BS: Holy Frozen Bat Guano!

Subject: BS: Holy Frozen Bat Guano!
From: LilyFestre
Date: 26 Jan 05 - 03:38 PM

Okay, I don't mean to state the obvious, but it's COLD outside and the temperature is supposed to drop like a rock. The weatherman is calling for temperatures of MINUS 40 degress fahrenheit!!!!!! I don't know about the rest of you, but for my part of the world (North Central Pennsylvania), that is UNHEARD OF.

Are the temperatures completely out of whack in your part of the world?

Shoot, I don't think I've EVER seen it that cold!!!!

Michelle

PS. Yeah, yeah, yeah brucie...I *AM* whining!   *Wink*

Subject: RE: BS: Holy Frozen Bat Guano!
From: LilyFestre
Date: 26 Jan 05 - 03:43 PM

Aww heck...I did not see the thread Eease very cold here.....or I would have whined on THAT thread! HMPH.....must be my shivering has affected my eyesight................

Michelle

Subject: RE: BS: Holy Frozen Bat Guano!
From: gnu
Date: 26 Jan 05 - 03:43 PM

No, normal for this time of the year. I just poted this to the "ees berry cold... thread" :

Tonight .. Cloudy periods. Wind becoming northeast 20 km/h overnight. Low minus 24. Extreme wind chill minus 34.
Thursday .. A mix of sun and cloud. Wind northeast 30 km/h. High minus 16. Extreme wind chill minus 38.

The Ki-ki birds froze near solid in my pines last night. Ki-ki birds... you know their plaintive call... Ki-ki-ki-rist-it's-cold.

Subject: RE: BS: Holy Frozen Bat Guano!
From: gnu
Date: 26 Jan 05 - 03:45 PM

Well, we should continue on that one, or this one. Your call. I've got to put on another log and another sweater.

Subject: RE: BS: Holy Frozen Bat Guano!
From: Peace
Date: 26 Jan 05 - 03:47 PM

If you haven't been around that kind of temperature before, you are in for a 'real treat'. It can be very dangerous. Body parts can freeze very quickly, and if there is wind at all it happens faster. Forty below F and -40 C are the same. IT IS COLD. I would suggest that if you drive anywhere, take a cell phone with you and carry a few sleeping bags in the back seat of the car. Take a metal coffee can with a few candles (will provide warmth), and let people know your expected ETAs and which routes you'll be using. Dress very warmly. Mitts are much better than gloves because your fingers help keep each other warm in mitts. Keeping warm is easier than getting warm. Make sure your gas tank is topped up and I would suggest you carry and extra five qallons in the even you get stuck and have to run your car for an extended perion. Take som chocolate bars or other high-caloric food with you. If you start to shiver from the cold and then you stop shivering, that doesn't mean you're warm. That means you are becoming hypothermic. That is very bad; very dangerous.

How's that for answerin' a question ya didn't even ask?

LF, not to worry. I cry the blues whenever the thermometer drops below -20.

Subject: RE: BS: Holy Frozen Bat Guano!
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Jan 05 - 03:49 PM

LilyF - that minus 40 with or without wind chill?

prediction here is for zero tonight - but with winds that could drop real fast if wind chill is factored in.

Subject: RE: BS: Holy Frozen Bat Guano!
From: Peace
Date: 26 Jan 05 - 03:50 PM

"The Ki-ki birds froze near solid in my pines last night. Ki-ki birds... you know their plaintive call... Ki-ki-ki-rist-it's-cold."

LOL, gnu.

Subject: RE: BS: Holy Frozen Bat Guano!
From: LilyFestre
Date: 26 Jan 05 - 03:55 PM

Ki-ki Birds...LOL....I always wondered what they were called!

As far as I know about the temps around here, that is without the wind. The temps are supposed to just PLUNGE. I think I might just make a trip to town top off the tank.....that's just TOO COLD!

Michelle

Subject: RE: BS: Holy Frozen Bat Guano!
From: gnu
Date: 26 Jan 05 - 04:03 PM

If you ever get stuck, check that the exhaust is clear and run the vehicle just long enough to warm the interior and then shut it off for at least twenty minutes. While warming the vehicle, slightly open two windows, say about 3mm each, unless you detect exhaust fumes coming in through either window. Shut the upwind window if you detect fumes. NEVER heat the vehicle with all windows shut !!!!!! Two young people died near hear just last week by running their vehicle continuously wit the windows shut. And open one window when using candles.

Subject: RE: BS: Holy Frozen Bat Guano!
From: gnu
Date: 26 Jan 05 - 04:27 PM

Brucie... you guys getting cold weather this year ? Do you get many Chinooks where you are ?

