December 13, 2009

Getting ready for the diamond dust

Getting ready for the snowgun season. One searchlight, 25ah battery power, dslr cam + fisheye lens and a tripod. A total of 15 kilos to carry around. If I had a microscope to sample the ice crystals I would carry that as well. I keep my fingers crossed and hope that despite current economical situation the majority of the ski centers in Estonia that have the guns start snowgunning as soon as the temperatures allow it.

Edit 15.12: Looks like most of the guns are operating now...now just waiting favorable weather conditions.

Edit 17.12 Medium wind speed and humidity around 75-82%. Not good for diamond dust.
At the same time Finnish guys have been lucky: Marko Mikkilä 14.12 display, Jukka Ruoskanen 14.12 dislay. J.Ruoskanen has been very lucky: first 18° and 35° halos in diamond dust with artificial light source. So it's first time we see odd radii halos from snowguns. According to M.Riikonen it's obvious that snow guns can make pyramidial crystals but generally it's difficult to get an odd radii diamond dust because very low temperatures are needed for major pyramidial crystal development.

Edit: 19.12 After five days of consecutive snowgunning the guns have been stopped in most of the ski centers. The snowgun season is over.

No comments: