomenon which occurred in December of 2010. (That link includes some of the photos I took of the lighthouse that day.)

Here’s photo taken at the time of the filming. Despite being dressed in layers, it wasn’t quite enough, once the wind and precipitation was added to the cold temperatures. Needless to say, despite my best efforts to protect my head, it was a bad hair day!

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Heavy Snow + High Winds Make Nice Drifts

We had almost 10 inches of snow last night, which came with lots of wind. It makes for treacherous driving and lots of snow drifts. One 3 foot drift blocked our back door. But the drifts in the front yard by the globe taxus bushes made for some interesting patterns. Here’s a photo (click on the image for a larger view).

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A Frozen Lake Erie & Cleveland Skyline

There is nothing quite like the frigid cold look of a frozen Lake Erie. Well, maybe except for the Arctic and Antarctica. Here’s a look at the Cleveland Ohio skyline and a frozen Lake Erie, taken from a 8 stories up in a building in Euclid Ohio, right on the shoreline. The ice was blindingly white and not only hard on the eyes, but on the camera as well, which, like my eyes, had difficulty adjusting to the intense light. (Click on the image for a larger view.)

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Finding Color in a Wintery Landscape at Chagrin River Park

We’ve had an unusually long stretch of bitter cold temperatures, coupled with lots of snow. Even though there isn't much to see outside but mostly white scenery with bare trees, one can still find color in the landscape. Here’s a photo I took a few weeks ago at Chagrin River Park. There was a massive ice jam on the Chagrin River and the river was nearing flood stage. (I believe the park was closed the next day.)  One nearby area was filling with slightly muddy and icy water which reflected both the pale color of the sky and the dormant grasses. It looked surreal to say the least, but at least it brought a touch of color to an otherwise bleak landscape. (Click on image for a larger view.)

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Bitter Cold Brings Beautiful Frost

The bitter cold temperatures really have a grip on a large part of the country. The upside is that the frost patterns change daily showing their various fractal patterns. Based on the sunshine – or lack of it – the patterns can sparkle with beautiful colors or they can look like black and white pictures. Here are some photos taken this past weekend and this morning.

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Sub-Zero Frosty Fractals

The recent Polar Vortex brought record low temperatures here (-11 degrees) for two days. My garage windows sometimes get frosted when it is extremely cold, and I enjoy seeing the frost form their fractal patterns and sparkle in the sunlight. Here are photos of the frost, with a little bluish background color from the snow on the ground outside.

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Computer Motherboard “City” & Snowy Landscape

It's obvious that winter cabin fever has set in when I find myself looking around the house for things to photograph. The recent New Year snowstorm that hit the Midwest (now affecting the East Coast) kept me housebound and a landscape covered with well over a foot of snow makes for boring pictures. I decided to take apart an old, inoperative computer and realized how much the motherboard looks like a miniature city, so photographs were in order. (At least I was able to put that dead computer to good use.)

OK, I admit it. The snow was piled so high that just had to take a picture of some bushes in the yard, topped with over a foot of snow.

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