tiabunna's photos with the keyword: blizzard

Taken at Mawson Antarctica 58 years ago today, on 13 Feb 1966, an unforgettable day. During the previous night a blizzard brought winds gusting over 100 kt (185 km/hr) which broke the mooring cables of our ship, the "Nella Dan" . Before the winds could blow it onto the rocks across the harbour, the captain ordered the engines to "half ahead" and drove her onto the rocks. As an ice-strengthened ship, the bows were able to take this and the engines kept her in place. This was taken on b/w film as I came off night shift, I also later took a coloured image when the wind and drifting snow eased. FOOTNOTE. The following day the ship backed off the rock bank undamaged.

From an old slide. This looks like fog - it isn't, it's drifting snow blowing past at about 30 knots, with visibility steadily becoming worse. In full blizzard conditions visibility can drop to five metres or less. This already is "whiteout" though, with light bouncing between the white sky and surface: so shadows disappear, distances become almost impossible to estimate, and you fall over unseen sastrugi (with no shadows there's nothing to define it). Time to head indoors and wait for things to improve.

From an old 1966 slide. Not long into the Spring Trip we had our first of many blizzards, and "blizz'd in" was the term. Typically, after waiting several days for the wind and drifting snow to finish came another day of digging out buried sledges and equipment before we could move. Here the pre-heater (the item with the large yellow tube) has been attached to one of the D4 tractors, which has the engine covered in the heating shroud. Best viewed on black (press Z).

From an old slide (and later re-copied larger - view large). The blizzard blew through the night and into next morning. When the drifting snow became less (the wind still blowing), we found the Nella Dan hard against the rocks on the shore with the engines at half speed to keep her there. During the night the wind had broken all the mooring cables and she began drifting backwards toward West Arm of the harbour. The captain drove her aground to prevent damage. (NB the tattered remains of flags). In the afternoon the wind dropped and she reversed off the rocks. She was a tough ship. Two days later, with the outgoing Mawson expedition aboard she sailed, leaving us to await her return in twelve months. For the background on the blizzard, see my previous image (shown in clickable PiP). Some fifty years later, a later Australian icebreaker had the same problem in a blizzard, but was blown aground on the far shore of the harbour - fortunately without major damage.

From an old slide. When you photograph weather going past at 140 km/hr (75 knots), using 25 ISO film in low light, you finish up with a long exposure and a blur that looks more like fog! This image was taken from the window of the Meteorological office. Blizzards were common, with typically one or two of significance monthly. This blizzard arrived just when we took over from the previous expedition, in fact the change-over celebration party was on at the time. I found myself on shift that evening and also the following morning, when I took this photo. The highest wind gust went to 105 knots (about 195 km/hr) and during the night the Nella Dan broke her moorings and began drifting. Fortunately the Captain and senior engineer had stayed on board with a skeleton crew and were able to run the ship against the rocky shore under half power, keeping her there that way until the winds subsided a day later. See PiP. This is best viewed on black (press "Z").