snow | Minnesota Prairie Roots

A mostly snowless Minnesota landscape March 2, 2015

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 5:00 AM
Tags: black-and-white photography, erosion, landscape, rural Minnesota, snow, weather

MILE AFTER MILE, westbound across Minnesota, the snow cover diminished.

Near Madison Lake, Minnesota.

Except for pockets of snow in the shade of trees or buildings, most yards lay bare, dormant grass exposed.

Road and drainage ditches, typically drifted full, gaped crevices in the land.

Farm fields lie exposed in this shot along U.S. Highway 14 west of Mankato.

Fields normally layered white in February rolled out like a stubbled black carpet. Mile after endless mile the snow cover decreased as my husband and I journeyed from Rice County through Le Sueur, Blue Earth, Nicollet and Brown counties before reaching our destination in Redwood County.

Another rural scene between Mankato and Courtland.

Nearly all 120 miles, the wind shoved against the van, creeping inside, chilling my feet and legs, even snugged under a patchwork throw.

The farther west we drove, the more we felt the wind in the wide open spaces, the prairie, the place of my youth. There is no wind like a prairie wind. Ceaseless. Relentless. Fearsome.

On the drive back east later that day, we spotted a column of black in the distance and considered the source of the fire.

Except, as we drew nearer, we saw dust, not smoke. Rising like a super-sized dust devil, a wind-fueled dust storm swept across bare earth. It was almost frightening to witness this storm growing in size, eroding the soil as it raced across acres of farm land.

The landscape appears more like it does in early spring rather than in the heart of a Minnesota winter. This farm place lies between Mankato and Courtland.

In that moment, I considered how beneficial snow is in curbing erosion, in supplying moisture to the land, in maintaining balance in the landscape.

FYI: These images were shot on the morning of February 21. Shortly thereafter, my camera stopped working. Therefore I have no photos of the dust storm or the landscape beyond Courtland to the west.

My community of Faribault is deep in snow. No exposed earth here.

Comments (16)

When roads are slick… February 20, 2015

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 11:46 AM
Tags: crash, Faribault, Minnesota, snow, travel, weather

THE THUNK JARS my focus from the computer screen to office window.

Through the pane, I notice an overhead wire swaying.

My first view of the crash through my living room window.

I grab my camera, always at hand, dash to the living room and focus on a vehicle that has taken out the stop sign.

No need for me to rush outside as several motorists stop.

I don’t know the circumstances of the crash. But the side street past my corner house feeds into an arterial road. The driver may have curved toward the stop sign and power pole to avoid crashing into traffic during the 8 AM rush hour. And, yes, there are morning, after school and after work rush hours.

Streets are slicked with a layer of fresh snow. Only 10 minutes or so prior, a City of Faribault truck sprayed sand onto the roadway. Even so, these things happen, especially when driving downhill.

The driver documents the scene with his cell phone.

The driver documents the crash scene with his cell phone.

Damage to the vehicle’s front appeared substantial from my sideways glimpse through the window.

A Faribault police officer arrives within minutes.

Be careful out there, both on sidewalks and roadways.

A City of Faribault worker removed the downed stop sign and replaced it with a temporary one shortly after the police left.

A City of Faribault worker removes the downed stop sign and replaces it with a temporary one.

Allow extra time to stop, especially at icy downhill intersections.

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And he thought Minnesota was snowy February 11, 2015

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 5:01 AM
Tags: Boston, education, Massachusetts, Minnesota, snow, snowfall record, thoughts, Tufts University, weather, winter storm

REPEATEDLY, I’VE REQUESTED snow images from my son who attends Tufts University in Medford, MA. That’s about five miles from Boston.

He repeatedly has failed to send me photos. So I rely on numerous online sources to show me scenes of all that snow piling up in this major East Coast metro area.

I converted this image to black-and-white and upped the brightness. This was shot on the Minnesota Highway 19 curve just north of Vesta, my southwestern Minnesota hometown.

A winter storm in southwestern Minnesota reduced visibility along State Highway 19 north of Vesta in March 2012. Photo used here for illustration purposes only since I don’t have any images from Boston and always like to include art in my blog posts. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo.

Even by Minnesota standards, six feet (72.6 inches to be exact) of snow in 30 days in Boston is staggering. That broke a 30-day record of 58.8 inches set in 1978.

Can you imagine the narrowed streets, mountains of snow to see around and move, the shutting down of mass transit? On Monday in Medford, a grocery store employee was struck by a snow removal truck while crossing the store parking lot after work. He later died. The Governor of Massachusetts has declared a State of Emergency. More snow is predicted on Thursday.

