Anyone For Golf?

 The PGA season is well underway. Tiger has already experienced back spasms and pro golfers are ready for another weekend of activity on the links. Meanwhile, here in the upper regions of the latest polar vortex, golf is a sport we watch on television while we wait for the temperature to rise and the snow to stop falling.

 While we are unable to participate, that doesn’t stop golf from being played , even in the most extreme winter conditions. If one lived in Norway or Sweden, the wait for favorable “golf weather” might take some time!

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Swedish professional golfer Henrik Stenson is ranked in the World top ten and his career high ranking of third is the best by any Swedish golfer as he plays both on the PGA and European Tours. In a recent report, Stenson earned 20 million dollars in golf tournament winnings. Golf was invented in cooler regions of our world and I’m sure some people can’t wait to practice their sport each season. Perhaps, Henrik’s ancestors encouraged the golfing-spirit  in him and they just couldn’t wait to get out on the links, perhaps starting before the snow melts.

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But in the winter time??

Kolf on the frozen canal

Snow golf competition March 21-23, 2014

In March, 2012,  golf enthusiasts in Kiruna, northern Sweden took to the “whites” to compete for the unofficial title of Sweden’s best “snow golfer”. Snow golf and classical golf seem to share a common ancestor in the Dutch game known as “Kolf”, played since the Middle Ages. Evidence for Kolf as a popular winter pastime can be seen in numerous 17th century paintings. Golfers in search of an alternative winter break might want to consider a trip to Swedish Lapland, where they can play snow golf in the picturesque surroundings of the Bjorkliden mountain resort.

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The first European championship in “Snow Golf” was held in Switzerland January 13th-16th, 2011. 

72 qualifiers played in the two day tournament.

Tina-Blomme

Modern day Snow Golf was "invented" by a Canadian-Tina Blomme. She incorporated Snow Golf Inc. in 1998. Since then, Ms. Blomme has been promoting the sport. She designed and operated the first official Snow Golf 9-hole course in Québec, Canada (the course was located next to the celebrated Ice Hotel). Although Ms. Blomme is now in law school, she consults on all aspects of the sport. Snow Golf has had a short, but interesting history. She stated: "When I started the sport in 1998- it was unheard of. Many called me crazy for even considering inventing and promoting this sport".

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The first player of modern snow golf was Rudyard Kipling, an avid golfer. While writing The Jungle Book in

Rudyard Kipling

Vermont, Kipling allegedly relaxed by playing snow golf during the winters of the early 1890s.Rudyard Kipling didn’t only like literature, he also had a passion for sport and was a visionary: with the help of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (creator of the famous detective Sherlock Holmes), he was the first person to play his favorite sport: snow golf. During the long winter months that he spent at ‘Naulakha’ in Vermont, USA, he used to play with red golf balls and cans.

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Winter golfing has also existed for a long time in Canada played with snowshoes or skis, colored  golf-balls or big rubber balls, the latter sinking less into the powder snow. Forget the putter, the game is mainly played as a target area.

Europeans have a name for winter golf. It’s called “Piste Golf”. It’s a noun, a French term for “trail” or “track”. A piste is usually a marked ski run down a mountain for snow skiing, snowboarding or other mountain sports, sometimes known as The Fairway.

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Tomas Wågberg och Susanne Mellgren, SM segrare i snögolf i Kiruna.

While the whole world may never warm to the sport of snow golfing, Sweden’s Arctic Circle has embraced it, with their 2nd annual weekend competition. Last year’s  winners were two who finished the nine-hole course (played twice each to make for an even 18) with the lowest scores of the day.

“Those who are golf-crazy find it really exciting to play golf in the winter,” said Mellgren, who placed second last year, and quoted in the local Norrländska Social Demokraten newspaper (NSD).

 For those who don’t know what snow golf is, imagine regular golf – but on snow. For Wåberg, the difference between snow golf and regular golf  is not so big.
“It’s quite special to play on the snow, but it’s just like normal golf anyway. You need to have a clean hit, the ball goes where you aim it.” he told the paper. On the surface, they all look like normal golf
balls, but give them a sharp tap and they light up for seven minutes. “You need to have more precision in the winter,” she said. As to "where they go where aimed", Mellgren claims, in fact," the opposite".

