South Dakota Road Trip: Ground Blizzard, Snow, Wind, Cold Temperatures and Beautiful Light-Part I
Eden, South Dakota
Was this winter colder and snowier than usual or was it just me? Personally, I’m ready for spring and the sun. However, I’m going to take you back in time to the holidays. In December, we took a road trip to Eden, South Dakota. If you remember, the whole country was forecasted to have bracing temperatures, wind, and general nastiness. From a weather standpoint it was pretty icky, however, from a photography standpoint this road trip was fairly epic.
Snow, Wind, and Cold Temperatures
What we were going to make a pleasant two day road trip, quickly became a one day nail-biting adventure that ended fourteen hours later instead of the normal eleven and a half. I’m still not sure how we made it in one piece. Due to forecasted weather we decided to leave earlier in the morning and try to beat the incoming storm. That idea seemed like a good one for about four hours. The twenty degree, windless morning that greeted us bright and early soon gave way to biting temperatures, dropping to -15 within a half hour.
Ground Blizzard
Then the wind started and the snow commenced falling, creating less than ideal driving conditions for the next ten hours. At times we were completely snow blind and other times we had thirty feet of visibility. What amazed us most were the semi’s literally flying by us. My husband is a very competent snow driver and usually is going faster than anyone else out there. We rarely get passed but these conditions even slowed him down which made it more remarkable when people zoomed by at 50-60 mph with limited to no visibility. We kept wondering if we were going to see them in a ditch further on. Remarkably, we did not. There were actually very few cars in the ditch, granted not many people were brave enough to even be out. They were much smarter than us. My husband drove, and I checked the South Dakota 511 road conditions map constantly. As best as I could figure, we were right ahead of the road closures the whole trip which should tell you how bad the roads were. We did contemplate stopping but figured that the roads might not be open the next day to continue, so we foolishly soldiered on. Thankfully, we did make it, and the roads were closed the next day.
Beautiful Light
The next morning we woke to hazy goodness. The sun was trying to get through the clouds to warm the landscape. With temperatures forcast to be below zero the whole week, I was happy to be on the inside looking out.
Cozy inside with my cup of coffee, thinking about braving the weather.
Eventually, we did venture out, but it required special considerations.
Too cold to be outside
Seriously, though, it was tough getting motivated to go outside. Once out there, I did lose any reservations I may have had. The cold weather created cloud cover that was similar to fog. The light would come through just enough to give that golden glow all day long. One only had to don the proper clothing to take in the phenomenal light! Besides this awesome light, Eden, had an ice storm a couple of weeks previous that had yet to melt off of everything. This added an extra special glow to the landscape!
Ice, snow, and cold temperatures led to beautiful winter scenes.
A sun dog was on display for two days while the wind blew, sweeping the snow across the landscape.
The ground blizzard reminded me of sand dunes and their ever changing shapes.
After being shut down for a day and a half, life did return to normal and people began to venture out again. After all, it is just another South Dakota winter.
Even in cold temps, life goes on as usual, in small town America.
Part II of my road trip to South Dakota in December will follow shortly. It will be more of a photo journalist type story where the pictures tell the story. You will see more sun dogs, icicles, snow drifts and abstract snow textures. I haven’t even shown you my favorite photos from this trip yet!
