Megan's Nature Nook
Nature Notes, Phenology, Photography, Fun Facts, Trips, Maybe Even a Bad Joke or Two... and More!
With Punxsutawney Phil predicting six more weeks of winter earlier this month, we still have plenty of winter, and ice, ahead of us. With slippery roads and sidewalks, salt can be one of our best friends during winter – but it can also be one of our worst enemies if used improperly. Salt (a compound of sodium and chloride) does a good job of melting snow and ice, but it can be bad for pets, cars, concrete, lawns, gardens, and especially our waterways. Accumulated salt that ends up in waterways can negatively affect the plants and animals (aquatic and land dwelling) that rely on water sources and ultimately affect our drinking water. When salt is applied to roads and sidewalks it will eventually run off into nearby lakes, streams, and ponds and will also end up in ground water and well systems. The runoff can be a result of snow and ice melting, or rainstorms washing the salt away. For humans, that can mean an increase of saline in our drinking water in both city water and well water. Increased saline content in waterways can cause amphibians like frogs, toads, and salamanders to die since they cannot regulate the salt content in their bodies. A frog less here and there may not seem like a big deal, but everything in the ecosystem is connected, so if there are issues even with the “small guys” it can cause big problems. Runoff isn’t the only problem with road salt. Large mammals like deer and moose are attracted to salt on roadways. This causes both a problem for the animals and people driving on the roads, increasing the chance of car collisions. The plants next to roads can also be affected by salt, causing the plants’ leaves, stems, and roots to burn and not grow. As a result, erosion alongside some roadways could become an issue since the plants are no longer there to hold the soil in place. Your car, roadways, and bridges are affected by the corrosive nature of salt. The metal in cars, rebar in roads, and bridge supports can be weakened by salt and corrosion overtime. Not only making some of these things unsafe, but they’re also expensive to fix. Although there can be many downsides to using road salt, it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t use it. We just need to be conscious of when and how we are using it. At this time there is no good way to remove salt from water, so the next best thing is to reduce our usage. Here are some tips and tricks to using road salt:
Beside reducing salt usage, you can also try a salt alternative. Some cities have gotten creative with their deicing strategies. Cheese brine is a common deicer in Wisconsin. The salty liquid used to make cheese is a byproduct that many dairy farms have to dispose of. So instead of going to waste, it can be used on the roads. Beet molasses is a byproduct of sugar beets being made into sugar that also doubles as a deicer. These alternatives usually work at a lower temperature than road salt making them more efficient in a number of ways. If you don’t have cheese brine or beet molasses readily available for your own driveway and sidewalk, you can try these salt alternatives: Pickle Brine Pickle brine is still salt based but has 4-29% less chloride that will end up in our waterways. Pickle brine prevents ice from sticking to the road making it easier to clean up. Make your own brine by mixing 2 lbs. of salt per 1 gallon of water. Sand, Ash, Coffee Grounds Sand, ash from your fireplace, and used coffee grounds can help melt ice and provide traction. The dark colors absorb heat and melt the snow and ice while the “grit” of each will provide traction. Coffee grounds also have the added melting power of acid which helps it melt faster. Mix 5% salt with 95% sand to reduce your salt usage but still be effective in removing ice. Be careful with sand as it can also be overused and runoff into our waterways causing its own issues. Sweep up any sand after it has done its job melting the snow and ice. Save it and use it again later! Vinegar Need a window deicer for your car? Mix 3 cups of white vinegar with 1 cup lukewarm water in a spray bottle and spray on icy windows. You could also try applying this to other icy spots like stairs. The moral of the story is, in order to keep our natural resources happy and healthy for the future we need to do our part now. Road salt is important for keeping us safe during icy and snowy winter conditions, but we have to be careful with how we use it. There is a time and place (and amount) where road salt usage is appropriate. When salt is needed, we need to reduce our amount usage, and use an alternative whenever possible. The best way to combat ice and snow is the good ole fashioned way – shoveling and removal! Why add something to the environment like salt, beet molasses, or sand when we don’t need to? You’d be amazed at the power of the sun. Even during our frigid cold snap, snow and ice was melting on a -24°F day because the driveway had been recently shoveled. Do your part this winter (and every winter) and help our plants and animals that rely on clean water. And don’t forget, you rely on that clean water, too! If you’re interested in learning more about how road salt affects our waterways, check out the Izaak Walton League of America’s Winter Salt Watch page by clicking the button below. This winter I have been participating in their citizen science program, Winter Salt Watch, to help scientists learn more about road salt and the effect it has on our environment. This sampling season is already underway, but for more information about the program you can visit their website by clicking the link below. It is an easy program to participate in that has a big impact! Learn about the program so you can request your free sampling kit next winter! (Not so) Fun Fact: 1 teaspoon of salt pollutes five gallons of water!