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Here, in our usually moderate and mostly predictable weather, we are normally waiting for the water puddles to dry and the flags appear on our golfing "greens". However, with the advent of two "PolarVortexes", the abnormal might soon become the norm. Future golfers may need different equipment.

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Tee Time 7 PM after the crowd leaves, tomorrow? 

See you there!

Listen. Can You Hear...?

The Olympic games are history. Athletes from far and wide have competed for their countries while sports fans often erupted with loud and joyful appreciation for their winning efforts. For every winner, there had to be the loser and, after countless hours of training resulting in a losing effort, athletes and their sports fans were often stunned into silence. Somehow, the sound of silence can be loud.

The Russian hockey team out of  Olympic competition.

With the crisp,quiet winter nights, strange sounds can be heard. Recently, a night winter storm came through our Wisconsin area bringing not snow, but a thunderstorm. The first stroke of lightning was a surprise followed by the usual sound of thunder. One with a scientific mind might wonder “What really is thunder, and can we hear lightning?”

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When it’s very quiet before a storm, sometimes one can almost hear the lightning before the thunder is heard. Lightning is pure electricity, and  several thousand degrees hot. So hot that when it strikes sand, it instantly melts it into glass. When the air around the lightning gets hot rapidly, the expansion makes a concussion wave similar to the air rushing out of a fired gun. Lightning is a huge discharge of electricity, and this electricity shoots through the air, causing vibrations to be formed in two ways: This electrical force passes through the air causing air particles to vibrate. These vibrations are heard as sound.
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 If you want to listen to lightning,  tune your AM radio to a station or a frequency that isn't "occupied"  and you’ll hear the usual quiet static. When bad weather is approaching and you tune an AM radio to an unused area on the band, you will be able to hear extra bursts of “static” as the storm approaching, since the lightning strikes will make noise. The noisier it becomes, the closer the storm. So, "thunder" might be lightning particles bouncing around. After the storm, there is often silence. In addition to storm energy, the sun provides solar energy, or  radiation  Both play an important part in atmospheric electricity.

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 For several hundred years, people in Northern Norway have claimed that the Northern Lights make sound!

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 Now researchers in Tromsø will soon be listening. Unni Pia L Unni Pia Løvhaug, professor of space science

University of Tromsø

at the University of Tromsø has stated: "I am very fascinated by all the myths surrounding the Northern Lights, especially in the Sami culture. Several people from the older generations have claimed that they have heard the Northern Lights," 

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One of the words for Northern Lights in Sami is guovssahasat, which means " The light you can hear".  The Danish researcher Sophus Tromholt concluded that it would be impossible to hear the Northern Lights in Norway because because the air is too thin for soundwaves to spread at an altitude of 120 kilometers.However, Løvland has also come across research that shows how meteor showers and northern lights can create Very Low Frequency (FLV) radio waves in the atmosphere that can be translated to sound.
                            Our world is electromagnetically affected.

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The ionosphere is a region of the upper atmosphere. Scientists at the University of Tromsø conduct experiments  in Svalbard to study the electrically charged dust particles (dusty plasma) in the middle atmosphere. Studies of the solar wind and its interaction with the Earth's magnetosphere are also part of the space research program in Tromsø.

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 Concern is centered around the subject of climate change. One climate experts felt that: "In 30 years, more than two-thirds of the volume of Arctic summer ice has disappeared. Our children will be the first generation in modern history to experience an entirely new ocean opening up. The Arctic has now become a true strategic hot spot at the centre of global interest.”

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Ultraviolet (UV) light is electromagnetic radiation we are unable to view.  An over-abundance of ultraviolet rays reaching the surface is known to cause sunburn, long-term skin damage, and skin cancer.We need our clouds, our ozone layer and a clean atmosphere.

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When it all works together, correctly.

