The second wave got here late this afternoon, it's not terribly cold yet, but in some areas there is a raging blizzard as I discovered on the way home from work. I love driving 50km/h under conditions where I can see less than a couple of meters in front of me.
It was about -5°C when I got home, but we are expecting around -14°C by morning. Comparatively mild compared to other parts around the country, being very near the ocean moderates things a bit when it gets extremely cold around.
Heating-wise we start to loose ground around -22°C, but we normally heat the house a bit beyond 20°C as we're both affected by the cold. (Some parts like the man cave where I spend most of my time is somewhat cooler and heated mostly by my amplifiers when I am around.)
It was about -5°C when I got home, but we are expecting around -14°C by morning. Comparatively mild compared to other parts around the country, being very near the ocean moderates things a bit when it gets extremely cold around.
Heating-wise we start to loose ground around -22°C, but we normally heat the house a bit beyond 20°C as we're both affected by the cold. (Some parts like the man cave where I spend most of my time is somewhat cooler and heated mostly by my amplifiers when I am around.)
Maybe Amy would enjoy those glass bottles playing at 11?
Even with Kevin's musical tastes!
Sent by a friend:
Word of the day: "flukkra" - large flakes of softly falling snow (Shetland). Compare "hundslappadrífa"; lit. "dog's-feet-snow" (Icelandic); "skelvie" (Scots; large-flaked snow); "goose-down snow" (English, regional); & "peaux de lièvres", i.e. snow-hare-skin snow (Quebecois).
I have no idea if any of this is right. But right now we have flukkra and skelvie.
Word of the day: "flukkra" - large flakes of softly falling snow (Shetland). Compare "hundslappadrífa"; lit. "dog's-feet-snow" (Icelandic); "skelvie" (Scots; large-flaked snow); "goose-down snow" (English, regional); & "peaux de lièvres", i.e. snow-hare-skin snow (Quebecois).
I have no idea if any of this is right. But right now we have flukkra and skelvie.
We have a heat pump.....at this point (-3F, -19C) there is very little heat to pump. The 30 MPH wind doesn't matter too much to the heat pump, but it limits the outdoor time for us humans. Somewhere around noon I had to dig out some real shoes and a thick long sleeve shirt. Trying to cut some steel shelving with a jig saw outside wasn't much fun when the steel sticks to your skin.
We got mail delivery today. the people across the river in Ohio 1 mile west of us did not. Mail for tomorrow is cancelled for the Ohio side of the river, unknown here. All schools and most businesses were closed today and tomorrow. The roads were very sparsely populated.
The first gen (2008) drive by wire in my Honda made things rather difficult. It kept cutting power when I needed it. I finally pulled into a parking lot and disabled the stability system. The button to do so can not be reached from the driver seat (by me at least). I have to open the drivers door and stand on the ground to reach the button. It defaults to on at each restart.
The basement lab is currently 58F (14C), fine by my standards but I'm tempted to dig out my 845SE and fire it up.....only it hasn't seen power in about 10 years....it might fire back at me!
I was in Rochester Minnesota for the blizzard of 78. Air temp hit -27 with some serious wind chill. I had 3 nice cameras, two of them died from the cold. The only survivor was an old Yashicamat 6 X 6 TLR, that I unfortunately dropped about a year later.
All I kept hearing was "don't forget to plug in the car" 'even if you stop for 5 minutes, plug in the car." Everywhere you went there were outlets and cords in the parking lot. Forget to plug in, and you need some serious new parts, and maybe an engine. Diesels were left running.
> at this point (-3F, -19C) there is very little heat to pump.
Yeah. People with heat-pumps are in distress. OK right now here at 19F, but fading, and to nothing below zero F.
I'm heating with actual fire. Propane. What could go wrong? Well as Scott says, the propane gets weak when cold. I'm sized for below -20F (and just topped-off), but this week it will be colder in many areas, to where the propane won't come out. Fuel-oil gets awful sluggish too.
Yeah. People with heat-pumps are in distress. OK right now here at 19F, but fading, and to nothing below zero F.
I'm heating with actual fire. Propane. What could go wrong? Well as Scott says, the propane gets weak when cold. I'm sized for below -20F (and just topped-off), but this week it will be colder in many areas, to where the propane won't come out. Fuel-oil gets awful sluggish too.
I hope you guys over there are staying safe.
Heard the meteorologists expected the peak of the cold wave today, with temperatures around -48c, then you'd have regional differences.
Coldest measurement so far I heard was some place in Iowa where they measured -54c at one point, about a day ago.
-9c here now.
Struggling to see the positive in the cold?
If anyone is brewing their own alcohol, now might be a good opportunity to try fraction freezing. -40c should get you over 50%!
I know I would! After wrapping myself thoroughly up with a few layers of wool and my thermo suit!
BeerSci: How To Make Strong Beer Stronger | Popular Science
Heard the meteorologists expected the peak of the cold wave today, with temperatures around -48c, then you'd have regional differences.
Coldest measurement so far I heard was some place in Iowa where they measured -54c at one point, about a day ago.
-9c here now.
Struggling to see the positive in the cold?
If anyone is brewing their own alcohol, now might be a good opportunity to try fraction freezing. -40c should get you over 50%!
I know I would! After wrapping myself thoroughly up with a few layers of wool and my thermo suit!
