WEATHER

      The weather has been crazy this summer. Some places have been suffering from a heat wave . Other places have received excess rain. And then some places are cold. 

     This week we are cold in Central Alberta. . Today's high was 11 C. Last night it went down to plus 6 C. The furnace cut in. We are having extremes.

     This reminds me of an extreme I experienced one time. It might cool you off.

     I've said at least 1000 times that I spent 5 years in the Arctic.

     I was single and so were most of the bush pilots. I could ask to go along for a ride and if there was room I got to go with them.

     So one Saturday morning It was arranged that I would go to Ft Macpherson with them. I walked the mile down to the airplane. I was there before the pilot. When the pilot got there they had to cover the engine with a tarp and light a fire pot to warm up the engine. Finally the engine started. I had been standing outside all this time and it was minus 40 F. 

    Off we go but the airplane is just as cold inside as the outside. The flight was about 55 minutes. By the time we got to Ft.Macpherson the cabin had started to warm up. So we landed and picked up a mechanic and dumped off some mail. All the time the doors of the plane were open so it was once more as cold inside the cabin as outside. 

   We had a 35 minute flight to Aklavik. After a while the pilot was looking out the window . According to his watch he should have been at Aklavik. He was on the right path to Aklavik but we were against a strong head wind and it caused a slower air speed. We threw off mail bags and headed for home in another 40 minutes.

   So what I thought would be a very pleasant flight turned out to be very unpleasant. The whole trip was miserably cold. Then I had to walk the one mile back to my residence.

   So If your suffering a heat wave, I hope this cools you off a bit. 

    

WEATHER

      Weather has been a big topic for the last week. It's a major holiday week end and people want to be travelling. It's the beginning of winter and we want to see winter come as late as possible.

     Some of the weather reports this weekend are brutal. Reports of 3 ft. of snow is enough to paralyze me. Certain areas have been paralyzed. In Ontario , Canada , many people have  been without power for several days and for some people it looks like a few more days without power. 

    In some areas of the U.S. they are expecting 2 to 3 ft  of snow. How long will it take to clean that up and transportation be restored?

    What do people do? For most people everything depends on power. Very few people are off grid. Very few people have their own power supply. Very few people have another source of heat like wood. 

    If the power was off at my place for 4 or 5 days we would have trouble surviving. 

    We've had a very cold week. Our lows have been in the minus 17 to 19C degree. This isn't that bad. We are easily able to get around. We look after our needs in the usual  way.

   It is forecast to warm up here in the next few days. Here's my one hope. I hope it doesn't get too warm. If it gets above freezing we get ice. Roads become slippery and walking is risky. So warm up but not too warm.

   Far all of you with severe winter conditions I hope you stay safe and as comfortable as possible. 

WINTER WEATHER.

      Now I like winter. I don't mind the cold. I like snow. I like wind and prairie blizzards. 

     Now having said all that, I'm about to do a 180.

    This winter has been very different from our usual winter. Generally it's been a mild winter with above average temperatures. We've had long stretches of above average winter.

    This photo was taken from a window in my house. It was very dull. 

   However , I don't like constant change to the extremes. This week we've had lows of minus 28 C and highs of around minus 20 C. This is the first week of March! We should not be getting these temperatures, although they do happen. The week before we had similar very frigid weather. Then it was mild and thawed so that we had ice. We've had icy conditions all winter. I like to walk but I stay away from ice now. I watch kids who look for the longest  patch of very slippery ice and then slide. If they fall,  no harm is done. If I fall, I could remain broken for the rest of my life. 

    This winter with the mild spells we have lots of ice. 

    So I would like a winter that starts with snow and cool temperatures at the beginning of Nov. Then it can gradually get colder with snow piling up. Then in Mar. and April it can warm up and snow and ice slowly melt.

   However, the world doesn't work like this. We have a great variety as weather change all the time. 

   Maybe it's time to buy a gym membership and walk inside. We have a city facility with a 400 m walking and running track. 

IT'S A COLD DAY

      These photos were taken around 9:15 AM from my house. I didn't feel like going outside as it was minus 42 C. . War vapor freezes in the air so we have the hazy conditions. 

        A few deer wandered through the yard last night. Rabbits had also been in the yard. Today I saw one chickadee, one house sparrow and numerous bohemian waxwings. 

COLD PHOTOS!

     Yesterday I was talking out loud to myself about some photos for today. Some of you heard me and said you were looking forward to some photos. So what can I do even if it's still very cold. Why of course , take some photos.

     So here are some out of focus, poorly composed photos of cold.

                  A minus 28 C sunset

                 A very white and cold city park

                  Very bright new snow

                  Pile of snow from snow removal

                  Lots of vapor coming from chimneys. Houses are heated with gas and when the furnace runs water vapor used in the burning is vented. As a result our houses are very dry in winter unless we have a humidifier.

                 Using the vapor pattern I know the direction of the wind , approximate wind speed and air pressure. 

