Non-stop cold wind for days with gusts up to around 40 mph (64 kph) in western Connecticut. Perfect ANTI-canoeing weather. What is this? It blows.
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Weather 1/25: Cold, Cold, Cold, Wind, Wind, Wind, Wind
- Thread starter Glenn MacGrady
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Tell me about it. I had to do some errands yesterday. I was wearing a light weight long sleeve wool T shirt with a medium weight wool sweater and a wool Pendelton shirt over that. It was all tucked into a pair of Eddie Bauer lined pants with insulated Red Wing Elk Hunter boots. As I was doing my shopping at the supermarket I felt sick and thought I might go down. I finished up and got out of there into that Arctic blast. It felt fantastic, I think I was getting heat stroke. If I had my scarf on I might have died. I drove home with the window open.
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Most times, the wind is not much of a factor in the river gorge here. But the put-ins all have snow on them. My Connect van has 5.6" ground clearance and a good snow berm will lift the wheels off the ground. We are usually pretty lucky in Maryland to be able to paddle all year. But I can't get to the water. Hear my whine!
And please, don't remind me of all those times I could get to the water and did something lame instead of canoeing.
And please, don't remind me of all those times I could get to the water and did something lame instead of canoeing.
Same here in Maine. Way too cold to work in my drafty barn.
Jim
Jim
Sorry you folks live in such hostile environments!
Welcome to Iowa, Glenn.
Here it's big news when the wind stops blowing (like it has for the past week).
Alan
My daughter lives in the Adirondacks so I get no sympathy from her when I talk about the weather.
Jim
Jim
-32 C here two mornings ago. Still shirt-sleeve weather, not sure what you guys are complaining about. 
One thing I learned from living in Ak is not to underestimate the weather. Down here, my wife and I routinely show up at the Grandkids athletic events with wool hats, gloves and jackets. Sometimes we're the only ones there that aren't complaining about the cold, but other times we're embarrassingly overdressed. It doesn't help that we live on a mountain where it could be 10 degrees colder than where the kids are.
When we first moved to Ak we took a road trip to Manley, which is just a little over 100 miles from the arctic circle. While talking to the flagger at some road construction, she saw our Pa license plate. She told us that she spent a winter down there and it was the coldest she had ever been, and she grew up in Manley.
Same here.
I grew up and have returned to now live on the western side of the Adirondacks and my daughter now lives on the eastern side. I have a small one room cabin that I inherited from my father in the heart of Tug Hill lake effect snow country, where my parents grew up and we used to fish and hunt when I was a kid. Several times each winter I need to ski in a couple of miles to the camp to shovel waist deep 4+ feetof snow from the roof. I don't spend much time there any more due to in recent decades the entire area being overrun by noisy smelly snowmobiles in winter and 4 wheelers in summer. When I grew up in the region, it was not unusual to have at least a couple of winter nights dip to -40F temperature or even lower. Last year at my home I recorded -36F, and other nights down to -25F, in spite of global warming. Twice so far this season I have experienced lake effect snowfall in excess of 36 inches and temps in the singles below zero at home.
However, that kind of weather is livable. We know how to prepare and even to embrace it. I heat my 4 bedroom home using a single wood stove, with an oil heat furnace backup for when I may be away for a day or more. Tornadoes are not unheard of, but are very rare and quite weak causing minimal damage. an EF-0 twister came through a nearby wooded area last summer but did not damage any structures. Equally rare southern hurricanes may produce enough rain to cause some flooding in low lying areas, but without any massively destructive winds. Way back in 1995, a 100mph derecho straight line wind front damaged a large portion of Adirondack forests. We have no meaningful widespread droughts. We may touch high 80's or even 90 degrees for a day or two during a summer heat wave, but are comfortable in daytime high 70's-low 80's, 50's at night with open windows and litle or no need for AC that many/most people do not even have. Large scale forest wildfires simply do not happen since the time of wood/coal fired locomotives in the 1800's woodlands. Forest and grassland wildfires are preempted by proscribed fires and controlled burns by the DEC.
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It is all relative to what you are used to. In Nevada it gets above about 50 mph. Compared to Wyoming it is not that bad.
Cold is 25 or more degrees colder than what people are used to . In the northern Rockies that is -35 degrees and below. In Texas it is about 15 degrees above zero.