 Excess carbon dioxide in our atmosphere is causing drastic changes.In Scandinavia, Norway and the other Nordic countries have all made Arctic development a priority. "The Arctic is changing rapidly. It will be our most important foreign policy area. Climate change is putting Norway under pressure," said Norway's Prime Minister, Erna Solberg.

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But, on the bright side, things are looking up for the Arctic area halfway between Europe and China. Over the next 30 years, climate change is likely to open up a polar shipping route between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, cutting travel time to Asia by 40% and allowing Russia's vast oil and gas resources to be exported to China, Japan and south Asia much faster.The electromagnetic spectrum is important to understand as a number of environmental issues depend on it. Climatologists  are predicting conditions  which will negatively affect agricultural practices, human health and our livelihoods.

 At the present time, we are able to enjoy clear nightly star-filled skies, while lucky Northern viewers can view the famous Northern lights  in the night’s silence, and perhaps listen to its sound.

Let The Games Begin!

Let The Games Begin!

The Olympic torch has arrived  at Sochi after a long journey interrupted at times while the flame was reignited. While few of us read Russian, the signs say it all.

Athletes from approximately 200 nations will begin competing at the XXII Olympic Winter Games at Sochi, Russia with some events held at a resort settlement of Krasmaya Polyana  February 7- 23, 2014.

The famous five interlocking rings of the Olympic symbol represents the union of the five continents Africa, The Americas ( both North and South), Asia, Europe and Oceania.The ring colors represent colors of participating countries flags including blue, black, red yellow and green.

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As athletes arrive, they, naturally, are displaying their country’s colors. Some wintergear is becoming quite interesting. US athletes are wearing  red,white and blue, and all athletes are gaily attired in normal nationalistic winterwear, while attention seems to be centered on the unusual. Norway has decided to “break the mold”, becoming a focal point of individuality. While Norwegian athletes “wear the colors”, the clothing patterns have been setting records.

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One unusual Olympic sport has drawn viewers’ attention since 2010.Ten curling teams from around the world will assemble on the “curling sheet” at Sochi to match brooms in an effort to attain Olympic gold and one team has unveiled their new look for the Sochi Olympics.

The Norway Curling Team managed to make curling interesting at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, thanks to their choice of uniform designed by a company called Loudmouth Golf. The Norwegians won the silver medal at those games, and will be donning four new versions of their famously flashy trousers when they compete in Sochi. The Olympics aren't the only event that calls for their signature look; the team has continued to put on patterned trousers at various games and tournaments through the years. Thomas Loevold, Torger Nergaard, Haavard Vad Petersson, Christoffer Svae, and Thomas Ulsrud of Norway posed with their silver medals and their Loudmouth pants, after the Vancouver Olympics' Curling Men's Gold medal game between Canada and Norway on February 27, 2010.

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The world curling president Kate Caithness has admitted she was initially shocked by the whole affair, but said she came to embrace the attention Norway received.“I am a traditionalist, I must be honest,” Caithness said. “But after I saw them in Vancouver, I actually liked them. They brought focus to our sport, these crazy pants.

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Thomas Ulsrud, born in Oslo is the “skip” of the five-man team. Ulsrud, 42, calls the shots for the team that began competition in 2007, earning silver, being narrowly defeated by a  Canadian team .They may have lost, but from that time forward, their uniforms became winners!  Team-member Christopher Svae changed the uniform style from the traditional white shirt-dark pant look to something “more striking” and the color-games began! Photos of the Norwegian Curling Team have created a following on their Facebook site entitled “The Norwegian Olympic Curling Team’s Pants” viewed by 539,900 followers at a recent count.

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While it is doubtful that followers are well-versed on the intricacies and dangers of the icy sport, it has become a popular winter sport,especially in Canada.Closely related to shuffleboard, skill is involved! Teams are comprised of four members: the skip, the lead, the second and the mate. Each member alternates "throwing" stones and sweeping the ice or "sheet" of pebbles( small frozen water droplets added to the surface to increase friction). The goal is to throw your stone as close to "the button"

as you can, and keep the opposing team from getting closer. Of course, one must pay attention to a stone's weight, turn and line while throwing, or he'll fall short of  “right on the button!”players slide their stones across  the ice  “sheet” towards the “house”, a circular target called “the button” which is the center of the target marked on the ice. Each team has eight stones. The purpose is to accumulate the highest score for a game; After each tries to knock opponent’s rocks away , points are scored for the stones resting closest to the center of the house at the conclusion of each “end”, which is completed after all the stones have been thrown. A game may consist of ten or eight ends.

