I get it. Two inches of snow shuts down major metropolitan areas (not just Atlanta). It’s funny! It’s funny because when it snows two inches where you live, it’s nothing, you might as well be in West Palm Beach. Southerners lose their shit, though! Hilarious.
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How many people has climate lured to the Southland? Idyllic images of a sun-drenched region—packaged into travel narratives, citrus crate labels, and surf-rock songs—attracted millions to the Los Angeles area. As early as the 1870s, tubercular invalids were moving to the region for its dry air and mild temperatures. Weather has been an essential part of the booster message ever since.
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In this week’s round-up of landscape reads, we’ve got sacred grounds, coffee grounds, and camping grounds.
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It might seem strange for Russia to be concerned about its snow stock considering the country’s reputation as a frozen, subarctic tundra. But the country also just so happens to be hosting the upcoming Winter Olympics in one of its sole subtropical destinations, Sochi. So what’s this Florida-of-the-North to do? Send in the shamans, naturally.
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Ski season and crap tons of snow don’t always coincide with one another in the way resorts would like. That means they have to use the power of machines to manufacture snow. The resort of Zermatt, Switzerland, does that on a polar vortex-like scale, thanks to 1,000 machines pumping out 7 megawatts of power for oodles of artificial fresh powder.
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We’ve all heard. The Polar Vortex Part II: Vortex Returns is coming. And the best way to suffer through this frigid end of the world is to grab it by the snowballs and make some art.
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Sochi, Russia, the host city of next month’s Winter Olympics, is nothing close to cold right now. The temperature hovers at a very mild 55 degrees which means it’s very far from freezing which means it’s very far from snowing. But. Like. Um. You kind of need snow to host a Winter Olympics. So Sochi enlisted the help of snow machines to get man made snow spewed for the games.
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Winter is in full swing in most of the country. While it was nearly 70-degrees in Texas yesterday, many Northern states are still swathed in deep snow and frigid temps. Not having snow in Texas, it’s always fun to see the winter shenanigans that people in colder climates get up to.
Not to be outdone by the Brits, a guy named Steve Marcote in Massachusetts has built his own 6-foot-tall Dalek snowman. It’s definitely cool and appears to use a plunger and a paint roller frame for arms. I wonder what he used to get all the rectangular indents done.
The Dalek snowman is impressively accurate looking for a snow creature. Now Steve needs to build a snow TARDIS to sit alongside it.
[Facebook via Nerd Approved]
As snow continues to clutter up the Eastern Seaboard, you’d be hard-pressed not to long for a ride in RaptorTRAX. It is, gently put, an unstoppable snow-chewing behemoth.
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Check out this wheeled snow shovel design. It looks like it will allow you to shovel your driveway in record time and with ease. This has got to be better for your back than a standard snow shovel.
The Snow Wolf SW0310 Wheeled Snow Shovel (aka the “Snow Wovel”) has a sturdy wheel built right into the frame, so you’ll be able to scoop up large amounts of snow with minimal effort, and greater efficiency. It is the snow shovel of the future, but it is available today. In fact, it’s been available for several years – no time travel required.
Its makers claim it clears snow three times faster than conventional snow shovels. It sells for $139(USD) from Amazon, which also means it costs more than three times the price of conventional snow shovels.
What do you think? Has anyone tried one of these? Are they as great as they look?
[via This Is Why I’m Broke]
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