                 Cold western sky

                  Bright early morning sunlight on houses across the street

                  Sun rise 

       At 11:25 it was minus 25 C and felt like minus 39 C. The wind was 28 kmh gusting to 39

      At 2:00 Pm it was minus 24 with a wind of 25 kmh and gusting to 42.

     So it was cold out there. My camera froze up and it wouldn't focus any more.

IT'S COLD!

          We are in another nasty cold spell. It's not record breaking cold just good old fashioned cold. Now at 8:30 PM it's minus 28 C (minus 18 F). We are looking at a low of minus 33 C. 

         We have two more days of very cold and then some warmer weather for a few days. Then it gets cold again. 

        There's been some snow with the cold so I've been outside shoveling. It's not too bad to be outside if you have the proper clothing on. 

        It's been mostly clear so I'm going to get out tomorrow for a few photos. 

WEATHER REPORT

      I've had a number of weather related topics lately. so here goes another one which is related to past posts.

     Yesterday , Dec. 4 it was chinooking here. We had a strong steady west wind and a minus 1 C temperature all day. When the sun sets the wind stops. There was no chinook arch but it would have been farther west toward the Rocky mountains.

    Today we had 2 cm of snow. Just enough to shovel and tomorrow morning is will be minus 29 C (20 below F). At one time minus 29 C would not have been a problem but at this age I'm staying home. 

    So there's my weather report and now you can compare it to yours. 

BRUTAL WEATHER

      I have been noticing with some alarm the extreme cold weather across the southern part of the United States. 

    The air with the extreme chill is a location where they are not prepared for extreme chill. They rarely get these low temperatures. I saw some temperatures with lower than minus 20 C. I would find that very cold if I had to stay outside and I'm used to cold and have winter clothing. I can only imagine the discomfort these people are going through. Everything is stacked against them: extreme cold, no electricity, no water, no heat, no food.

    Houses cool off quickly when the power is off. When the power is off most other things are off too. 

   All the power lines in my city are underground. We get power outages but not from weather. Our water lines are a minimum of 8 feet underground. We still get pipes freezing.

    So I feel very badly for the people suffering  through the brutal  cold in the United States. I hope they all survive and that the weather changes quickly.

HOW COLD IS MINUS 41 C ?

 

  

          Just in case you wanted to know it is minus 41 C here this morning and minus 41 C is the same as minus 41 F. 

          These photos were taken just before 9:00 AM. 

WINTER COLD SPELL

    We are in the tenth day of a winter cold spell. Our days have had highs of minus 25-25 C (minus 12-15 F) and nights of minus 30 - 35 C ( minus 25 -30 F). So I've been kind of a sissy and stayed inside most of the time.

    I got thinking about when we were little kids. We played outside most of the time in the winter. I was born in the late 30's and my young childhood was in the early forties. We didn't have much for toys. I remember a set of wooden blocks. So most of the time we played outside. The snow was our toys. There were large snow drifts . We could make tunnels, snow houses, slide down the slopes, jump off high banks or just throw snow at each other. I'm sure Mom was happy to have two little guys play outside instead of being under her feet in a very small house.

    We played for hours before we went in the house. Now I remember the clothes we wore. Fleece lined underwear. This was a suit like coveralls and it was very warm. There was a convenient opening at the back for elimination! We wore two sets of pants. We had felt boots with what was called an overshoe. ...very warm. Felt boots were boots that were made completely of felt. Mom bought the underwear and felt boots. The other clothing came in what we called parcels. People sent us clothing.
  
    Here we were probably 2 and 3.

    My point is that we played outside for hours most days.

    Now I was in the Arctic for my mid twenties. We didn't have cars so walked wherever we wanted to go. I  was outdoors when I was free. Again, I had proper clothing. I had a parka made by a local Eskimo woman. It was warm with three layers. There was an outside shell for wind. A middle layer for insulation and an inside layer for lining. And don't forget the trusty fleece lined underwear. I had kamiks with duffel liners. I don't remember being cold. We snow shoed many miles and hours.

    A nice sweater my Mom made.

    This is the parka I wore in the Arctic.

  
     Skiing out my back door.

   Up until 15 years ago I did lots of cross country skiing. Clothing had become somewhat high tech. We skied hard enough to keep warm. Ruby always had a thermometer on her back back. I remember one morning it was minus 27 F. 

    Well , this week I couldn't find my fleece lined underwear. Couldn't find my felt boots. My kamiks had been sold in the summer. I think I'm going to have to suck it up, get out there and enjoy myself and forget that I'm an old man!

Brrrrrr..

      We've had a very cold and snowy few days of weather. On Nov. 25 heavy snow began. The temperature dropped to minus 20 C (minus 4 F). On Nov. 26 we had more heavy snow. We had between 20 and 30 cm (8 - 12 in) of snow. As the snow moved out cold Arctic air was pulled down so we had minus 30 C( minus 21 F). Nov 27 and today have just been dam cold.

      I finally got out today to get a few photos. It was icy on the fingers. One has to keep the camera inside your coat so that batteries don't die in the camera.

My old friend with a snowy top

Long November shadow

Ruts in the snow

I like my spruce trees with snow on them

More shadow and ruts in the snow.