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An important tool in the sport is a broom! The path of the rock can be influenced by two sweepers with brooms who accompany it as it slides down the sheet, using the brooms to alter the state of the ice in front of the stone. A key part of the preparation of the playing surface is the spraying of water droplets onto the ice, which form pebbles after freezing. The pebbled ice surface resembles an orange peel, and the stone moves over the pebbled ice.The sweeping creates friction  warming the ice, changing the path of the sliding rock. A great deal of strategy and teamwork goes into choosing the ideal path and placement of a stone for each situation.

A modern stone

An older "Rock"

These “stones”, aka “rocks”weigh between 38 and 44 pounds with a circumference of 36 inches. Not something carelessly dropped on one’s toes while players slide their stones across  the ice  “sheet” towards the “house”, a circular target called “the button” which is the center of the target marked on the ice. Each team has eight stones. The purpose is to accumulate the highest score for a game; After each tries to knock
opponent’s rocks away , points are scored for the stones resting closest to the center of the house at the conclusion of each “end”, which is completed after all the stones have been thrown. A game may consist of ten or eight ends.

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Due to the  nature of the sport, spectators are normally quiet and the athletes are polite to their opponents. Trash-talk is not tolerated while compliments after a good effort is normal procedure. Due to this docile and arguably not-interesting facite of the sport, the Norwegians decided to add a bit of excitement to the sporting event. Their change of colorful uniforms brought new interest to the Olympic sport of curling and everyone looks forward to see what the Norwegian curling team will be wearing when they appear at the next Stone-Throwing event! They’re throwing for Olympic gold in 2014!

 Their colorful costumes are already " Number one" in the eyes of the world.

The Norwegian curlers, Christoffer Svae, Torgor Nergard, Havard Vad Petersson and their captain Thomas Ulsrud.

" Fire!"

 At 22:56 (10:56 PM) on January 18 ,2014, local fire departments were alerted to a residential fire in a historic Norwegian settlement.   A fire fanned by strong winds swept through the village of Lærdalsøyri in Western Norway through the early hours of Sunday morning threatening many of the  historic frame houses in the heritage area.

The wind-borne fire quickly spread  fanning the flames towards the town center, and by 4 a.m over thirty houses were reported to be in flames. The fire then spread to a nearby forest, threatening the heritage area. The town was evacuated 30 minutes after midnight, with residents being evacuated to a hotel in Aurland, Norway.
 

More then 100 firefighters, from eight to ten neighboring fire departments were involved in putting out the fire.  Firefighters and equipment from Haukåsen airport in Sogndal were called out to assist in putting out the fire.The fire in Laerdalsoyri was aided by strong winds, and burned through homes that were built of wood  in the 18th and 19th centuries. It wasn't clear what caused the fire, but when it was over, at least 177 people were treated in nearby hospitals for fire-related injuries.

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When winter  cold causes temperatures to drop, heat sources become very important in the long winter nights. Structures of wood arranged in close proximity to one another become a danger zone. Fires spread rapidly with winter winds carrying burning ash to the neighboring buildings. Norway has experienced several disastrous fires. Historic stav churches made of wood have been tragic examples.

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The Grue Church Fire happened in Grue, Norway  in the Southeastern Hedmark county of Norway.

