The night was so cold and dark that the snow made squeaking noises as it settled in drifts around the big, square yard.
Out there alone with him, in the dark, with snow falling all around them, she might have said something she would have regretted.
"Once it gets dark out there and the snow keeps falling and they have no air support, I don't know how effective they would be in that situation, " she told reporters.
But walking across the dark volcanic rocks with the snow cone of Mt Erebus behind and the sound of penguins braying along the sea ice of the sound, it is easy to imagine yourself transported back to the early years of the last century, for this is a timeless landscape.
In the dark, Simon Alcarac was shoveling snow, trying to meet Milwaukee's 11 p.m. deadline to move his car to a nearby elementary school parking lot or face a hefty tow bill from the city.
This phenomenon, called Arctic amplification, occurs as highly reflective Arctic ice and snow melt away, allowing dark land and exposed ocean to absorb more sunlight.
CNN: Warmest Arctic temperatures for 2,000 years, says new study
Outside my window, the snow swirled and sparkled in the dark.
WSJ: Traveler's Tale: On the Road Again, and Again, So Help Me
When sea ice melts, the newly exposed dark water absorbs radiation rather than reflecting it, as snow or ice would.
But while the winter months are dark, treacherous and shrouded in a white uniform of snow, summer brings with it the chance to see this part of the world in all its green grassy goodness.
Back home, they had to deal with an utterly flat landscape laced by rivers and canals much of it below sea level, reclaimed by dikes forever loomed over by dark gray clouds, damp mists, and rain or snow.
Most years, the first snow will have just fallen to brighten the otherwise dark forest.
FORBES: Norway, Christmas and the Wisdom of Country Bumpkins
Will tens of millions of televisions suddenly show nothing but snow, which is technically more accurate than the "TVs going dark" scenario that some digital dufuses would have us believe.
应用推荐