New Year Nuisance

A powerful winter storm started off the new year of 2022 in eastern Iowa in an undoubtably dubious way. Moderate-to-heavy snow with sustained 10-15 mph winds and gusts in the 30 mph range, wreaked havoc with travelers and motorists on January 1. Some intrepid individuals, however, braved the elements on the sledding hill at Bowman Woods Park in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The above image, captured at 4:06 pm CST, looks directly into the teeth of a NNW wind. In the background is Bowman Woods Elementary School and Boyson Road. As I trudged up the hill (from the right) to get these pictures, I had to stop several times to stand behind trees to catch my breath and to shield myself from the stinging blasts of snow to my face. 

Similar capture at 4:07 pm. Note the round snow splotches on the camera lens. 

Comparable Radarscope radar image capture for the two images above. The target icon shows my location.

Looking south from the top of the sledding hill during the storm.

The storm caused many cancellations to be issued, including events for the following day. One of them was Noelridge Christian Church at 7111 C Avenue NE in Cedar Rapids, whose deserted and snowy parking lot is shown above at 8:14 am on Sunday, January 2. Air temperature was -8 degrees F. 

Similar capture at 8:15 am. The winter storm deposited five inches of snow at my home location. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.