The son told me on Monday, his fourth day off from classes in two weeks due to winter storms, that he’d rather be in class. (Or maybe his native Minnesota.) Classes were canceled again on Tuesday, bringing the snow day total to five. I’m wondering whether colleges make up missed days considering the tuition paid.

Since my son isn’t the communicative-informing-mom type, I’ve relied on Tufts social media. Moms like me who are more than 1,000 miles away need reassurance. Tuesday morning I got a mass email from Tufts updating me on the situation there. I appreciated that.

Despite the overwhelming amount of snow, my son has managed to make the 20-minute walk from his apartment to campus and back numerous times during these winter storms. He’s rather regretting, I think, his decision to live off campus this year.

But, he’s young and he’s a native Minnesotan. He built a snow fort on campus last weekend. He’ll survive.

DO YOU HAVE FAMILY or friends in Massachusetts? If so, what are you hearing from them?

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Oh, the joy of building a snowman February 4, 2015

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 5:00 AM
Tags: Faribault, gigantic snowman, Minnesota, outdoors, snow, snowman, thoughts, winter

RECENTLY, I HELPED my great niece build a mini snowman barely higher than my knees.

I taught 5-year-old Meghan how to roll balls, then how to pack snow so the head wouldn’t topple from the body. She was a quick learner.

Next, I sent her in search of twigs for arms. She roamed a snow-covered hillside, flash of purple against brilliant white.

Then we scavenged for stones for eyes.

Beneath the sprawling bare branches of an aged oak, I plucked fallen acorns for a nose and buttons.

Not the snowman my niece and I built, but rather a gigantic snowman built by the Hoisington family, 18 Third Ave. NW in Faribault.

Not the snowman my niece and I built, but rather a gigantic snowman at 18 Third Ave. NW in Faribault.

Together, with the aid of my eldest daughter, we hodge-podged a face that smiled back at us.

I’d forgotten what simple joy lies in creating a snowman.

In the Hoisington family’s Faribault yard, this snowman is sure to make you smile.

Sometimes that’s all it takes to lift yourself out of the winter blues, to chase away the worries of life, to ease the stress.

To view the world through the eyes of Meghan, who found nothing more delightful than building a snowman on a Saturday afternoon was a gift.

FYI: If the gigantic snowman featured here looks familiar, it’s because last year I photographed an over-sized snowman in this same Faribault yard. Click here to view last winter’s snowman.

Comments (23)

My son would probably rather be in Minnesota right now than Boston January 27, 2015

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 5:01 AM
Tags: Boston, East Coast, Minnesota, snow, thoughts, Tufts University, weather, winter, winter storm

Monday afternoon the temperature in my southeastern Minnesota backyard ranged in the mid to high 40 degrees Fahrenheit.

THE TEMPERATURE MONITOR atop the refrigerator reads 48 degrees outside. It’s likely off a few degrees. But still…

A view from and in my backyard.

I swing the kitchen door open to sunshine squinting my eyes and flooding the backyard on a late January afternoon in Minnesota about as glorious as they come.

Fence shadows on the snow.

Bare-branched trees brace a blue sky. Birds chirp. Water clinks through the down spout in a gentle and methodical rhythm. The basket weave of the fence slants shadows across the melting snow.

I stand there, just stand there in my backyard, absorbing the warmth and sunshine my soul and body crave.

More than 1,000 miles away, my son is among Boston area residents enveloped in a major winter storm. Areas of the city are expected to get as much as 30 inches of snow accompanied by 50 mph winds. The Governor has declared a State of Emergency and issued a state-wide travel ban. Public transportation via the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority has been suspended for Tuesday. Same goes for Logan International Airport.

Tufts University, the college my son attends, is closed today. This mom, who understands winter from a howling wind raging snow across the Minnesota prairie perspective, is grateful.

I can only hope that today my 20-year-old sleeps in, stays put in his apartment, realizes the dangers of an historic storm like this, even within the confines of a big city.

Be safe, Boston.

Comments (24)

Traffic safety, Wisconsin style December 3, 2014

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 6:00 AM
Tags: photography, snow, traffic sign, travel, weather, winter, Wisconsin, Wisconsin State Highway 21

TYPICALLY, I SHOOT hundreds of images on a 600-mile round trip from Faribault, MN., to Appleton, WI., to visit our daughter.

But not this time.

Winter wedged her way onto the van windows Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday. Frost, road spray and rain that froze onto the windshield diminished my photo numbers to 27 frames. Darn winter.

The trip, especially along Wisconsin State Highway 21 through towns like Arkdale and Redgranite and Wautoma and countless other “you gotta slow down” places, seems shorter when I can photograph the world unfolding before me.

Along a portion of 21, I noticed the snow frosting the landscape. It was quite beautiful really.

And when my husband and I reached the intersection of Wisconsin highways 21 and 13 west of Coloma, we noticed this:

Eastbound on Wisconsin State Highway 21 on Thanksgiving morning.

Yup, some driver or passenger had taken the time to swipe snow from a stop sign.

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Thanksgiving morning December 2, 2014

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 6:00 AM
Tags: family, Minnesota, Minnesota State Highway 60, snow, sunrise, Thanksgiving, travel, weather, winter

THE SUN WAS BEGINNING to edge into the landscape as we aimed east out of Faribault along Minnesota State Highway 60 toward Kenyon on Thanksgiving morning.

I’d been awake since 5 a.m., unable to sleep. Shortly before 6 a.m., I rose to shower, grab breakfast, pack and head out the door for the 300-mile drive to Appleton, Wisconsin, south of Green Bay to visit our daughter.

Driving into Kenyon, the view of the rising sun is temporarily blocked.

Snow ribboned the pavement, whitened the land, locked the temperature in the icebox category. This was not the Thanksgiving I envisioned. The world seemed more Christmas-like than November.

But this is Minnesota and, after living here my entire life, I should accept that the weather is unpredictable. I’d just shoveled more than a half a foot of snow from our driveway and sidewalk the day prior.

These thoughts rolled through my brain as the sun eased above the earth in a brilliant, blinding orb. On this day of national thanksgiving, I was grateful to be on the road with my husband, closing the miles between us and the daughter I love and cherish.

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Hey, Minnesota and Wisconsin, are you ready? November 9, 2014

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 3:37 PM
Tags: Minnesota, snow, snowstorm, weather, winter storm, Wisconsin

FIRST SIGNIFICANT SNOWSTORM of the season…

As I snapped this photo from my living room window, this pick-up truck slid on the snowy street.

I could be looking out my living room window tomorrow at a scene like this from February 2014 as the first snowfall of the season moves into my area of southeastern Minnesota.

I keep hoping the forecasters are wrong in their prediction for a “potent storm system” developing in Minnesota this evening and continuing into Monday/Tuesday. But it appears they are not based on the latest updates from the National Weather Service.

Snow falling at a rate of one to two inches an hour is predicted in this system which will stretch from the western border of Minnesota into Wisconsin.

Travel will be impacted. You think?

Total accumulations of up to a foot of heavy, wet snow are expected. My county of Rice is on the borderline of 4 – 8 or 8 – 12 inches. It appears places to the north, like the Twin Cities an hour away, will get the most.

My husband blowing out our driveway. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo May 2013.

Snow shovels are in place. Gas can has been filled. Snowblower is at the ready.

You can almost sense the anticipation. A major Big Box retailer was a zoo yesterday and looked equally as busy today. And, let me tell you, the grocery store was not the place to shop this morning after church.

It’s as if everyone is stocking up, preparing to hunker down, realizing that tomorrow’s efforts will be focused on snow removal and staying off the roads.

Be safe everyone.

Snow flies as Randy works the snowblower down the driveway. Fortunately we are not without power, although the lights flickered numerous times Thursday evening.

Clearing our driveway. Minnesota Prairie Roots file photo February 2014.

IF YOU LIVE in Minnesota or Wisconsin, how are you prepping for Monday’s mega storm? Are you ready?

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Maybe he plows snow… October 30, 2014

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 6:00 AM
Tags: Minnesota, Northfield, sign, snow, travel

Photographed on a hot and humid Saturday on Minnesota Highway 3 in Northfield.

Photographed on Minnesota State Highway 3 in Northfield.

AT THE TIME I shot this Ford truck with the “let it SNOW” window sticker, I found the message humorous. It was a hot and humid July afternoon in Northfield, Minnesota.

Now that winter isn’t all that far away and overnight temps are dipping into the 30s, I’m not laughing.

All too soon the snow will fall. Remember the Halloween blizzard of 1991?

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We want spring March 3, 2014

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 6:00 AM
Tags: Faribault, Minnesota, photo essay, signs, snow, State Bank of Faribault, weather, winter

ON A MORNING when we are poised to possibly break a 141-year-old record low temperature of minus 13 degrees Fahrenheit for this day in Minnesota, I bring you these messages from the State Bank of Faribault: