Beach Blizzard

Here is the life guard station taken at about 7:45am. Just after sunrise. It's hard to see because I had to expose for a half second but I'm standing in a blizzard. A very cold blizzard.


Here is the reverse angle. I was worried the camera might fall over with the high winds. I'm actually struggling to stand up straight. Kind of reminds me of that Sasquatch photo only with snow.

I left a bit earlier than I thought this morning which was just as well. There was so much snow on the trail that I couldn't see the pavement from the grass. It's a good thing I went to the beaches yesterday. The water in front of the life guard station was covered with snow. Did not want to repeat the wet foot incident of a few days ago.

By the time I got down to the life guard station it was about 6:15. The temperature was just about as cold as it was yesterday -16 or so (not including the wind chill). The water was choppy. The snow was everywhere. I put my camera in a ziploc bag to keep snow from getting on it but the winds managed to get snow in from under the bag!

At one point I dropped by UV filter. As luck would have it I was near a shelter, I think it used to be a boat house. Now it's just a roof with some park benches under it. I dusted off the lens and then tried putting lens cleaner on it to wipe it with a cloth. The cleaner froze as soon as it hit the glass. Luckily the lens is pretty old anyway and has a replacement.

Even with the thermal pants I was cold. My hands were both frozen and I resorted to running back and forth from the shelter just to keep warm. By the end my tripod was a metal icicle. The legs wouldn't collapse. I had to chip away the ice that built up in the few minutes I was out there.

I am now at home where I think I will stay until I see sunlight. Hot chocolate is a very nice thing right now.