Snow angel

Last updated
A girl making a snow angel in snow SnowAngel-5644.jpg
A girl making a snow angel in snow

A snow angel is a design, made in fresh snow, by lying on one's back and moving one's arms up and down, and one's legs from side to side, to form the shape of an angel.

Contents

Technique

The creation of the snow angel is a simple process. The first step is to find an undisturbed plane of fresh snow. The next step is to lie with arms and legs outstretched, on the snow. The limbs are then swept back and forth, creating a trough through the snow. When it is finished, the snow angel should have the appearance of a stylized angel, the movement of the arms having formed wings, and that of the legs having formed a gown. Fresh, light, powdery snow makes the best snow angel rather than heavy, sticky snow.

Current world record

On March 28, 2007, Guinness World Records confirmed that North Dakota holds the world record for the most snow angels made simultaneously in one place. The event occurred on February 17, 2007, when 8,962 snow angels were created by people on the state capitol grounds in Bismarck. [1]

Previously, the record was held by Michigan Technological University with 3,784 students, locals, and alumni making snow angels on the school football field. [2]

Non-human snow angels

Snow angel left by a pheasant in Montana's Bowdoin National Wildlife Refuge Pheasant snow angel (23101508599).jpg
Snow angel left by a pheasant in Montana's Bowdoin National Wildlife Refuge

Some birds (e.g. pheasants) leave on the snow a figure similar to a snow angel. Weddell seals often leave outlines of themselves, similar to a snow angel, melted into the ice; additionally, these seals can thumb their nose at the cold, leaving images called seal shadows. [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pinniped</span> Taxonomic group of semi-aquatic mammals

Pinnipeds, commonly known as seals, are a widely distributed and diverse clade of carnivorous, fin-footed, semiaquatic, mostly marine mammals. They comprise the extant families Odobenidae, Otariidae, and Phocidae, with 34 extant species and more than 50 extinct species described from fossils. While seals were historically thought to have descended from two ancestral lines, molecular evidence supports them as a monophyletic lineage. Pinnipeds belong to the suborder Caniformia of the order Carnivora; their closest living relatives are musteloids, having diverged about 50 million years ago.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Weddell Sea</span> Part of the Southern Ocean between Coats Land and the Antarctic Peninsula

The Weddell Sea is part of the Southern Ocean and contains the Weddell Gyre. Its land boundaries are defined by the bay formed from the coasts of Coats Land and the Antarctic Peninsula. The easternmost point is Cape Norvegia at Princess Martha Coast, Queen Maud Land. To the east of Cape Norvegia is the King Haakon VII Sea. Much of the southern part of the sea is covered by a permanent, massive ice shelf field, the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf.

<i>Life in the Freezer</i> BBC nature documentary series

Life in the Freezer is a BBC nature documentary series written and presented by David Attenborough, first transmitted in the United Kingdom from 18 November 1993.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chinook wind</span> Warm, dry wind in North America

Chinook winds, or simply Chinooks, are two types of prevailing warm, generally westerly winds in western North America: Coastal Chinooks and interior Chinooks. The coastal Chinooks are persistent seasonal, wet, southwesterly winds blowing in from the ocean. The interior Chinooks are occasional warm, dry föhn winds blowing down the eastern sides of interior mountain ranges. The coastal Chinooks were the original term, used along the northwest coast, and the term in the interior of North America is later and derives from the coastal term.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Schoolhouse Blizzard</span> January 1888 blizzard in the USA

The Schoolhouse Blizzard, also known as the Schoolchildren's Blizzard, School Children's Blizzard, or Children's Blizzard, hit the U.S. Great Plains on January 12, 1888. With an estimated 235 deaths, it is the world's 10th deadliest winter storm on record.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Weddell seal</span> Species of mammal

The Weddell seal is a relatively large and abundant true seal with a circumpolar distribution surrounding Antarctica. The Weddell seal was discovered and named in the 1820s during expeditions led by British sealing captain James Weddell to the area of the Southern Ocean now known as the Weddell Sea. The life history of this species is well documented since it occupies fast ice environments close to the Antarctic continent and often adjacent to Antarctic bases. It is the only species in the genus Leptonychotes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Antarctica</span> Part of Antarctica that lies within the Western Hemisphere

West Antarctica, or Lesser Antarctica, one of the two major regions of Antarctica, is the part of that continent that lies within the Western Hemisphere, and includes the Antarctic Peninsula. It is separated from East Antarctica by the Transantarctic Mountains and is covered by the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. It lies between the Ross Sea, and the Weddell Sea. It may be considered a giant peninsula, stretching from the South Pole towards the tip of South America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">East Antarctica</span> Part of Antarctica that lies within the Eastern Hemisphere

East Antarctica, also called Greater Antarctica, constitutes the majority (two-thirds) of the Antarctic continent, lying primarily in the Eastern Hemisphere south of the Indian Ocean, and separated from West Antarctica by the Transantarctic Mountains. It is generally greater in elevation than West Antarctica, and includes the Gamburtsev Mountain Range in the center. The geographic South Pole is located within East Antarctica.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hazel Miner</span>

Hazel Dulcie Miner was a student at a rural Great Plains one-room school, who died while protecting her 10-year-old brother, Emmet, and 8-year-old sister, Myrdith, from the spring blizzard of 1920 in Center, North Dakota.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erebus Glacier Tongue</span>

The Erebus Glacier Tongue is a mountain outlet glacier and the seaward extension of Erebus Glacier from Ross Island. It projects 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) into McMurdo Sound from the Ross Island coastline near Cape Evans, Antarctica. The glacier tongue varies in thickness from 50 metres (160 ft) at the snout to 300 metres (980 ft) at the point where it is grounded on the shoreline. Explorers from Robert F. Scott's Discovery Expedition (1901–1904) named and charted the glacier tongue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Climate of North Dakota</span>

North Dakota's climate is typical of a continental climate with cold winters and warm-hot summers. The state's location in the Upper Midwest allows it to experience some of the widest variety of weather in the United States, and each of the four seasons has its own distinct characteristics. The eastern half of the state has a humid continental climate with warm to hot, somewhat humid summers and cold, windy winters, while the western half has a semi-arid climate with less precipitation and less humidity but similar temperature profiles. The areas east of the Missouri River get slightly colder winters, while those west of the stream get higher summer daytime temperatures. In general, the diurnal temperature difference is prone to be more significant in the west due to higher elevation and less humidity.

