The Christmas Eve blizzard of 2009 left behind many fascinating drift effects not often witnessed in these parts, including highly variable drifting, flimsy ripples on high, exposed surfaces of underlying ice, and sastrugi. Here, thin and flat-topped layers developed, the edges of the ledges resembling contours on a topographic map, rendered to an oblique perspective that imparts a three-dimensional visual effect to a two-dimensional pictograph. Were it not for this knowledge of the process, and the whiteness of snow, one might confuse the scene for eroded, desert sandstone layers at scales ranging from millimeters to (if airborne) miles.
Norman, OK (25 Dec 9) Looking E
35.2077, -97.3759