The warm winter continues...

Our 10 day forecast shows daytime highs all above freezing with 6 days well into the 40's.....not a single night below 24. WEIRD!!

I'm getting ready to break out the dirty water pump and try to get some of the water out of the yard. The area where we (think) the septic field is, is saturated with standing water, and I imagine that can only last so long before bad things happen. we have a "lake" under the "old house" (it's on pillars with dirt dug out beneath it for a sunken crawl space).

I love not needing to run the stove 24/7, what with not having that great of wood this season, but this water is ridiculous.

Cool website.

Looks like I am in th e0.03% for my area.


http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/states/residential.cfm/state=CO#sources

58F here today, dropping down to 30ish here in Icey Hollow tonight.

Warm enough during the next few days to not have to run either stove during the day, which is awesomely wunnerful !

Just "unsubscribed" form this thread !
-10°f here, -5 was our high temp today.
Can't take it anymore

Dave, don't bail on me now. At least you're within envying distance.

4:53 PM AKST
Friday January 27
-36°F Fog
Pressure: 30.32" steady (1026.6 mb)
RelHum: 100%
Skies: Partly cloudy
Winds: Calm
Wind Chill: -36°F

More of the same coming.

Wish the Aurora came with heat
I look from inside now, just turn the lights off & look out the window
(I'm not here)

Eck! Too cold!

I am burning 24/7. Last Friday I was chucking wood into the stove at a high rate as it was only 20 degrees.

I hear you. At -20 you're definitely starting to feel the chill.

Oh, wait.

Never mind.

My digital outdoor thermometer conked out but the weather station not far from the house is showing -23* right now.

I was planning to head in to the office today to get some work done. I just checked the weather report and decided to stay home, as it's a nice toasty -30 up here in the hills. As always, it's not the cold, it's the humidity.

10:06 AM AKST Saturday January 28
-47°F Freezing Fog
Pressure: 30.21" steady (1022.9 mb)
RelHum: 100%
Skies: Partly cloudy
Winds: Calm
Wind Chill: -47°F

Sun is shining up here and skies are blue. In town:

...DENSE FOG ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL NOON AKST TODAY...
DENSE ICE FOG WILL PERSIST THROUGH THIS MORNING WITH VISIBILITIES LESS THAN ONE QUARTER MILE AT TIMES. TEMPERATURES BETWEEN 40 AND 50 BELOW THIS MORNING.

Stopped on the way home last night with my son (in separate vehicles) to air up tires. His were low, mine were weird. Working in tandem, I went ahead and took the caps off, he checked the pressure and aired them up, I followed and put caps on. You wouldn't think anything that simple would be worth posting about, but everything is tougher in the cold. By the third tire, your hands ache so bad. People don't drive as well, think as quickly, etc. It's supposed to warm up in a few days, but that's what they've said about each cold snap this winter, and each time it stayed cold.

Only a few more months where we're likely to see the extreme colds.

One more aspect of this cold that is a major PITA, and that's the static electricity. I have long hair, and by the time I've made it to work, it's gone zonkers. Someone told me yesterday that she sprays her hair with a very dilute solution of fabric softener to control static.

Another useful factoid you hope you'll never need.

We're lucky. All our systems are working as intended--house is warming fast with a lot of small chunks of birch in the stove and the sun shining directly in the windows. Cars are stabled. Water and septic is flowing. Large stack of wood outside the door, enough for several weeks.

I have one co-worker whose buried water tank was freezing up (they were able to get it pumped empty before they lost it) and another whose fuel line to her Toyo stove (her only source of heat, single mom with two small children) was gelling. She got herself a little torch and goes out and thaws it when that happens. I've spoken to people in the last week who were trying to keep their places warmed up, and staying in bed huddling under blankets. I shared the `blow the cold air towards the stove' hint with one lady, and she'd never heard of that, was going to try it.

The folks in town are trying to navigate and live in thick, swirling, purple-black ice fog. 'We at least have the blue sky and sunshine, and it really makes a difference in one's mental outlook.

Like I said, we're among the lucky ones.

I feel for you guys in Alaska . . . this is part of a message I got from my sister who now lives in Wasilla. It definitely gave me a good laugh . .. glad I am not Zak . . . Zak by the way is their chocolate lab.

---

Hi, just writing back. Things here are good, thoroughly enjoying our new house. The weather station hasn't registered in the past three weeks. It goes out of lower limits at 25 below. So needless to say it is cold. Since I inadvertently frost bit Zaks balls he has not been up for skiing with me at all in cold temperatures. I suggested to Jon that we have his balls cut off. Well Jon freaked out saying no way. I have no idea why this seemed like such a bad thing. But it probably is a guy thing. Jon just suggests that I stay inside in the extreme cold temperatures. Since the snow machines have problems at those temps it seems good to not ride them either. But the cold temperatures are proving to be good for getting house repairs done.