Weekly Challenge

I am going to try to reinstate the Weekly Challenges on the blog. I will post answers on Friday.

We just got our sun back here in Barrow, so your challenge is to be able to explain why we have a period of 24 hour darkness and 24 hour daylight.

Now that it is sunny, I want to get out and take some photos of the frozen Arctic Ocean. It looks really amazing, like what you might imagine the surface of another planet to look like. It doesn't freeze flat like a lake or pond, but has huge chunks all over due to the currents below.

Have a wonderful week!

Long Time, No Post

I'm sorry it's been so long since I posted! Things have been very busy here. We had some pretty crazy weather during the last month. One day it dipped down to -46 (-71 with windchill) and school was actually cancelled due to the extreme temperatures. February is usually our coldest month, so I think we'll see more of it. We've been told that you can actually take a cup of boiling water in temps like that, throw it up in the air, and it will freeze before hitting the ground. We will try to do it the next time the temperature drops and video tape it if we can.

Our sunshine has finally returned. Wednesday was the first official sunrise since November, and everyone was ready for it. We will gain approximately nine minutes of sunlight each day now. Late February and March feel like normal days in the lower 48 as far as daylight goes.

I will also try to post more pictures now that the light is returning.

Here is a picture of Mr. Tundrateacher after shoveling snow for about 20 minutes in negative 25 degree weather: