Wind-sculpted snowdrift

Posted on February 5, 2015 by Katherine Wikoff

I noticed this snowdrift up against our fence late this afternoon—and would love to learn more about the physics behind the beautiful swirls and ridges of sand dunes and snowdrifts.  I’m sure it has something to do with the granular nature of sand and snow, both of which are solids yet flow like liquids.  But that’s about all I know 🙂

snowdrift against the fence

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About Katherine Wikoff

I am a college professor (PhD in English, concentration rhetoric) at Milwaukee School of Engineering, where I teach film and media studies, political science, digital society, digital storytelling, writing for digital media, and communication. While fragments of my teaching and scholarship interests may quite naturally meander over to my blog, this space is intended to function as a creative outlet, not as part of my professional practice. Opinions are my own, etc.
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1 Response to Wind-sculpted snowdrift

  1. mworfolk's avatar mworfolk says:
    February 7, 2015 at 3:53 pm

    That’s pretty! It has been snowing here steadily for the last few days and your photo looks a lot like our fence did a couple of days ago. I had never thought about the physics behind the drifts until I read your post.

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