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Have you ever walked out the door into a winter wonderland? Picture beautiful pure white fluffy snow covering the ground, and a sparkling layer of frosty white covering every surface and clinging onto every nook and cranny, no matter how small. You can’t help but stop and stare in awe as this beautiful winter scene that takes your breath away. You might be familiar with the term Hoar Frost, but have you heard of Rime Ice? These two frosty scenes look similar but are formed differently. Hoar Frost goes straight from gas to solid (ice crystals) while Rime Ice goes from supercooled liquid to solid (ice crystals). It can be hard to tell if it is Hoar Frost or Rime Ice just by looking but looking at the weather when it was formed can help to figure out what type of winter beauty it really is. Hoar Frost Hoar in Old English means “showing signs of old age.” The trees look like they had white beards when they were covered in hoar frost, making them appear old. Hoar Frost is similar to dew. Water vapor in the air skips the liquid state and freezes directly to surfaces as a gas. The ice crystals attach to grass, leaves, branches and more. Hoar Frost forms when water vapor (gas) freezes onto a surface that is 32°F or below, skipping the liquid phase. Hoar Frost is formed on calm, clear, cold nights. Clouds provide insulation, so on clear nights the temperature can drop quickly. Rime Ice There are two types of Rime Ice, soft and hard. Rime Ice forms when supercooled water droplets (liquid) in the air freeze on contact with surfaces that are 32°F or lower. The liquid freezes instantly on contact. Soft Rime Ice is not as thick and can look fragile. Individual spikes are visible. Soft Rime Ice is formed when there is freezing fog with calm to no wind. Hard Rime Ice is more dense. It is formed when there is freezing fog with high wind speeds and a temperature between 17-28°F.
This post is way overdue, but I said I would keep track in December and report back, so here it is… Some of you may have read my previous blog post about November being the cloudiest month in the Midwest. (If you need a refresher, click here to read November: Cloudiest Month of the Year and to see some interesting weather maps). I stuck to my word and kept track of the cloud cover throughout December as well to compare the two and find out which month is really the cloudiest (at least in 2017). Here are my results for December:
Days with Clouds: 25 Days with No Clouds: 6 (or very few passing clouds) 80.65% of the month was Cloudy Review of November’s Results: Days with Clouds: 22 Days with No Clouds: 8 (or very few passing clouds) 73.33% of the month was Cloudy In 2017, December was actually cloudier than November but not by much. I think we overlook the fact and think November is dreary because the leaves are falling, plants are dying, and the days are getting shorter. While in December, we have Christmas lights, holiday cheer, and are looking forward to the holidays and being with friends and family. With all these distractions, we don’t focus on the cloudy weather. Also, this December most cloudy days were accompanied by pretty snow, adding to the cheery mood. So, although December was actually cloudier in 2017, November got the bad rap. An interesting note – most of the sunny days in December had below zero temperatures! The clouds help to insulate and keep the temperatures warmer. Do you prefer clouds or colder temps? Happy Groundhog Day! My favorite Holiday! This morning, Groundhog Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, meaning six more weeks of winter! I am excited about this forecast as long as it includes snow. Predictions: If Phil sees his shadow = 6 more weeks of winter If there is not a shadow = warmer weather is around the corner This 132-year-old tradition started in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. But it had a history even before that. The tradition started in Europe as a Christian holiday, called Candlemas Day. Germans settling in Pennsylvania brought the tradition to America. In Europe, a hedgehog or badger was originally used. Once in America they were not able to find either of these animals in the wild, so that’s where the groundhog came in. Punxsutawney, PA even has the “Punxsutawney Groundhog Club” which has a group of men in the “Inner Circle.” These men are the ones in the top hats who care for Phil and plan all the Groundhog Day festivities in Punxsutawney. And let me tell you, there are a lot! Check out http://www.groundhog.org/fileadmin/user_upload/online2018guide.pdf to see all the festivities going on. A few fun facts:
Here is a poem for today from the one and only www.groundhog.org: Up early this morning Far from home Are you searching for the Phil-osopher's stone? Well, even my best friends They don’t know. Is it an early spring Or just more snow My faithful followers, your hands (and my paws) are getting cold So here is my forecast Not lead, but solid gold: I see my royal Shadow! Six more weeks of Winter to go! If you’re a fan of Groundhog Day like me, be sure to check out their website! www.groundhog.org. They even have t-shirts and Groundhog Day cards.
