Adiabatic Cooling – Nature’s Air Conditioning!

Mountain View on the Way to Nederland - June 18th, 2015.

A number of people – including myself! – have expressed surprise at the difference in temperatures between where I live and lower (or higher) elevations.  The answer lies in Nature’s air conditioning:  Adiabatic cooling.  Adiabatic cooling takes place when the pressure on a given volume of a gas is decreased.  In aviation, the rule of thumb is that air temperature drops approximately 3° F for each 1,000 feet of rise in elevation.  As you can see from the pictures above and below - taken on June 18th and 19 - the higher elevations are still somewhat snow-covered!

Mountain View on the Way to Golden - June 19th, 2015.

Using this formula, the increase in temperature when I go from my home to Golden or Boulder – a drop of about 4,000 feet – is about 12° F, with a corresponding drop in temperature when I return home.  In practice, the numbers are different in part because of the time it takes to get from one location to the other...

So spring flowers that are over in most of the US are still flourishing here.  But at least I’ve finally been able to turn the heat off in the last few days!

Lilac Bush in Nederland - June 18th, 2015.

Flowers – The Icing on God’s Cake…

Over the last week or so, I’ve been able to get out – between rain showers – to look for and at the things growing in my yard.  Mainly I’ve got a host of golden dandelions – with apologies to Wordsworth.

Dandelions along the Driveway.

Fortunately for me, I love dandelions.  Yellow seems to be my predominant color scheme.  I can only identify a few of these flowers.  Any comments on them would be welcome.  If there is no caption, I don't know what they are...

Followed by white.

Strawberries - There are both wild and cultivated.

 

Followed by blue.

Purple

Violets and Dandelions.

The reddish and pinks seem to be represented by cultivated flowers.  The bleeding hearts are not open yet, nor are the chives.  You have to look really hard in this picture to see the flowers on the chives to the right of the bleeding hearts.  Hopefully in a few more days they will open more…

Bleeding Hearts on the Left, Chives on the Right.

Then there are the things that are promising to bloom, but haven’t shown any color yet.

When you put them all together, you get something that looks like this:

Or this, that continues into my neighbor’s property.

 Then there are the “non-flowers.”  The first might be a tree gall, although the twig it is on is very small.  So perhaps it is the start of a wasp nest?  The second is a fungus of some sort.  It does not appear to have a stem, so cannot be sure - but it is not a rock...

Chateau Tongariro Hotel in New Zealand – an awesome place to spend a week!

Approach to Chateau Tongariro Hotel.

The approach to the Chateau Tongariro Hotel in New Zealand is up a curved driveway to the front door.  The building is equally impressive from the back with the snow-capped mountain in the distance.

Hotel from the Back.

I set off from the front drive for a walk.  The sun was shining impressively from behind a cloud over Mount Tongariro – a dormant volcano.  At least one hopes it stays dormant.  It last erupted about 100 years ago and had been silent until just a couple of years ago when a steam vent opened up.  There is a hot spring up there, but I did not get a chance to go there to soak.

Sunshine over Mount Tongariro.

My walk included mossy boulders.

Mossy Boulder.

And familiar vegetation, such as this heather.

Heather.  I think.

Plantings around the front of the convenience hut were somewhat formal.

Convenience Hut at Trailhead.

While the back offered a more woodland view.

  

The trees were wonderful.  Mossy, gnarly, and lichen covered.

Some had little mushrooms.

Tree with Tiny Mushrooms.

Tiny Mushrooms!

There were ferns.

And apparently mistletoe, although I could not identify it.  Maybe the yellow sign was pointing to it…

Maybe the Yellow Sign Points the Way.

But it Doesn't Look Red to Me...

Incipient fossils…

 

Sunsets were glorious.  These are from the porch above the entry portico – sunset and the sunset gilding Mount Tongariro after a fresh snowfall.

Where to next???