BeerSci: How To Make Strong Beer Stronger | Popular Science
Saw this on the news today Polar vortex: Fire used to melt ice on Chicago train tracks - BBC News
I've never seen a train drive over flames before! We only have electric points heating here and that doesn't always work.
I've never seen a train drive over flames before! We only have electric points heating here and that doesn't always work.
There is another issue with gizmos like heat pumps in cold weather. Most are really not designed for long term continuous use. Rather speeds up the need to replace them.
As to propane tanks one fellow figured a way to beat the really cold issue. He painted the outside tank black. Worked great all winter. Over pressure valve blew out in the summer.
Kerosine portable heaters used to be quite popular for dire need supplemental heat. For some reason fires, carbon monoxide and the smell has made them less popular.
Generally replaced with portable propane heaters that use the one pound size canisters. The good ones include an oxygen level sensor. You can get adapters for the larger cylinders or even adapters to reload the one pound size.
At home my house can just maintain 70F inside when it is -5F outside. I only have a natural gas water heater with a second set of taps for heating. As the burner only cycles on for short periods, seems I need to add more radiation area in addition to the in floor radiant heat pipes. That should allow for more efficient heating and the ability to handle colder weather.
As to propane tanks one fellow figured a way to beat the really cold issue. He painted the outside tank black. Worked great all winter. Over pressure valve blew out in the summer.
Kerosine portable heaters used to be quite popular for dire need supplemental heat. For some reason fires, carbon monoxide and the smell has made them less popular.
Generally replaced with portable propane heaters that use the one pound size canisters. The good ones include an oxygen level sensor. You can get adapters for the larger cylinders or even adapters to reload the one pound size.
At home my house can just maintain 70F inside when it is -5F outside. I only have a natural gas water heater with a second set of taps for heating. As the burner only cycles on for short periods, seems I need to add more radiation area in addition to the in floor radiant heat pipes. That should allow for more efficient heating and the ability to handle colder weather.
You’d laugh at construction of older Kiwi houses and most new ones. Double glazing is rare, walls have very little insulation or none. Ceilings most of those have some insulation. Heat pumps are common but a single wood burning stove is the most common form of heating. I share a big house we have a big wood burner upstairs and I have a wood pellet burning fire good for 9kw output. I love the the pellet burner push button start and cuts out when the room gets up to temperature. The good thing about NZ houses is earthquake resistance wooden houses rattle a bit but little damage. Brick and wood together don’t do so well!
I guess the spikes I have on order from Parts Express might take a bit longer than expected to get to NZ. I chose economy shipping which means they send stuff USPS to UPS and it only gets tracked once received by UPS.
Stay safe folks.
I guess the spikes I have on order from Parts Express might take a bit longer than expected to get to NZ. I chose economy shipping which means they send stuff USPS to UPS and it only gets tracked once received by UPS.
Stay safe folks.
It's been -30F for 2 days here outside of the Mpls. I like winter but this is nuts even for us.
We never had cold days as kids either, -25F? Too bad, get to school. Every year people would die; someone would fall on a sidewalk and not get found until the next day, right in the city. Cars go off the road and no cell phones.
We get something like this every year but this year it seems to be covering a wider area. in 2013-2014 the winter was cold long enough the Lake Superior froze all winter which is a rarity.
I need a motorcycle ride.
Mike
We never had cold days as kids either, -25F? Too bad, get to school. Every year people would die; someone would fall on a sidewalk and not get found until the next day, right in the city. Cars go off the road and no cell phones.
We get something like this every year but this year it seems to be covering a wider area. in 2013-2014 the winter was cold long enough the Lake Superior froze all winter which is a rarity.
I need a motorcycle ride.
Mike
Parts Expres's postal code (45066) is not on the list of postal service shutdowns, but as the text said the list is subject to change. The zip codes in Ohio just west of us did not receive any mail yesterday and they are also not on the list.
USPS Suspends Mail Delivery In Parts Of 10 States Because Of Dangerous Polar Vortex : NPR
Our mail is delivered by a contractor who drives here from Ohio and delivers mail in her personal vehicle. She DID bring me my mail and a couple of Ebay sourced vacuum tubes yesterday.
I brought some outgoing PC boards to the post office this morning, and they seemed to be operating as usual, except for loss of internet, therefore no credit card processing. The guy behind the counter said that people were complaining about late or missed delivery. I suggested that he ask them if they would like to drive a truck around, up on the hills with an open door.....he wasn't allowed to do that.
It was -5F this morning when I got up. It was 66 inside and I had shut all the registers in the basement to conserve the heat upstairs. It's currently +4 outside, the sun is shining and its 68 upstairs. I came down here about an hour ago to a 50 degree basement and opened one register over the PC desk. It's currently 51 in the other side of the basement.
Flames and trains-- a couple times railroads have mounted old jet engines on wheels angled down to flame the tracks. Combination of heat and blow. One in the US was only tried a few times, but one in Russia was used for some time.
I can't feel glee, looking at the Midwest, but here in "chilly Maine" we are expecting +6 to +26 F (-14 to -3 C) through Sunday, and warmer on Monday. We are a degree above historical average. Heating load for the season so far is within a percent of historical average (though 5% above the average for the last decade).
I can't feel glee, looking at the Midwest, but here in "chilly Maine" we are expecting +6 to +26 F (-14 to -3 C) through Sunday, and warmer on Monday. We are a degree above historical average. Heating load for the season so far is within a percent of historical average (though 5% above the average for the last decade).