Happy Groundhog Day! For those of you who aren’t a big fan of the shorter, darker days we have this time of year, you can start rejoicing because the Winter Solstice is near! The Winter Solstice is the shortest day of the year; the day with the least amount of daylight. Since June 21st (Summer Solstice), the amount of daylight has been decreasing day by day. Now that we have reached the Winter Solstice, we can start looking forward to the amount of daylight increasing, and our days getting longer! For those of you like my mom, who don’t enjoy the dwindling amount of daylight, this is a welcome change! The Winter Solstice also the official first day of winter – let the snow begin! The Winter Solstice will occur at 10:28 am (Central Time) on Thursday, December 21, 2017. It will happen at this same instant all over Earth. At this exact moment, the Northern Hemisphere is tilted the farthest away from the sun. The Winter Solstice is most often on the 21st of December, but can occur on the 20, 21, 22, or 23rd. The time of day changes depending on the year. On Thursday, December 21, 2017, Red Wing, Minnesota will have eight hours and 49 minutes of daylight compared to Thursday, June 21, 2017, when Red Wing had 15 hours and 34 minutes of daylight. That is 6 hours and 45 minutes difference of light!! Ever feel like you are more productive in the summer? Maybe that’s why! Here is a neat Yearly Sun Graph that shows the day lengths for the year: https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/usa/red-wing Climatologist Brian Brettschneider has some really cool weather maps on his Climate Blog, two of them are shown below. It really is quite amazing to think about the difference in daylight that six months can make! Starting on Thursday we will start making our way to those brighter, longer (maybe more productive) days! In the meantime, happy winter!
November is said to be the cloudiest month of the year in the Upper Midwest. Sometimes it seems to get a little dreary because of all the clouds, short days, brown grass, and fallen leaves. Because of this, November often gets a bad wrap as being a depressing month. December is also a contender for "Cloudiest Month" but maybe we overlook that fact because all the Christmas lights brighten things up? Why is November so cloudy? As we get closer to winter, main jet stream winds are heading Southward out of Canada increasing the amount of stormy weather across the northern states, thus bringing cloud cover with it. Also, the low angle of the sun this time of year makes it hard for low-level clouds and fog to evaporate or “burn off” as the day goes on. This map by Dr. Brian Brettschneider shows the cloudiest month of the year all over the U.S. Since November is supposed to be the cloudiest month in Minnesota, I wanted to keep track and see how many cloudy days Minnesota actually has in November, so I created a calendar in my Nature Journal. I wasn’t too scientific about my recordings and just mentally took note throughout the day of what the sky was looking like. I also didn’t really pay much attention to cloud cover during the night, just daylight hours when I could observe the sky. Then at the end of the day, I filled out the square for that date. It was pretty easy. I do have to admit though, I wasn’t always on top of it, and would sometimes be sitting there trying to fill out two or three days worth going, “was it sunny on my drive into work on Wednesday?” Or asking others, “was it cloudy yesterday? All day?” Some days were easy to record if they were sunny or cloudy all day, others were a little more complicated with the ever-changing weather Minnesota has to offer. It could go from sunny to snowing in a matter of minutes. Here are some closeups of a few days: Each day I recorded 4 things: 1. Date – Already marked on my calendar 2. City – Since I wasn’t always in the same city each day, (but was still in MN), I wrote the name of the city going up the right side of the box. 3. Drawing of the sky – I drew the sky in the top half of the box, sometimes with a separating line if it was different in the AM vs. PM. 4. Word Description of the sky – The bottom of the box was used to write descriptions about the drawing, slightly more detailed. At the end of the month I had my completed calendar! Here are my results: Days with Clouds: 22 Days with No Clouds: 8 (or very few passing clouds) Since December is a contender for “Cloudiest Month,” I'm going to continue my nature journaling calendar so I can compare November and December. It would also be interesting to compare the month of November year after year to see how things vary. Dr. Brian Brettschneider also has some other interesting maps comparing November and December Cloudiness. Arizona looks like the place to be in November and December if you don't like cloudy weather! Hawaii and Minnesota are surprisingly quite similar in cloudiness this time of year, so you better wait to book those plane tickets. I found it pretty interesting to keep track of what the sky was doing each day, and it was quite easy to record. Try starting a nature journaling calendar of your own by either making one, or recording your findings on a calendar you already have. You can try keeping track of the high and low temps, wind speeds, precipitation, sky cover, or anything else you find of interest! A great thing about Nature Journaling is you can do whatever you want, however you want – make it your own!
P.S. I tried to catch some fog earlier. I mist. |
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