Subject: RE: BS: Holy Frozen Bat Guano!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 Jan 05 - 04:30 PM

I second what Brucie said. Heck, I live in Texas now and I still go through my "winterizing" routine each year. I have a couple of bottles of water and a blanket, at the very least, under the back seat (not in the back end of the pickup--you might not be able to get out to it if you run into trouble). I used to always have a down sleeping bag in the truck, but have switched to the blanket in this climate. You hear about people here who ran off of the road and froze to death in bad weather just like you hear about it up north.

(Down here I fear the summers more--having an accident and cooking on the road surface before getting help!)

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Holy Frozen Bat Guano!
From: Peace
Date: 26 Jan 05 - 04:43 PM

Hey gnu. In Hinton we do get chinooks. Two days ago we had about 10" of snow on the ground. Some warm winds/weather moved in and within an hour it felt just like summer. Hinton is in a valley for the most part, and when people ten miles out are getting hammered with snow upto the yinyang, none is falling in town. Depending on which direction the weather is coming from, about half the bad stuff is broken up by the Rockies--falls on the west side of the mountains.

However, the expression here )I have heard it said in other towns where it was an exaggeration--here it isn't--that if you don't like the weather, wait ten minutes. Had a day last winter: woke up it was about -20. By ten that morning snow was falling. By noon it was raining. By 3:00 PM it had warmed to above zero, and that night it dropped to about -25. Craziest darned place I have ever been for weather.

Keep well and keep warm, buddy.

The heat thing that SRS mentions is another. I broke down years back in the Drumheller area--where the badlands are in Alberta. A body could get in serious trouble in that kind of heat. Good eye, SRS.

Subject: RE: BS: Holy Frozen Bat Guano!
From: Joe Offer
Date: 26 Jan 05 - 04:55 PM

Here in the Sierra foothills of California, we've had two weeks of the most extraordinary weather. We had two or three weeks of rain over Christmas, with record snowfall at higher elevations. Then we had two weeks of warm, sunny weather. Everything started turning green, and I looked our from our ridge over a magical sea of fog that covered the Sacramento River Valley. If was depressing to go into the fog on my weekly trip to Sacramento, but it was wonderful to look over the top of it.
Then more rain clouds came in last night, and we're back into grey, rainy winter. Maybe the rain will turn to snow this time.
-Joe Offer, Colfax, California-

Subject: RE: BS: Holy Frozen Bat Guano!
From: gnu
Date: 26 Jan 05 - 05:05 PM

"Everything started turning green,..." From here, seeing California only on TV and in the movies, I always pictured it as eternally green. Do you actually get seasonal changes as pronounced as elsewhere ? Temps and flora and fauna too ?

Subject: RE: BS: Holy Frozen Bat Guano!
From: Peace
Date: 26 Jan 05 - 05:12 PM

"If you ever get stuck, check that the exhaust is clear and run the vehicle just long enough to warm the interior and then shut it off for at least twenty minutes. While warming the vehicle, slightly open two windows, say about 3mm each, unless you detect exhaust fumes coming in through either window. Shut the upwind window if you detect fumes. NEVER heat the vehicle with all windows shut !!!!!! Two young people died near hear just last week by running their vehicle continuously wit the windows shut. And open one window when using candles."

The above advice from gnu is worth repaeting.

Subject: RE: BS: Holy Frozen Bat Guano!
From: gnu
Date: 26 Jan 05 - 05:23 PM

SHITE MAN !!! Don't do that. I thought you copied that from another thread and I tried to find YOUR good advice from another thread.... but it's from this thread, so you can imagine how spaced I just realized I am. How did you know I was taking a break ?

Subject: RE: BS: Holy Frozen Bat Guano!
From: Amos
Date: 26 Jan 05 - 05:40 PM

Gnu:

California has lots and lots of areas that are naturally brown except in the spring, or just after rains in winter. It is striking as you drive up 101 from LA to San Frqancisco along the Western edge of the San Joaquin Valley -- miles of rolling brown hills.

But when they all turn green, as Joe describes, it can be delicious indeed.


A

Subject: RE: BS: Holy Frozen Bat Guano!
From: frogprince
Date: 26 Jan 05 - 06:15 PM

The Navy teaches this rule of thumb: At -30F, with 30 mph wind, exposed flesh freezes in 30 seconds.

Subject: RE: BS: Holy Frozen Bat Guano!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 Jan 05 - 06:16 PM

Gnu, ignore Amos, he just lives there. Everyone knows that California has four well-established seasons: Flood, Fire, Drought, Mudslide.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Holy Frozen Bat Guano!
From: LilyFestre
Date: 26 Jan 05 - 06:16 PM

Okay, I'm back from town with a full tank of gas and lots of goodies to make up a bag for each of the vehicles in case I should ever get stuck. I normally have one each year but having just gotten a new car, I hadn't transferred everything all around.

I was mistaken about the temperature. It IS supposed to get down to -40F but that is with the windchill. Still...either those are going to be some mighty BIG winds or it's going to be damn cold.

I'm all set. Hope ya'll are keeping warm!

