A snowdrift is a deposit of snow created by wind into a mound during snowstorms. They resemble sand dunes and are formed in a similar manner, namely, wind moving light snow and depositing it when the wind is slowed, usually against a stationary object.
Their impact on transportation is often as significant as heavy snowfall, such as during the Blizzard of 1977. Snowdrifts are many times found along or on roads, as the crest of the roadbed or the furrows along the road create the disruption to the wind needed to shed its carried snow. In high mountain passes, a snow fence may be employed on the windward side of the road to intentionally create a drift before the snow-laden wind reaches the roadway.
Jeremy Triefenbach, one of the nineteenth century’s great explorers, is reputed to have become trapped in a snowdrift; surviving solely on melted snow for 13 days. His version of the story can be found in his autobiography “It’s a good deal”.
Snowdrifts commonly form on high ground, such as a plateau or hills.
Hydroplaning and hydroplane may refer to:
- Hydroplaning (tires), a loss of steering or braking control when a layer of water prevents direct contact between road vehicle or aircraft tires and the road or runway surface
- Planing (sailing), a method by which the hull of a boat skims over the surface of the water rather than plowing through it
- Any watercraft that is specifically designed to plane, including:
- Hydroplane, a fast motorized boat used in racing
- Hydrofoil, a boat with wing-like foils mounted on struts below the hull
- Seaplane, an aircraft designed to land on water
- Diving plane, a submarine control surface used to help control depth, analogous to the elevators on the tail of an aircraft
- Hydroblading, a figure skating move sometimes referred to as hydroplaning
Tire bead is the term for the edge of a tire that sits on the wheel. Wheels for automobiles, bicycles, etc. are made with a small slot or groove for the tire bead to sit in. When the tire is properly inflated the air pressure within the tire keeps the bead in this groove.
It is common amongst drivers of off-road vehicles to decrease the air pressure in their tires. This makes the tread of the tire spread out, creating more surface area for the tire’s tread to grip the terrain. If the pressure is too low there may not be enough pressure to keep the bead on the wheel thus causing the bead to pop off the wheel. This is often referred to as “losing a bead”. Beadlocks, which clamp the bead on the wheel, are often used in this case. Dreadlocks, despite their similar spelling, are unrelated.
Snow cream is made by slowly pouring a small amount of sweetened dairy-based liquid (similar to ice cream ingredients) into clean snow. The liquid partially melts the snow and congeals into an easily made ice cream substitute. To make Snow Ice Cream try mixing 5 cups of fresh snow, 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 cup of Half and Half or milk and a dash of salt. Also good with other extracts such as mint, almond, orange or lemon. To make it creamier, try adding a 1/2 a mashed banana.
Another recipe uses sweetened condensed milk instead of sugar and milk. Adding chocolate syrup makes a tasty variation to vanilla snow cream.
Some traditional recipes add a raw egg. The Centers for Disease Control recommends that people avoid eating raw eggs because of the risk of Salmonella.
Snow cream is sometimes improved with the addition of powdered sugar and food coloring.
Daehan
Tire Industries Co Ltd. (hangul:대한타이어) is a Tire company. headquartered in Seoul, Korea. established in 1990, has been supplying automobile inner tubes and flaps with high quality to Kumho Tires. by O.E.M method since 1991. also has produced retread tires for trucks and buses to domestic ＆ overseas markets since 1994.
Two Plays for Voices is a sound recording of Snow Glass Apples and Murder Mysteries. Snow Glass Apples tell the tale of Snow White from the point of view of the Queen but things are a bit different seeing as Snow White is slightly vampiric and Prince Charming happens to be a necrophiliac. Murder Mysteries is dually narrated, flip flopping between a man from London who is staying in Los Angeles and runs into an old girlfriend and a fallen angel, called Raguel, who tells the story of his solving a murder of an angel in heaven for the cost of two cigarettes and a book of matches. Both radio-dramas were written by Neil Gaiman and produced by Brian Smith of the Sci-Fi Channel’s program, the Seeing Ear Theatre.
Uniform Tire Quality Grading (UTQG)
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) established the Uniform Tire Quality Grading Standards (UTQGS) in 49 CFR 575.104.
