The Weather

[KaffiMann]

You do know that 0F = almost -18C right?

The freezing point of a specific salt based solution = 0F
Starting point of fever = 100F

Triple point of water = 0C
Boiling point of water (1 atm pressure) = 100C

-7C here, about 19.4F.

 

[jackinnj]

This morning, we got the ice which wrought havoc on I-95. Freezing rain on highways is the worst as you can't pre-treat the roadway.

 

[billshurv]

You do know that 0F = almost -18C right?

The freezing point of a specific salt based solution = 0F
Starting point of fever = 100F

I remember reading some years back that no one had ever managed to get a salt solution that cold and so that result hasn't been replicated. Can anyone confirm?

 

[KaffiMann]

I do know for a fact that when they salt the roads here and it drops to -18c or colder, the roads get a hard polished surface much slicker than the hard packed snow on the roads with no salt.

 

[boswald]

In Vermont, when we get below 5F or thereabouts, they switch to a mix of sand and salt.

The salt helps the sand stick to the ice, better when driven on a little.

 

[KaffiMann]

-13C this morning.

I like this picture.

Here's a bit of text.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fahrenheit

Fahrenheit proposed his temperature scale in 1724, basing it on two reference points of temperature. In his initial scale (which is not the final Fahrenheit scale), the zero point was determined by placing the thermometer in "a mixture of ice, water, and salis Armoniaci[16] [transl. ammonium chloride] or even sea salt".[17] This combination forms a eutectic system which stabilizes its temperature automatically: 0 °F was defined to be that stable temperature. A second point, 96 degrees, was approximately the human body's temperature (sanguine hominis sani, the blood of a healthy person).[17] A third point, 32 degrees, was marked as being the temperature of ice and water "without the aforementioned salts".[17]

According to a German story, Fahrenheit actually chose the lowest air temperature measured in his hometown Danzig (Gdańsk, Poland) in winter 1708-09 as 0 °F, and only later had the need to be able to make this value reproducible using brine.[18]

According to a letter Fahrenheit wrote to his friend Herman Boerhaave,[19] his scale was built on the work of Ole Rømer, whom he had met earlier. In Rømer's scale, brine freezes at zero, water freezes and melts at 7.5 degrees, body temperature is 22.5, and water boils at 60 degrees. Fahrenheit multiplied each value by four in order to eliminate fractions and make the scale more fine-grained. He then re-calibrated his scale using the melting point of ice and normal human body temperature (which were at 30 and 90 degrees); he adjusted the scale so that the melting point of ice would be 32 degrees and body temperature 96 degrees, so that 64 intervals would separate the two, allowing him to mark degree lines on his instruments by simply bisecting the interval six times (since 64 is 2 to the sixth power).[20][21]

Fahrenheit soon after observed that water boils at about 212 degrees using this scale.[22] The use of the freezing and boiling points of water as thermometer fixed reference points became popular following the work of Anders Celsius and these fixed points were adopted by a committee of the Royal Society led by Henry Cavendish in 1776.[23] Under this system, the Fahrenheit scale is redefined slightly so that the freezing point of water was exactly 32 °F, and the boiling point was exactly 212 °F or 180 degrees higher. It is for this reason that normal human body temperature is approximately 98.6° (oral temperature) on the revised scale (whereas it was 90° on Fahrenheit's multiplication of Rømer, and 96° on his original scale).[24]

In the present-day Fahrenheit scale, 0 °F no longer corresponds to the eutectic temperature of ammonium chloride brine as described above. Instead, that eutectic is at approximately 4 °F on the final Fahrenheit scale.[25]

The Rankine temperature scale was based upon the Fahrenheit temperature scale, with its zero representing absolute zero instead.

 

[rmyauck]

-36C and -37 this evening with a good breeze all day, so what more could you ask for! Shaping up to be like 2012-13 winter!

 

[jjasniew]

Continuous rain all day. Sump pump under the house cycling. Field between neighbor's house and adjacent road flooded - 1st time seeing that. If those rabbits that live in the blackberry bushes are hibernating, they're going to be in for a rude awakening, as their burrows flood. Our small pooch has a hard time when the weather's like this; owner reluctant, he's reluctant, wet, cold, miserable outside.

 

[jackinnj]

This is a weather item -- two guys, intoxicated -- drove their truck off the road in a New Hampshire/Vermont snowstorm. Their dog, a one year old Shepherd went for help. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/06/us/dog-tinsley-rescues-owner.html Behind a paywall, so if you'd like a PDF pm me:

 

[Cal Weldon]

I leave my Christmas lights out until early January. Today was the right day to put them away. Seems like Mother Nature has other plans. The cords that are covered in snow are locked in there due to the freeze-thaw cycle that has happened a few times since the snow began falling a couple of weeks ago. Just not in the mood to guess where the cord actually is and smash through the snow to get at them. I think I'll go make eggnog and watch the snow fall yet again. I thought I lived in Vancouver? Apparently I live in Canada.

 

[Cal Weldon]

Holy gazoola, that eggnog seems to have a big amount of nog in it. I best go walk the dog while I still can. Snowing steadily as I type.

 

[vinylkid58]

No snow in the forecast here. 4.5C with the sun peaking thru the clouds.

jeff

 

[jackinnj]

I leave my Christmas lights out until early January. Today was the right day to put them away. Seems like Mother Nature has other plans.

We stop plugging them in after Epiphany. They are lapped around rhododendrons and won't be put into storage until March.

 

[Fast Eddie D]

There was an overnight thaw and now the temp is dropping. You could ice skate on the street and on my driveway too.

 

[simon7000]

Personally I prefer saying 43F rather than 6C. Did have a bit of snow on Friday.

The real issue for me is should I mow the grass! But rain is coming.

 

[rmyauck]

-39.5C / 40F yesterday morning , but only -32C/ -25F this morning but very windy and sunny. Still too much wind to bring it up much and now -27C/-18F at 2 PM

 

[jackinnj]

Freezing rain in NJ -- if the sun comes up in the morning will post a pic of "winter wonderland".

 

[Fast Eddie D]

We had freezing rain last night, with a quick dip in temp afterwords. There was slick ice this morning. My buddy came over today and helped me spread some ice melt. Had to tiptoe on the ice before that.

 

[KaffiMann]

Incredibly mild here, only -3 here now, and some form of insanity may have struck the meteorological institute since they claim it's going to be +6C later this week!
Where's my cozy and dry -10-15C? Hope we won't get that after the plants are starting to wake up...

 

[Gnobuddy]

We had freezing rain last night...

Ditto - freezing rain that coated the snow on the ground in a layer of ice as it fell.

It's warmed up during the day, but it has been raining cats and dogs for hours. The blueberry fields on both sides of Hwy 15 in Surrey were under a couple of feet of muddy water on my way to work this morning. I hope BC isn't in for yet another bout of disastrous flooding.

The weather in BC has gone quite mad this year, and it is entirely the fault of us humans. We poked the sleeping bear one too many times.

Gnobuddy