Welcome to our Winter Page !! This is where the winter weather information is at! You are welcome to check it out!!! ENJOY :)
Check out all that Snow!!!!! Boy would I have so much fun digging that snow with that Arctic Shovel!!! Yeah!!!! :)
Just take in that picture!!!! Man, look at all that snow!!! In an Arctic environment like that, snow never melts!:):):) It just blows around!! It's all nice and crystalline and pristine. See how it has drifted? That is so interesting!
The people in the photograph are scouting the area, as well as building themselves an igloo, or snow house. A special snow-cutting knife is needed. What has to be done is this: A circular area has to be cleared in the snowpack. The loose surface snow is removed and the area where the igloo is going to be constructed is made level.
Then snow blocks are cut out of the snowpack. The snow needs to be at least three to four feet deep. In the snow-quarrying area where the snow blocks are going to be cut, the loose surface snow needs to be removed, until suitably hard, wind-packed snow is found. The snow blocks are then cut from the snow. They need to be at least three feet by 12 to 18 inches by a foot.
An efficient way to accomplish this building process would be to have one or two persons doing the snow-block cutting, and another one or two people actually setting the blocks of snow together to form a snow structure. After they are cut, snow blocks can be set in the wind to harden, for extra strength.
It is very important NOT to make the igloo too large, this makes for intractable problems later on in the construction process. An igloo that is too large will be so tall that it will be impractical to safely construct the roof. When the snow blocks are actually set together to form this snow building, the bottom edge of the snow block MUST be beveled in such a manner so as to ensure that the block will lean inward. As row of snow blocks are set upon successive rows, the beveled blocks will lean increasingly toward the center of the circle. This sets up an efficient load distribution throughout the structure.
So the igloo builder places the blocks in a circular row on the edge of the cleared area of snow. This in effect forms the wall of the igloo. Then additional snow blocks are placed on top of the first row, with the beveled edge down, with all the snow blocks leaning inward. At this point, a foot to a foot and a half of snow can be removed from the floor of the igloo to make more headroom. The reason for doing this is that snow is much easier to remove from the igloo by throwing it over the low wall, as opposed to shoveling it out through a narrow entranceway later on.
At this point, the entrance needs to be started. The person within the igloo needs to begin digging down about three to four feet into the snowpack, at the place where the entrance to the igloo will be. At the same time, another person needs to begin digging a sloping trench toward the proposed entrance to the igloo. The trench should begin about ten feet from the igloo wall. It should slope downward gently, be about three feet wide, and the floor of this trench should be dug gradually downward until it is about four feet below the surface of the snowpack, where it intersects with the igloo wall.
The reason that the trench floor needs to be four feet below the surface of the snowpack is that the penetration hole into the igloo enclosure will be 30 inches high. This will allow for effective ingress/egress to and from the igloo. The trench digger and the person inside the igloo need to carefully dig toward each other, until breakthrough is made and a good entrance is established. Care should be taken NOT to step on the entrance tunnel, either from within the igloo or from outside, for at least 24 to 36 hours, until the structure of the igloo/tunnel complex has had time to harden in the cold.
As successive rows of snow blocks are laid upon the first two rows, the wall of the developing structure rises and leans progressively more inward. At some point in the process, there will be a sort of sloping roof to construct to finish the igloo. One way to do it would be to carve out snow blocks that would be shaped and beveled to fit together and lean against one another. I think that at the end of the process, when there would be a hole at the top, or a hole large enough to require two or three more snow blocks to finish the igloo, I would let the structure stand and harden in the cold wind for a few hours, to stabilize it somewhat before placing the last few blocks on the top.
After the igloo structure has had extra time to harden, the remaining snow blocks can be cut and shaped so that they will fit well together and they can be first lifted up from within the structure, then carefully lowered into position. The loose snow that piles up inside the structure needs to be removed as necessary. After the snow building is completed, the chinks between the snow blocks will need to be filled with loose snow.
Loose snow can be used as filler, to fill the spaces between the snow blocks. Otherwise, the snow house would be unacceptably drafty. Snow can also be piled up around the lower parts of the igloo, if desired.
At this point,the walls and top of the entrance trench can be started. Additional snow blocks need to be cut and beveled to lean inward as they are placed. Snow blocks are placed along both sides of the entrance trench, from the start of the trench, to the igloo wall. The blocks are cut and beveled so that they lean more and more inward, to eventually form a sort of roof over the trench. Once the two walls of the trench are built up enough, they will eventually get so close together that the final snow blocks can be literally laid down atop the two walls. Then, the chinks between snow blocks that comprise the trench entrance can be filled with loose snow.
This snow structure will harden up good within two to three days, depending on temperatures, humidity, and wind conditions. The trench entrance allows for a gradual descent into the igloo, while minimizing drafts into the igloo from outside. Because the entrance into the living space is below the base floor level, cold air intrusions into the igloo are minimized. People enter the igloo by crawling down the slope of the covered trench, entering the igloo, and then climb up onto the igloo floor.
Skins can be laid down on the floor, fur side down, then a skin placed fur side up. Lanterns can be brought in for light. You can cook in an igloo with small portable stoves and the heat and moisture will be absorbed into the snow walls and will harden the igloo so much overnight that in a few days you might be able to stand on top of it!!!!