Wind! Happy National Poetry Month

Steve Partridge [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

When you live on the prairie, wind is constant and inevitable. Some days are windier than others, but it's seldom completely still. And when it is, just like caring for toddlers, you'd better watch out.

In early elementary school, I memorized the poem "Who Has Seen the Wind" by Christina Rossetti, and I have recited it many times since. It's one of those poems that is easy to learn and easy for me to relate to.

Since we have just endured a late blizzard with exceedingly strong winds, and April 1 begins the celebration of National Poetry Month, I thought this poem is fitting for today. Read the text here. And take a moment to enjoy the spring breeze here:



What are your favorite weather poems?

Happy National Poetry Month! Happy Spring!

Winter Vocabulary in the Northern Plains

While winter wreaks havoc across the entire country, it's come to my attention that here in the Northern Plains we use some special terminology, thanks to our enemy, the wind. Here are three terms and their definitions:


(Ground blizzard, North Dakota, I-94. The videographer notes, "between Bismarck and Fargo on Jan. 7, 2011. Temperature near zero, north wind at 30 to 40 mph, visibility not good. We had to watch for cracks in the pavement because we couldn't see the lanes."

ground blizzard--Ground blizzards occur when it is not snowing. The day may even be sunny, but if you are in a ground blizzard, you would have to look up to notice. During a ground blizzard, wind blows already fallen snow, so that at ground level, you seem to be in a blizzard. This is most likely to happen after a fresh snowfall in open areas where the ditches on either side are already full of snow.

Visibility is poor to nonexistent, making ground blizzard conditions very dangerous. Driving, you cannot see vehicles or obstacles ahead or around you. When the wind whips the snow across the road, you cannot see if the pavement is slick.

Recent northern South Dakota ground blizzard conditions caused 150 motorists, many of them semi drivers, to be stranded on I-29 for up to 48 hours! Thank goodness for this little oasis. Here's the scene on the highway, from a news station's helicopter:



(example of finger drifts)

finger drifts--Finger drifts occur when wind blows snow across the road over a period of time and the snow builds up with horizontal "fingers" stretching into the road. Easy to pass through when fresh, after the wind has whipped them into shape, they become hard as rocks and can cause considerable damage to vehicles who ram them.



(from http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/807648, Coed conwydd yn cysgodi Moel yr Iwrch / Conifers sheltering Moel yr Iwrch for SH8354, © Copyright Ceri Thomas and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence)

shelter belt--Sometimes called a "wind break," a shelter belt is an area of planted tree rows, often around a country farmstead, to protect it from the wind. The example photo above is in Great Britain.

What special climate or weather teminology do you use in your region?

Listen to the Wind

photo by Howard F. Schwartz, http://www.forestryimages.org/browse/detail.cfm?imgnum=5363901

Prairie people are used to listening to the wind. As the saying goes, there's nothing to stop it but a barbed-wire fence! The wind tells us when the weather is warming or cooling and whether it will rain.

The wind told Greg Mortenson something else. A nurse and mountaineer, he stumbled into a Pakastani village in a mountain climbing descent, disoriented and ill. The villagers took care of him, and when he was well, he wanted to do something to repay them. "What shall I do?" he asked the village elder. "Listen to the wind," the elder replied.

Mortenson looked. He saw children gathered, writing arithmetic problems in the dirt with sticks. An itinerant teacher came to instruct them on an irregular basis. Mortenson listened to the wind and to his heart, and vowed to build the village a school for girls and boys.

He faced many obstacles, but he kept his promise, and continues to build schools throughout the region. His story was told in the adult best-seller, Three Cups of Tea.

Now, Mortenson has collaborated with Susan L. Roth to create a version for children telling the story in words, photos, and collages. In an interview with author Cynthia Leitich Smith, Roth says, "One of the most important roles that I see for children's books is as vehicles for teaching our children about other peoples, cultures and places, leading them easily, comfortably, and naturally to understanding and appreciation of other peoples, cultures and places. This is how I prefer to help people, using the only voice I have. My heavier subject matters seem to me to be logical choices as ways to do this best." Read the rest of the interview here.


The collages use Pakistani fabric patterns to show the villagers' dress and give a three-dimensional feel to the book. The story simply tells how "Dr. Greg" came to the village, and after years of struggles, Mortenson and the entire village--including the children--helped build a school. The book spent 46 weeks on the New York Times Children's Best-Seller List.

Stones for Schools, a current New York Times adult non-fiction best-seller, continues Mortenson's story of the founding of the Central Asia Institute and the ongoing challenges and success of his school building in that volatile part of the world.

Mortenson does not accept government money and promotes no ideology other than the importance of education for girls and boys. To find out his successful process, see his 30-minute interview with Bill Moyers on PBS (or read the transcript). His commitment to educating girls in this part of the world has transformed villages' health and economic situations. See more about the results of educating girls in developing countries here (Click "Fact Sheet" at the bottom).

What do you hear when you listen to the wind?