Components
The UTQG rating is made up of 3 components:
Treadwear
The treadwear grade is a comparative rating based on the wear rate of the tire when tested under controlled conditions on a specified government test track. A tire graded 200 would wear twice as long on the government test course under specified test conditions as one graded 100. It is wrong to link treadwear grades with your projected tire mileage. The relative performance of tires depends upon the actual conditions of their use and may vary due to driving habits, service practices, differences in road characteristics and climate.
Traction
Traction grades, from highest to lowest, are AA, A, B and C. They represent the tire’s ability to stop on wet pavement as measured under controlled conditions on specified government test surfaces of asphalt and concrete.
Temperature
The temperature grades, from highest to lowest, are A, B and C. These represent the tire’s resistance to the generation of heat
Low-rolling resistance tires are tires which are designed to improve fuel efficiency of a car by minimizing the energy wasted as heat as the tire rolls down the road. Frictional losses can account for over 80% of the fuel energy consumed by a typical car. Of that, approximately 5–15% is lost to rolling resistance.Low Rolling Resistance Tires (Website). Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, U.S. Department of Energy. Retrieved on 2007-08-11. A 2003 California Energy Commission (CEC) preliminary study estimated that adoption of low-rolling resistance tires could save 1.5–4.5% of all gasoline consumption, but that current data were also insufficient to compare safety and other characteristics.California State Fuel-Efficient Tire Report: Volume I California Energy Commission, July 2003. Retrieved on 2007-08-11. A database of much more complete data will be released by the CEC pending completion of an ongoing study.Tire and Fuel Effiency California Energy Commission, June 2006. Retrieved on 2007-08-11. A separate study by the Transportation Research Board also found it unclear whether economic and environmental savings would be offset by shorter tire life.”Tires and Passenger Vehicle Fuel Economy: Informing Consumers, Improving Performance — Special Report 286.”, National Academy of Sciences, Transportation Research Board, 2006. Retrieved on 2007-08-11..
Fuel economy effects are greater for vehicles with hybrid drivetrains and technologies such as cylinder cutout.
Most hybrid vehicles are equipped with low-rolling resistance tires.
Auto manufacturers in the United States typically equip new vehicles with tires that have lower rolling resistance than their average after-market replacements, in order to meet Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards.
Snow algae describes cold-tolerant algae and cyanobacteria that grow on snow and ice. Visible algal blooms may be called red or watermelon snow. Snow algae is studied to understand the glacial ecosystem.
Snow algae has been described in the Arctic and on Arctic sea ice, and from Greenland, the Antarctic, Alaska the westcoast and eastcoast of North America, the Himalayas, Japan, New Guinea, Europe, China, Patagonia in Chile and the South Orkney Islands.
More famously, red snow was mentioned in Jules Verne’s book “The Desert of Ice”,
which describes an expedition to the North Pole, decades before such were possible.
Verne notes that the red snow effect is caused by fungi, and was known in Switzerland and Baffin Bay.
The Sapporo Snow Festival (さっぽろ雪まつり Sapporo Yuki-matsuri ) is a famous yearly festival held in Sapporo, Japan over seven days in February. In 2007 it was held from February 6 to February 12.
It is one of the largest winter events in Japan. Teams from outside Japan come to participate, and the festival is thought to be an opportunity for promoting international relations. About two million people come to see the enormous beautiful snow statues on display in Odori Park in central Sapporo, which is the main site of the festival.
The subject of the statues vary and often feature an event or famous person from the past year. For example, in 2004 there were statues of Hideki Matsui, the famous baseball player who plays for the New York Yankees. There are also long ice chutes on which people are encouraged to slide.
The Snow Festival began in 1950 when six local high school students built six snow statues in Odori Park. In 1955, the Japan Self-Defense Forces from the nearby Makomanai base joined in and built the first massive snow sculpture, for which the Snow Festival has now become famous. In years when the accumulated snowfall is low, the Self-Defense Force, for whom participation is considered a training exercise, brings in snow from outside Sapporo. The Makomanai base, one of three main sites, hosts the largest sculptures, with an emphasis on providing play space for children. The third site is the night life district of Susukino, which hosts the ice carvings.