Michelle

Subject: RE: BS: Holy Frozen Bat Guano!
From: Rapparee
Date: 26 Jan 05 - 07:07 PM

Aw, dang!

Tonight
Mostly cloudy with a chance of snow...possibly mixed with rain. Lows 19 to 26. Northeast winds around 10 mph until early morning...becoming light and variable. Probability of precipitation 30 percent.

Thursday
Cloudy with a chance of snow...mixing with or changing rain. Highs 33 to 41. Light and variable winds...becoming southwest around 10 mph in the afternoon. Probability of precipitation 40 percent.

Thursday Night
Mostly cloudy with a chance of snow. Lows 21 to 28. Southwest winds around 10 mph. Probability of precipitation 30 percent.

Friday
Mostly cloudy with a slight chance of rain and snow. Highs 33 to 41. Southwest winds up to 10 mph in the morning... becoming light and variable. Probability of precipitation 20 percent.

Friday Night
Mostly cloudy with a chance of snow. Lows 16 to 26. Southwest winds around 10 mph...shifting to northwest after midnight. Probability of precipitation 30 percent.

Saturday
Mostly cloudy with a slight chance of rain and snow. Highs 29 to 36.

Saturday Night
Mostly cloudy with a slight chance of snow. Lows 15 to 25.

Sunday
Partly cloudy. Highs 31 to 38.

Sunday Night
Partly cloudy. Lows 11 to 19.

Monday
Mostly cloudy. Highs 29 to 36.

Monday Night through Wednesday
Partly cloudy. Lows 12 to 22. Highs 30 to 40.

In 1949, the low this past Monday was -52F. That's not windchill, that's temperature. Of course, it was a record that still stands and that's fine with me!

The coldest I've been was -24F when I was in Korea.

We keep a "Winter Kit" in each car. It includes chemical handwarmer packs, sterno, MREs, an old WOOL Army blanket, and toilet paper. Getting stuck in the cold during a storm is no fun -- been there, done that, and don't want to go back.

Oh, yeah -- you might want to leave the faucets on just a trickle.

Subject: RE: BS: Holy Frozen Bat Guano!
From: dianavan
Date: 26 Jan 05 - 11:00 PM

...and don't forget the water pipes! I already drained the outside taps. I also leave the cupboards under the sinks open a little and have the northern pipes wrapped with an electrical heating device that plugs into the basement.

Now that the snow has melted, we are dealing with floods and slides. Prepare for the eventuality!

Subject: RE: BS: Holy Frozen Bat Guano!
From: Bobert
Date: 26 Jan 05 - 11:08 PM

Save the bat guano... It s great fertilizer fir yer cannibus plants... Plus, in Pennsylvania, it ain't ging to be like -40 degrees . It's gonna be like zero'er so an' that ain't -40.

Cold chill id one thing but real temps anothe...

Don't worry none, Michelle 'cause... all is well...

Bobert

Subject: RE: BS: Holy Frozen Bat Guano!
From: Peace
Date: 27 Jan 05 - 01:05 AM

This heat is really gettin' to me, I gotta tell ya.

Subject: RE: BS: Holy Frozen Bat Guano!
From: GUEST,Rapaire
Date: 27 Jan 05 - 09:55 AM

'S okay, Brucie. You can always go stand in some liquid nitrogen or sit on some dry ice, like you folks up northaways do in the summer.

Subject: RE: BS: Holy Frozen Bat Guano!
From: GUEST,brucie
Date: 27 Jan 05 - 10:06 AM

Great ideas, Rapaire. We gotta do somethin'.

Subject: RE: BS: Holy Frozen Bat Guano!
From: Blissfully Ignorant
Date: 27 Jan 05 - 11:51 AM

It's windy here. The wind stole my hat. Bastard. I liked that hat.

Subject: RE: BS: Holy Frozen Bat Guano!
From: LilyFestre
Date: 27 Jan 05 - 02:29 PM

Uh, Bobert..no disrespect friend but if you don't live here, chances are you don't know how cold it is. Wind chill temps ARE meaningful especially for those of us who have to work outside in it or walk for any period of time.

Thankfully it did not reach that extreme here (still well below zero)....but those kinds of temps were predicted.

Michelle

Subject: RE: BS: Holy Frozen Bat Guano!
From: Peace
Date: 27 Jan 05 - 02:34 PM

www.nws.noaa.gov/om/windchill/index.shtml

Subject: RE: BS: Holy Frozen Bat Guano!
From: LilyFestre
Date: 27 Jan 05 - 02:44 PM

Cool chart (HA! How punny!!! *smirk*)

Thanks!

Michelle

Subject: RE: BS: Holy Frozen Bat Guano!
From: Hrothgar
Date: 28 Jan 05 - 04:09 AM

Went down to 39 degrees Fahrenheit (about 4 degrees Celsius) last winter here. Terrible, it was.

LOL