Inuksuk at the Town Beach: Aurora Borealis and Blue Skies

After making our way to town behind the front loader, we spent 3-4 days there seeing all of the sights in the town of Churchill. Each day and night, we came back to the Inuksuk at the town beach which sits on Hudson Bay.

Our first night, we walked across town over to the Inuksut (a challenging, nippy walk and almost lost Brian) in hopes of seeing the aurora. Despite the glowing lights of the town, the aurora danced over the bay in a splendid way. Brian had the extra challenge of being our photographer that night, and he did a fantastic job in the cold and the dark.

Chris and Dick admire the northen lights!

Brian took a souvenir photo by "painting" our faces in light for 1-2 seconds

During our daytime visits, we checked out the icy/snowy frozen water. Each day we saw a thick dark layer of moisture just above the horizon. This is what happens when a lead opens up and huge amounts of moisture escape. The dark area looked like smoke, and I am pretty sure it is referred to as ice smoke.

Check out the photo below. Almost looks like a daytime aurora, doesn't it? Just a contrail. So I had my day and the beach and a night at the beach too!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

In Churchill, we wait for northern lights to fill the nighttime sky, but for two days of our stay we had a blizzard that brought a “dump of snow” as the Canadians say. While the winds were not too too crazy, this was the most snow we’ve seen fall at one time while at CNSC.

This is a cropped photo from the drifts shown below- away from the building

This was a scene at the town beach on Hudson Bay

The next day the sun came out, and the landscape was transformed into something resembling desert sand except that it was snow blowing about. At CNSC, the placement and the shape of the the facility were both planned to avoid drifting snow near the building. It seems to work well with the building lined up in the same direction as the prevailing winds.  You’ll notice very little snow at the far end of the building where the deck is, and there were gorgeous drifts near the front of the building but not right up against it. Notice in the photo below that there is air flowing underneath the building. In the back of the building, the stairways were completely clear of any snow. Wish I could make that work in our driveway at home.

Anmana- space formed between drift and obstruction causing it. That would be CNSC

While at CNSC, we had a fascinating lecture on snow and some of the vocabulary to describe different kinds of snow. For people who live in the north around the world, there are an astounding number of words for snow. Anmana is my new vocabulary word for this year.  My favorites have been Qali which is the snow that sticks to trees, and Pukak which is the layer of snow at the bottom of the snowpack where many small mammals hang out.

After the storm had passed, we went on a short walk with one of the volunteers to check out the igloo he had built. Everywhere you looked, there were beautiful patterns created by the blowing crystals of snow. We all took turns crawling into the igloo, and then Andrew gave us a lesson on the type of snow needed for building igloos. There is a word for this snow too, if I can retreive it.

Chris, Dick, and I beside Andrew's igloo

View from inside- outside was chinked with snow

Probably the most dramatic moments after the storm came on our ride from CNSC into town. We traveled in a small caravan behind the front loader for the 13 mile trip. I’ve included a photo and  a short video clip. We would never have made it without the front loader. The whole road was blown in by the winds. It was a thrilling ride!

As we rode along, there were beautiful views of Hudson Bay as we approached town. The photos below were taken a couple days later. There would be no stopping for a photo op on that ride to town.

Most days after the snowstorm, it was at least partly sunny. With all of the ice crystals in the air, we were treated to both sun halos and sun pillars. I do have a photo of the halo. It was huge, and I was shocked to capture the whole thing on my little tiny Iphone!

I’ll end with one last photo at the town beach on Hudson Bay. This is one of my favorite places. The stone structure is an Inukshuk, a stone structure found on the tundra. This one is more of a monument, but it is fair to say that an Inukshuk is as much a symbol of the north as the polar bear is. What I want to point out is the thick layer of moisture right near the horizon. This is moisture released from a lead that opened up in the bay. Once again, it was fairly dramatic on this day.