Can you see the snow landing on my pants? The white blurs are snow flakes hurling towards me.
Today it was so cold, it actually snowed while we were in the field collecting data!!! I was innocently walking towards the soil chambers when I felt hundreds of tiny cold spiky things striking me. "What is that?" I thought, "Sand?" Nope, it was snow!
Brrr!!! This lovely summer ensemble consists of thermals, snowboarding pants, a long sleeve shirt, a fleece pullover, and a goose down jacket.
Barrow is 330 miles above the Arctic Circle and only 1,300 miles away from the North Pole. It has the lowest average temperatures in all of Alaska. In fact, Barrow receives snow fall every month of the year, but oddly enough is considered a desert climate because it only averages less than 5 inches of rain a year.
Help me, little space heater; you're my only hope!
Barrow is one of the cloudiest places on earth too! Half the year, the skies are completely overcast and dense fog is common during the summer months.
Check out how this garbage bag flag I made is whipping around in the wind! That's 22 mph wind for ya!
So just like that old saying goes "Neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet, nor hail shall keep the postmen from their appointed rounds" the same applies to scientists collecting their data! Despite the whipping winds, freezing temperatures, and now snow, we're still out there sampling gas from each of the chambers and taking probe measurements of pH, dissolved oxygen, and conductivity. Well, it does help to have a fluffy hat and snowboarding goggles.