A typical Stavkirk

  This fire occurred on 26 May 1822, taking the lives of between 113 and 117 churchgoers .The oldest section of the church stemmed from the 13th century and was built using the stave method.Due to this construction style, entrance doors were designed to swing inwards and leaded glass windows that were placed high up on the wall were covered by an outside iron grid . The exterior of this church was covered with pine tar. Later calculations  estimated that 17 tons of tar had been applied between 1600 and 1822.On Pentecost, the church was filled to capacity on a bright and hot Sunday early in the summer. In the middle of the sermon, a fire broke out on the outer wall and soon the fire broke in. Within 10 to15 minutes the church was completely engulfed in flames. Parishioners rushing to the doors caused the inward-opening doors to close and few were able to exit the burning building. The cause of the fire might have been that of a spark from a fire container in which a church servant brought embers from the neighboring farm to light the altar candles .The wooden stav chuch soon burned to the ground.

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.Another historically disastrous fire occurred in Alesund, Norway  on January 23, 1904. This fire destroyed 850 homes, leaving 10,000 people homeless while destroying most of the city. That  fire was reported to be caused by a cow that kicked over a torch.

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This  latest fire in Laerdalsoyri was fanned by strong winds, and burned through

homes that were built of wood  in the 18th and 19th centuries. Police cordoned off an area in Lærdalsøyri because of the fear of  explosions of nearby gas cylinders belonging to a construction company. It wasn't clear what caused the fire, but at least 90 people were treated in nearby hospitals for fire-related injuries

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 Lærdal is on the UNESCO world heritage list. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations. Its purpose is to contribute to peace and security by promoting international collaboration through education, science, and culture in order to further universal respect for justice, the rule of law, and human rights along with fundamental freedom. Buildings constructed in the 18th century are being preserved and protected. Dolyce Johnson, one of our Vennskap members  was concerned due to her family connection to the famous village. Dolyce stated:“A story  mentioned damage

Typical Norse colors

to the community center, which, I believe, we visited to research our family’s geneaology records.  My maternal grandmother’s family (Prestegard) came from Laerdal, and my children and I visited the village in 2004.  It was quite unique.  Any changes inside or outside had to be approved and the outside colors had to be what the original colors were.  We took the ferry from there down the Sognefjord.  A tragedy, but fortunately no one died in the fire”.

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Smouldering remains

Sixteen private homes have burned to the ground, in addition to industrial buildings and infrastructure. Many other buildings are also damaged. A large number of families have lost all their possessions, and many are quartered in a nearby hotel for the time being. Several people were  treated in hospital for smoke inhalation, but there are no reports of serious injuries or fatalities.
The village Telecom center has been completely destroyed, however, an emergency mobile service has been established. Electricity is also back on in sections of the township, but schools and kindergartens remained closed Monday.

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As  residents struggle to  rebuild, and winter life resumes, tourists will continue to visit the historic village.The Old Lærdalsøyri village has 161 protected buildings.  The famous Filefjell Kongevegen road passes through Lærdal on its way to Valdres and later extended to Oslo.The Lærdalstunnelen was built through the 

mountains

The Lærdal River

dividing Aurland from Lærdal. This 15.2 mile tunnel is the worlds longest (as of 2008), construction began in 1995 and was completed in 2000.

The River Lærdalselvi was traditionally one of the most exclusive

salmon and sea trout rivers in Norway. Known by the Norwegian King Harald V as “his second Queen”, the river has established Lærdal as one of the meccas of salmon and sea trout fly fishing.

Meanwhile, the cleanup continues.

What's Next!?

The Polar Express has left the area, taking along the infamous Polar Vortex.

  Most people are aware of the Christmas tale of the train carrying children to Santa’s work area, but  “polar  vortex” may be new to many. Remember, not too long ago when the thermometer seemed “stuck at  97° ” for an extended time of sticky summer heat and we looked forward to “normal weather”? Then, after a mild

Fall, things once again,began to change!

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A warm November day of 2013 ended with the temperature falling 40 degrees overnight to bring in “Winter”, unusually low for our area. Forecasters explained that Arctic low temperatures are usually confined to the Canadian region, but somehow arctic winds found the weather-door open to flow southerly this winter , causing problems as far south as Florida... A new term “Polar Vortex” came into our vocabulary.  Canadians were hearing earthquake sounds in the frigid -30-40° cold. We learned another new term  “Cryoseims”, a term used by weather forecasters explaining  the action of underground water freezing  and causing rocks to expand. Above-ground residents found pictures on their walls shaking and cracks several inches wide in the ground. A Frost-quake? Unusual weather can even expand our vocabulary!

