The January thaw lasted extra long this year, with temperatures yesterday topping 50F here in Kalamazoo. But in the winter the warm days are usually precede a cold snap - and it's cooling off a bit now. A little snow is actually blowing in the air. Let's hope for snowfall and a chance for photos. Above is one taken three weeks ago, on January 4, 2010, the last opportunity for snow crystal photos hereabouts. - Mark

The Story of Snow is featured in today's USA Today's  Book Roundup - in an article entitled Weather the Winter with a Picture Book. The book is described as "an artistic science lesson about the rise and fall of snow crystals."  The article also features Carl's Snowy Afternoon by Alexandra Day, Life in the Boreal Forest by Brenda Z. Guiberson, illustrated by Gennady Spirin and Testing the Ice: A True Story About Jackie Robinson by Sharon Robinson, illustrated by Kadir Nelson.

You can read the on-line version here: 

http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/reviews/2010-01-21-roundup21_ST_N.htm

...

Last night I spoke at the Grand Rapids Camera Club and provided a demo of how to take snow crystal photo. The turnout was great with well over 100 people in the room, and it was a lot of fun.

The presentation is a bit of a stroll down memory lane and the evolution of the process I use to take snow crystal photos. Of course, it starts at the beginning, with the very first snow crystal shots I managed to make. Here they are - from the winter of 1998/99. It was my second or third try at it, only very small crystals were falling, and on a wing and prayer I snapped a few shots with a high magnification setup, manual flash, and ancient Spotmatic film camera. I was really happy with the results, but it was the end of the season and there were no more opportunities that winter.

It took me a few more years till I was able to duplicate these results, but these photos gave me the inspiration to keep on trying...

 

On Monday several of the newspapers for the McClatchy company ran a review of The Story of Snow in their "Read It:" column.  An excerpt: "Part science, part art, this beautiful book explains a bit of the chemistry behind winter's cold, white precipitation and also features startlingly detailed and amazing photos of ice crystals."

Here's a link to the review in The Sacramento Bee:

http://www.sacbee.com/848/story/2452637.html

Monday evening also brought a bit of snow to SW Michigan. The crystals were not terribly clean or symmetric, but here are a couple of snaps:

- Mark

A little while ago I mentioned that The Story of Snow was named an Outstanding Science Trade Book for 2010 by the national Science Teachers Association and Children's Book Council. Here's a link to a review that appeared a couple of days ago on the NSTA's website:

http://www.nsta.org/recommends/ViewProduct.aspx?ProductID=19598

To quote reviewer Diana Wiig: "I loved this book! What a wonderful combination of art and science. The explanations are thorough, yet simply stated. The photos/illustrations are exceptional."

We're in the midst of the January thaw here in Michigan, with balmy temperatures up to 40F and yesterday a rare sunny day.No new snow crystal photos for now.  

Here's an old  photo -  taken on film in 2003.

Here are two new reviews of The Story of Snow:

Washington DC has seen a bit of snow of late, on the heels of that the Washington Post says "The engaging "Story of Snow" -- featuring a succinct text, spare illustrations in gray-and-blue hues and magnified images of gorgeous snow crystals -- explains how snow is made ..." The full review is here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/05/AR2010010503378.html?wprss=rss_print/style

Down in Texas they see a little less snow, but currently are experiencing a cold snap. Maybe it's a chance to take a close look at some snow crystals. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram has this to say about The Story of Snow:  "Part science, part art, this beautiful book explains a bit of the chemistry behind winter’s cold, white precipitation and also features startlingly detailed and amazing photos of ice crystals..." The full review:

http://www.star-telegram.com/family_day/story/1870342.html#tvg

A bit of snow is in the forecast for SW Michigan, so I have my fingers crossed.

- Mark

A nice lake effect snow blew in early this morning to greet the new year. I spent a little time photographing out in the garage. It's a new year so I tried a couple of new ideas for lighting the snow crystals - this one worked! Not much else to show for the morning's shoot, and by 10 a.m. the snow had stopped and has not yet returned. Hopefully there will be more chances later this weekend. As always, click on the image for a larger view.

-- Mark

Here are three reviews of The Story of Snow that have appeared in the blogosphere over the last month (plus a few days): 

Abby (the) Librarian describes the books as "beautiful and interesting" and discuses pairing it with Snowflake Bentley when teaching about snow and winter. You can find the full review here:

 http://abbylibrarian.blogspot.com/2009/12/book-review-story-of-snow.html

 The Miss Rumphius Effect - a blog aimed at teachers and educators - reviewed Snowflake Bentley and The Story of Snow both in a common post. The Story of Snow was described as "visually appealing and highly informative." You can see the whole review here:

http://missrumphiuseffect.blogspot.com/2009/12/nonfiction-monday-let-it-snow.html

 A Patchwork Of Books comments that the book "takes every day questions about snow and answers them with a simple, yet informative method." You can read the whole review here:

 http://apatchworkofbooks.blogspot.com/2009/11/non-fiction-monday-time-for-snow.html

 There may be more out there but those are ones I ran into. Thanks to everyone who reads the book and takes the time to offer feedback!

 - Mark