 EPOD - a service of USRA

The Earth Science Picture of the Day (EPOD) highlights the diverse processes
and phenomena which shape our planet and our lives. EPOD will collect and
archive photos, imagery, graphics, and artwork with short explanatory
captions and links exemplifying features within the Earth system. The
community is invited to contribute digital imagery, short captions and
relevant links.


 Davey Jackson’s Valley in Winter

   April 26, 2021

    Davey Jackson’s Valley in Winter

    Davey Jackson’s Valley in Winter222222222

   Photographer:  Ray Boren
   Summary Author:  Ray Boren

   It is said that trader and fur trapper Davey Jackson ( David Edward
   Jackson, 1788-1837) spent the winter of 1829 on the shores of a big
   lake in what is now northwestern Wyoming. If so, he witnessed firsthand
   both the grandeur and bitter cold of the season at the lake, as well as
   in  the valley now bearing his name (Jackson Lake and Jackson Hole,
   not to mention the resort community of Jackson), in what was to become,
   a century later,  Grand Teton National Park.

   For  mountain men of the early 19th century, a  hole was a high
   valley surrounded by mountains, and that definition certainly fits
   Jackson Hole. It is bracketed by two striking, French-named mountain
   chains, both trending north and south. The picturesque, serrated peaks
   of the  Teton Range soar to the valley’s west, as shown in the first
   photograph here, taken on March 2, 2021. On the valley’s east is the
    Gros Ventre Range, whose often gentler, forested lower slopes rise
   beyond a vintage farmstead in a second photo, taken the same day.

   The Tetons are considered to be the youngest mountain range in the
    Rocky Mountains, as they began rising 6 to 9 million years ago
   along the  Teton Fault, even as the fault’s east block — Jackson
   Hole — began dropping, creating a dramatic elevation difference today
   of up to 7,000 feet (2,134 m) between the highest summits, such as the
   Grand Teton, elevation 13,775 feet (4,199 m), and the valley floor
   (Jackson: 6,237 feet/1901 m). As with other components of the Rocky
   Mountains, the Gros Ventre Range (pronounced Grow-vont) to the east
   traces its ancestral beginnings to the  Laramide Orogeny about 50
   million years ago.

   Jackson Hole has long, cold winters, stretching from early November
   through April, with a chance of frost in any month, the National Park
   Service notes. In winter, the high valley becomes a virtual ice box,
   especially at night. With already-frigid air trapped in place by the
   steep bordering mountains, temperatures at the valley’s snow-covered
   floor can plunge dramatically. According to the U.S. Weather Service,
   the  average January high in Moose, Wyoming, for instance — Grand
   Teton National Park’s headquarters — is 26 degrees Fahrenheit (3
   degrees Celsius), while the average low is 1 degree Fahrenheit (-17
   degrees Celsius), with temperatures plunging well below that — into the
   -50s and -60s — during severe cold snaps.
     * Jackson Hole, Wyoming Coordinates:  43.48242, -110.77096

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Geography Links

     *  Atlapedia Online
     *  CountryReports
     *  GPS Visualizer
     *  Holt Rinehart Winston World Atlas
     *  Mapping Our World
     *  Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection
     *  Types of Land
     *  World Mapper

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   Space Research Association.

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