Some people have shoveled a lot of snow

And this car carries a heavy load of snow

My Winter is Still Very Healthy

      I have noticed that a few bloggers are talking about spring. Some places it's warming up and green grass is making an appearance. Others report moderating temperatures. And some bloggers are extremely tired of winter and just plain fed up. You can pick your category.

     We have had a long and brutal winter. Our winter started in early November with heavy snow. (60 cm). December brought more snow 50 cm (36 in) and cold temperatures. We had a beak in January and had a thaw and long mild spell. February has just been one long cold spell with no break in sight. Yes sir, not even a hint of spring here.

     Today we had a daytime temperature of minus 20 C (-7 F)with a northeast wind of 20 kmh. This evening it is minus 26 C ( -15 F) with a wind chill of minus 37C (-23 F) . Our low tonight will be minus 38 C (-24 F)  with a windchill of minus 52 C (- 33 F). High tomorrow will be minus 25.

    The record low for this date is minus 35 C (- 23 F) set in 1962 and the record high was plus 14 C (+9 F) set in 1986. 

    On the positive side the sun rises at 7:23 AM tomorrow and sets at 6:13 PM. We get 10 hours and 50 minutes of sun tomorrow. 

    So winter still has a strong icy grasp on us right now. The seven day forecast doesn't show much relief.

    So we just have to sit tight knowing that spring will definitely come and be most welcome. 

    On the other hand there is something worse than the weather. I spent 6 hours in the mall shopping with my micro manager and that wasn't fun! Also one of my brothers is sitting in Phoenix and laughing his head off!!

   So to the people getting spring enjoy it. I appreciate your photos as it keeps me hopeful about spring.

    Does the weather bother you or do you roll with the punches?

    

Could the Approach of Winter Be Just a Little Kinder?

        Now I know that asking the weather to do something is totally useless. As useless as my dog howling at the moon! As useless as a rain dance! (Although I could get a strenuous argument on this one. )


       I would really like winter to approach a little meeker or a little kinder. 


        It seems that winter has to hit me with a big bang. Winter has to crash upon me and I don't have time to become accustomed to the harsh temperatures. Later in the winter minus 18 for a daytime high will not be noticed. All of a sudden in the last three days our daytime highs have been minus 18 C(minus 5 F), cloudy and a little wind. When you first go out in these conditions it hits you and makes your body hurt. I would prefer to have the days become gradually cooler and then I would automatically adjust to the temperature and be comfortable.


      So to fight the harsh conditions head on I went out yesterday. I walked to the mall (1.625 Km or 1 mile) I found conditions to be quite reasonable. I was comfortable and enjoyed the walk. On the way I saw a high flying flock of geese as well as a very large coyote right on the trail less than 50 m (160 ft) from me. I respect coyotes and won't tempt them . This one hastily went into the bush and disappeared. 


     My walk took me to the local mall where I was volunteering to man the Nature Center's book store. My time at the mall was great fun. Four hours later I had the pleasure of walking home in the same conditions. There was camera in my pocket with the message "batteries too low." I guess the camera batteries didn't like the cold either.


    Now when I really stop and think about winter coming with a bang  the worst part is sitting in the house and watching it! 

Severe Winter Storm in Central Alberta.

        So when I brag, as I did in my last post, I end up suffering a few days later when a severe winter storm comes into Central Alberta.. Jan. 6 was a beautiful winter day. I bragged about my nice weather. A gradual change took place on Jan.7. Clouds came in and in the evening we began to get light snow.

       Jan. 8 and 9 we  have had a severe winter blizzard. We've had high winds from about 30 kmh to gusts of 60 or 70kmh. This really blew the snow around and caused whiteout conditions in the country. Visibility in the city was down to between one half to one Km. We received about 20 - 25 cm of new snow. The snow is very dry and powdery at this time of year. Highways were closed and a large number of fender benders occurred.

      I didn't have to go anywhere so I could stay safely at home. Shovelling snow from the sidewalks and driveway gave me plenty of exercise. With the wind some of the snow had drifted and then it becomes somewhat hard so that it becomes much more difficult to shovel.

       So the next time I have a nice day, I'm going to keep my mouth shut and not brag about it.

Early Winter Cold Snap

        I recently posted on Nov. 15 about winter hitting Red Deer with a good dump of snow. In fact it snowed for six days. We accumulated about 10cm of snow which isn't that much.

       When the snow stopped a mass of arctic cold air slipped into our area. The cold was unpleasant but not unbearable. Up until the 15th we had daytime highs above zero and not very cold over night. I had ridden bike a few times in November and could have ridden more times if I wasn't busy.

      It really hit me how cold it was when the paper reported that we had broken an old low temperature record. On Nov. 23  we had a low of minus 36 which was two degrees colder than our previous record low. So after I read this I realized why it had been so uncomfortable.

    On Nov. 25 a chinook blew in and we suddenly warmed up and had a high above freezing again. So we have to get used to the temperature extremes and live with them.

    Hiawatha House did not expect to post about weather again in Nov. but since it was out of the ordinary a post was made.