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North Atlantic Gulf Stream

While U.S. residents seem to be experiencing severe and abrupt weather changes, Norway seems to be experiencing “business as usual”. Norway shares the same latitude as Alaska, Greenland and Siberia, but in comparison, Norway has a pleasant climate while the coastal areas have comparatively mild winters due to the Gulf Stream that moderates the area weather. Oslo experienced its warmest Christmas since records began in 1937, while in Helsinki and southern Finland, the second half of December was the mildest in 30 years. In Koege, outside Copenhagen, the mercury reached 11.6ºC (52.9ºF) on Christmas Eve..

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 In the late 1960s, University of California professor Jacob Bjerknes found an important piece of the oft-changeable weather-puzzle. As a young scientist in Norway, Bjerknes had gained fame by publishing the first  understandable description of the life cycle of storms in temperate latitudes. Now, fifty years later, he was the first to see a connection between unusually warm sea-surface temperatures and the weak easterly winds bringing  heavy rainfall

Usually, sea-surface readings off South America's west coast range from the 60s to 70s°F. When the easterly trade winds strengthens, colder water is driven along the equator and the west coast of South America. Only the Pacific Ocean has this phenemona. This doesn’t happen in the Atlantic, so Norway does not experience these changes.Currently, the tropical Pacific is now expected to warm throughout 2014 according to scientists from NOAAs Climate Prediction Center .

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This might produce a massive source of energy that would be strong enough to drive up global weather temperatures, creating the  first official “hot period” since 2010, the  world’s hottest year ever recorded .Are we are in an official “La Niña” cycle, or will it be a time of  El Niño and who are they?

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The original definition of El Niño goes back to the eighteenth or nineteenth century when Peruvian sailors

 coined the term to describe a warm southward current that appeared annually around Christmas off the Peruvian coast. Hence the name El Niño, Spanish for "the Child," referring to the Christ Child.The term "El Niño" (or warm episode) is  not a local warm current, but warming of the tropical Pacific surface waters occurring every two to seven years and associated with changes in the atmospheric circulation worldwide.These equatorial waves are not the familiar surf seen on the surface, but very large-scale motions that carry changes in currents and temperatures over thousands of miles. The period of these waves is measured in months, and they take typically three months to more than a year to cross the Pacific. 

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Warm water spreads from the west Pacific and the Indian Ocean to the east Pacific. It takes the rain with it, causing extensive drought in the western Pacific and rainfall in the normally dry eastern Pacific. This easterly wind flow and possible blasts from the north area can make our weather interesting.if the winds are warm and the jet stream stays to the north, we might have a mild winter! 

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   However, we may experience the effect of “The Little Girl”. In Spanish, she is “ La Niña”,  the little girl.

The results of La Niña are mostly the opposite of those of El Niño; for example, during the winter, La Niña would cause a wet period in the Midwestern U.S., while El Niño would typically cause a dry period in that area. La Niña causes above-average precipitation across the northern Midwest, and eastern regions. Meanwhile, precipitation in the southwestern and southeastern states is below average.This also allows way above average hurricanes in the Atlantic and less in the Pacific.
In Canada, La Niña will, generally, cause a cooler, snowier winter, such as the near-record-breaking amounts of snow recorded in the La Niña winter of 2007/2008 in Eastern Canada.”The Little Girl”is expected to bring a cooling period. Is this "The winter of 2014" in Wisconsin?!

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 Due to oceanic temperatures and the direction of the winds, our weather system can swing an average of every three to five years. Critics of global warming believe this is only the rhythm of nature, and the only

" Looking ahead to tomorrow..."

predictable thing about weather is that it is unpredictable. Winter temperature swinging from -10° to 35° with rain within twenty-four hours seem to be the new norm. What’s going on? We’ve experienced a variety of conditions already in this early 2014.
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Now, if only we can keep our polar vortexes trapped up north, we may be spared future cryoseims!

What’s next? Stay tuned..