The Early December 2007 North American winter storm was a major winter storm which affected the majority of the United States and portions of southern Canada from November 29 to December 5, hitting the Intermountain West and Midwestern United States, the Great Lakes region and the Northeast. The storm brought significant snows to portions of the Upper Midwest, Great Plains and Great Lakes regions of the United States and Canada on December 1 with a major winter storm for Quebec, Ontario and parts of the Northeast region on December 2 and 3 as well as the Canadian Maritimes on December 4 and 5. The system was also responsible for a major ice storm across the Midwestern states which caused disruptions to several major cities including Des Moines, Chicago, Detroit, Milwaukee and Toronto. The storm was blamed for at least 16 deaths across nine US states and one Canadian province. 10 traffic deaths had been reported, as of 2 December 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hauling-out</span> Marine mammal behaviour

Hauling-out is a behaviour associated with pinnipeds temporarily leaving the water. Hauling-out typically occurs between periods of foraging activity. Rather than remain in the water, pinnipeds haul-out onto land or sea-ice for reasons such as reproduction and rest. Hauling-out is necessary in seals for mating and giving birth. Other benefits of hauling-out may include predator avoidance, thermoregulation, social activity, parasite reduction and rest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southern Ocean</span> Ocean around Antarctica

The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the world ocean, generally taken to be south of 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of 20,327,000 km2 (7,848,000 sq mi), it is regarded as the second-smallest of the five principal oceanic divisions: smaller than the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian oceans but larger than the Arctic Ocean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Weather of 2008</span>

Global storm activity of 2008 profiles the major worldwide storms, including blizzards, ice storms, and other winter events, from January 1, 2008 to December 31, 2008. A winter storm is an event in which the dominant varieties of precipitation are forms that only occur at cold temperatures, such as snow or sleet, or a rainstorm where ground temperatures are cold enough to allow ice to form. It may be marked by strong wind, thunder and lightning, heavy precipitation, such as ice, or wind transporting some substance through the atmosphere. Major dust storms, Hurricanes, cyclones, tornados, gales, flooding and rainstorms are also caused by such phenomena to a lesser or greater existent.

Global weather activity of 2007 profiles the major worldwide weather events, including blizzards, ice storms, tornadoes, tropical cyclones, and other weather events, from January 1, 2007, to December 31, 2007. Winter storms are events in which the dominant varieties of precipitation are formed during cold temperatures; they include snow or sleet, or a rainstorm where ground temperatures are cold enough to allow ice, including freezing rain, to form. Thehy may be marked by strong wind, thunder, lightning thunderstorms, heavy precipitation, including ice storm, wind transporting some substance through the atmosphere, including dust storms, snowstorms, and hail storms. Other major non winter events such as large dust storms, hurricanes, cyclones, tornados, gales, flooding, and rainstorms are also caused by such phenomena.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jonas Fjeld</span> Norwegian singer, songwriter, and guitarist

Terje Lillegård Jensen, commonly known by his stage name Jonas Fjeld, is a Norwegian singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He is best known in the English-speaking world for two albums recorded by Danko/Fjeld/Andersen, a collaboration with Canadian Rick Danko of The Band and American singer-songwriter Eric Andersen. Fjeld also recorded three albums with the American bluegrass group Chatham County Line.

Hver gang vi møtes is a Norwegian reality television show broadcast on the Norwegian TV 2 television station in 2012. It is structured in similar format to the Swedish series Så mycket bättre that had been launched in 2010.

<i>Winter Stories</i> (album) 2019 studio album by Judy Collins, Jonas Fjeld and Chatham County Line

Winter Stories is an album by American singer Judy Collins and Norwegian musician Jonas Fjeld backed by American blugrass group Chatham County Line. It was released on November 29, 2019 on the Cleopatra label and reached number one on the Billboard Top Bluegrass Albums chart, becoming the 80-year-old Collins' first ever American number one album on any chart, as well as the first for Fjeld and the third for Chatham County Line.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022–23 North American winter</span> Winter season in North America

The 2022–23 North American winter was an unusually warm winter for the east and an unusually cold winter for the west in North America, as it occurred across the continent from late 2022 to early 2023. The winter season in North America began at the winter solstice, which occurred on December 21, 2022, and it ended at the March equinox, which occurred on March 20, 2023. The first day of meteorological winter began on December 1 and unofficially ended on February 28; winter storms may still occur outside of these limits.

References

  1. "North Dakota snow angel record confirmed". USA Today. March 28, 2007.
  2. "World Records". Michigan Tech. Archived from the original on 2006-08-31.
  3. Streever, Bill (2009). Cold: Adventures in the World's Frozen Places . New York City: Little, Brown and Company - Hachette Book Group. p.  116. ISBN   978-0-316-05246-7. bill streever weddell.
  4. Øyvind Schou (11 May 2012) Fjelds punktum for «Engler i sneen» Drammens Tidende . Retrieved 18 December 2013