The last few days have been a blur, filled with rumors of the icebreaker coming, forecasts for a Herbie, and the reappearance of that Adelie penguin.
If you have followed this from the beginning, you may recall that a Herbie is a blizzard with hurricane force winds. They blow in from the South and can be tracked as they come over White and Black Islands. By the time they are upon those islands we have only a few hours until they hit here. Some people say only 45 minutes. They can bump the condition from the normal Condition 3 (travel unrestricted) to Condition 2 (travel must be coordinated with the Fire House) or even Condition 1. Condition 1 means that if you are in a building, you are restricted from leaving it until the All Clear is given. If you are in a vehicle, say out on the Ice Shelf, you must stop where you are and report in to the Fire House, waiting either for it to clear or for the Search and Rescue Squad to come to your aid. So a Herbie is a big deal and a forecast for one is not taken lightly. We carry our complete ECW bag (extreme cold weather) on every run out to Pegasus.
We haven't had one since I've been here, so I was feeling a bit of both excitement and concern. It was supposed to be hitting at around midnight, the middle of my shift, during a run out to Pegasus field. The weather was very dramatic with wind, snow, fog, wonderful breaks in the clouds. The road became difficult with drifts that threatened to bog us down or rocked and rolled us. But the timing of the Herbie kept getting pushed further and further back to 0200, to 0600, and finally to 0800 before it was cancelled entirely. It had swerved and mostly missed us.
The icebreaker was one of the other big deals of the last few days. There is an excitement about it that's hard to explain. If you've read Jurassic Park, at the end the surviving velociraptors congregate on the beach looking for the ship (I don't remember if that is in the movie). The road down to Hut Point has taken on that quality. Lots of people have been walking down there to see if they can see the icebreaker, the penguin and the seals. I've been part of that pilgrimage myself.
Four days days ago there were rumors that you could see the Oden. Nothing. Three days ago someone had seen it briefly from Ob Hill before the clouds swirled in and hid it again. Another person saw it from Arrival Heights at about the same time. Then nothing as the storm blew through. I walked down to Hut Point twice two days ago and again twice yesterday and was finally rewarded with a good view of it in the far distance. By the early evening yesterday it was visibly closer, but you could see them going forward and then back, widening the channel and pulverizing the ice. I'm up for the night and will check it in the morning before going to bed. I think it'll be here by early morning, maybe by 0800. It might even be docked at the floating Ice Pier.
The other excitement was seeing the solitary Adelie pinguino back at its accustomed spot on the new sea ice. Yesterday I got within 40 feet of it, sitting there preening its new feathers, completely oblivious of my presence. How do I know it was the same one? Because it had the same sort of banding on its left wing as the other. It seems unlikely to be a coincidence.
I never realized what beautiful eyes and plumage they have.
If you have followed this from the beginning, you may recall that a Herbie is a blizzard with hurricane force winds. They blow in from the South and can be tracked as they come over White and Black Islands. By the time they are upon those islands we have only a few hours until they hit here. Some people say only 45 minutes. They can bump the condition from the normal Condition 3 (travel unrestricted) to Condition 2 (travel must be coordinated with the Fire House) or even Condition 1. Condition 1 means that if you are in a building, you are restricted from leaving it until the All Clear is given. If you are in a vehicle, say out on the Ice Shelf, you must stop where you are and report in to the Fire House, waiting either for it to clear or for the Search and Rescue Squad to come to your aid. So a Herbie is a big deal and a forecast for one is not taken lightly. We carry our complete ECW bag (extreme cold weather) on every run out to Pegasus.
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| In this picture you can see 6 flags out ahead of you (there are also others from adjoining lanes). When you can see only two, you must stop, even if a Condition 1 has not been declared. |
We haven't had one since I've been here, so I was feeling a bit of both excitement and concern. It was supposed to be hitting at around midnight, the middle of my shift, during a run out to Pegasus field. The weather was very dramatic with wind, snow, fog, wonderful breaks in the clouds. The road became difficult with drifts that threatened to bog us down or rocked and rolled us. But the timing of the Herbie kept getting pushed further and further back to 0200, to 0600, and finally to 0800 before it was cancelled entirely. It had swerved and mostly missed us.
The icebreaker was one of the other big deals of the last few days. There is an excitement about it that's hard to explain. If you've read Jurassic Park, at the end the surviving velociraptors congregate on the beach looking for the ship (I don't remember if that is in the movie). The road down to Hut Point has taken on that quality. Lots of people have been walking down there to see if they can see the icebreaker, the penguin and the seals. I've been part of that pilgrimage myself.
 |
| The floating ice pier for the icebreaker Oden, the Nathaniel B. Palmer research vessel, the tanker and the freighter. |
Four days days ago there were rumors that you could see the Oden. Nothing. Three days ago someone had seen it briefly from Ob Hill before the clouds swirled in and hid it again. Another person saw it from Arrival Heights at about the same time. Then nothing as the storm blew through. I walked down to Hut Point twice two days ago and again twice yesterday and was finally rewarded with a good view of it in the far distance. By the early evening yesterday it was visibly closer, but you could see them going forward and then back, widening the channel and pulverizing the ice. I'm up for the night and will check it in the morning before going to bed. I think it'll be here by early morning, maybe by 0800. It might even be docked at the floating Ice Pier.
The other excitement was seeing the solitary Adelie pinguino back at its accustomed spot on the new sea ice. Yesterday I got within 40 feet of it, sitting there preening its new feathers, completely oblivious of my presence. How do I know it was the same one? Because it had the same sort of banding on its left wing as the other. It seems unlikely to be a coincidence.
I never realized what beautiful eyes and plumage they have.
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