arctic blizzard sculpts

arctic blizzard sculpts 

sand snow into ridged dunes,

miniature zastrugi

First blizzard of the year roars in during the night, driving snow into drifts in sheltered nooks and scouring open spaces. In the morning the cats take one look through the crack of the front door and refuse to go out. All day the high wind continues to blast the growing drifts with sand snow, sculpting the dunes into miniature zastrugi etched with ridges and grooves. The ground blizzard piles up finger drifts that stretch down the west side of streets and whips sinuous streamers of snow across the highway. Bit by bit the blizzard buries everything, from bushes to bicycles.