Whiteout: Winter Storm Thor shows his artistic side

Winter Storm Thor freezes North America in his icy tentacles, but Sandeep Somasekharan wriggles free to reveal some stunning snowscapes.

When I landed in New Jersey from Spring-embraced California, Winter Storm Thor had just started flexing his muscles.

Aftermath — After a day of non-stop snowing, everything was under almost a foot of snow.

There were days of teeth-chattering cold, winds that made the temperature feel a lot colder, and storms that coated everything with snow just short of a foot thick. There were days when you couldn’t get out of your house, and there were days you had to shovel away thick snow from the driveway in the freezing cold of the night so you could take your car out in the morning. And if you stepped out on a day when it was snowing heavily, there was just one word that could do justice to Thor’s might: Whiteout.

The Blizzard — The accumulated snow would run almost knee deep in the backyard, and there was a fresh addition every day

But despite all this, winter storm Thor will stay long in my memory, as an artist. When the snow let up a bit, if you could step out and look around, there were stunning paintings that he had left behind with the only color at his disposal. He would just play around with the whites of varying intensities, in the form of washed-out skies, mist that seemed to be smudged upwards from the snow, and layers of powdery snow that coated everything in sight.

Japanese painting — In came the mist one fine day, and it just seemed the snow on the ground was smudged upwards in the canvas.

A clear day's sunset — On the days when Thor took a breather, there were fireworks in the sky as the sun went down

Sugar glazing — When the snow is very powdery, it clings on to the surface it first meets, and soon everything looks sugar frosted.

Frosted — The branches are bent with the load of the snow that landed on it. Later when the snow thaws, the branches spring upwards flinging the snow in all directions.

Dry leaves too aren't spared — Some leaves , despite being desiccated have managed to cling on to the trees. The snow covers them as well, increasing the load on the branches. Most of the leaves get blown away once the thaw happens.

While looking forward to the spring, I still can’t feel a tinge of sadness as Winter Storm Thor loses his grip. Though I won’t miss the pain he inflicted, I will miss the genius artist in him.

Love calamity artists? You should check out these other posts from The Green Ogre

Hurricane Sandy – Landscape Redesigner

Encounter: Cyclone Thane

About
Latest Posts

Sandeep Somasekharan

Sandeep Somasekharan (or Sandy as friends call him) took his headlong plunge into photography with a three-megapixel Nikon point-and-shoot he purchased in 2003. The avid reader and occasional scribbler started enjoying travel and nature more as he spent more time photographing. Meeting Beej in 2008 helped him channel his creative energies in the form of essays and nature photographs that he started publishing on The Green Ogre.

Sandy loves to photograph birds and landscapes, and considers photography and writing as his meditation. Now based out of the US, Sandy juggles his time between parental duties, a full time engineering role, writing short fiction in Malayalam, and an occasional birding trip thrown in between. His debut novel in Malayalam hits the bookstalls in January 2025.

Sandy can be found at instagram as @footprintsonlight

Latest posts by Sandeep Somasekharan (see all)

We Are What We Post: How Forums Influence Photography - May 12, 2025
Thattekkad Diary – Lessons In Birding, Guiding, and Tourist Privilege - March 22, 2025
Cicada Apocalypse – A Survivor’s Account - January 21, 2025

Author

Sandeep Somasekharan

Sandeep Somasekharan (or Sandy as friends call him) took his headlong plunge into photography with a three-megapixel Nikon point-and-shoot he purchased in 2003. The avid reader and occasional scribbler started enjoying travel and nature more as he spent more time photographing. Meeting Beej in 2008 helped him channel his creative energies in the form of essays and nature photographs that he started publishing on The Green Ogre.

Sandy loves to photograph birds and landscapes, and considers photography and writing as his meditation. Now based out of the US, Sandy juggles his time between parental duties, a full time engineering role, writing short fiction in Malayalam, and an occasional birding trip thrown in between. His debut novel in Malayalam hits the bookstalls in January 2025.

Sandy can be found at instagram as @footprintsonlight
View all posts