Thursday, January 9, 2014

An Icy Potomac River

Our extremely cold weather is improving here in the mid-Atlantic.  This morning we have gone from the single digits (which is how we started Tuesday), and the teens (which is how we started Wednesday) to the upper twenties.  We are frolicking about this morning and so very happy to wake to a temperature of twenty-seven degrees.  Thank you, Weather Monster, for releasing your grip on our fair town.

On my walk this morning I was intrigued by the amount of ice on the Potomac River.  Here are some pictures.


Amazing shot of the river with Rosslyn, VA and the Key Bridge in the background.


A close up shot of the sheets of ice covering the river this morning.


Another shot with the Key Bridge in the background.


Facing east, toward the Kennedy Center and the Roosevelt Bridge; the Pentagon just out of sight on the other side of the bridge.


And a little further toward the northeast with the Watergate building in the background next to the Kennedy Center.  It is rare to see the river like this.  Winter temperatures here certainly always fall to freezing and below.  Usually no lower than the twenties.  When we stay in the twenty - thirty degree range, the river does not freeze. But when we get down to seven degrees, even four degrees as it was earlier this week, this is what happens.

Yesterday morning when I grabbed the recyclable bin to set it out for pickup it was so cold that the built-in plastic handle literally crumbled in my hand.  The bin was completely frozen to the ground, so I did not put recyclables out for pick up this week.  But all is not lost.  We are expecting to be in the sixties on Saturday.

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