Cold is 25 or more degrees colder than what people are used to . In the northern Rockies that is -35 degrees and below. In Texas it is about 15 degrees above zero.
It’s been about 32 at night here and 50 daytime and the locals dress like Michigan and think its cold. I get remarks because I wear shorts and sandals all year.
Long term forecast called for warmer winter but Jan is running way below normal and will for most of the month. Grin and bear it wherever you are
Long term forecast called for warmer winter but Jan is running way below normal and will for most of the month. Grin and bear it wherever you are
Years ago, at the military base where I worked we got a new commander who had never been stationed at a northern base before. When we got our first inch and not much more of a snowfall in his first November, he declared an emergency and closed the base and everyone stayed home from work. Of course no other area busineses paid any mind. The Colonel did not live that down for years to follow. But he took it iin good humor every time it was brought up.
More snow just means better paddling when it melts. I have a brand new Savage River Blackwater that is eagarly awaiting its first touch of wet water.
More snow just means better paddling when it melts. I have a brand new Savage River Blackwater that is eagarly awaiting its first touch of wet water.
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We live in the Midwest where it gets brutally cold and windy but there's rarely enough snow to get out and do something active like cross country ski, snowshoe, or ride snowmobiles. I don't mind cold as long as there's snow so I can get out and do something. Since we don't get snow I'd rather head somewhere warm than be locked up inside. Since retiring we take the motorhome and go south for the winter. We just pulled into a park where it's 70 degrees with a small lake so tomorrow I'll unload the boat and paddle around and do a bit of fishing. We'll be here a week or so then move on to a place on the gulf where we can paddle out and search for dolphins. After that we'll head to Big Cypress to paddle the mangrove swamps then down to the keys.
I still have lots of ice free water within about 40 minutes, possibly less. I can be skiing the back country in about 2 hours. What to do.... what to do.....
That looks lovely
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Honestly, other than the relentless wind, I'm very happy that we've returned to an old time winter. I love being able to xc ski or snowshoe out my back door. The last few winters all we've been able to do is go for walks in spring-like conditions. I like snow a whole lot better.
That's all for now. Take care and until next time...be well.
snapper
That's all for now. Take care and until next time...be well.
snapper
@yknpdlr can you tell me what 'lake effect snow' is please?
I just pulled into Vermont from Virginia last night - it's colder in VA than VT right now, but I feel like I came into Winter. Plenty of snow on the ground, smoke drifting out of the sauna chimney, turned 4WD on for the first time in a year. I do have to find a pair of insulated boots somewhere but other than that, feeling pretty cozy.
I just pulled into Vermont from Virginia last night - it's colder in VA than VT right now, but I feel like I came into Winter. Plenty of snow on the ground, smoke drifting out of the sauna chimney, turned 4WD on for the first time in a year. I do have to find a pair of insulated boots somewhere but other than that, feeling pretty cozy.
The technical answer is easy to find with Google: https://www.weather.gov/safety/winter-lake-effect-snow
Here is a sample of what and where I grew up with:
Cold winds blowing in the prevailing wind directions from the relatively warm unfrozen Great Lakes pick up moisture during the fetch along especially the NE orientation of Lakes Erie and Ontario. I my case, living off the eastern end of Lake Ontario, narrow bands of very heavy falling snow set up as the wind is forced upward over the Tug Hill Plateau before reaching the Adirondacks. As it rises, the air cools and dumps massive snowfall in bands that may be quite wide, or only a few miles wide with open gaps between. You can be driving south to north and be in bright sunshine on a nice day, then suddenly you are in total whiteout near blizzard conditions with snowfall rates anywhere up to 5inches /hour.
In my experience (except for a few military years, literally living there mainly since birth), it may be a beautiful scene of raw snowfall power. During those times of up to 5"/hour, if you go outside and take a deep breath, the snowflakes are so thick and concentrated that you may feel that you are choking on the mass of snow entering your mouth. Beautiful.
The Europeans who first populated the Tug Hill area were mostly from Eastern Europe, who were given the promise of cheap land and plentiful water with good hunting and fishing. In reality the soil is poor and rocky, although the fishing (mainly small brook trout) and hunting and trapping was good. Winters were as shown in the snowplow video above. Even while living in town between Tug Hill and the Adirondacks, I remember watching those giant "Oshkosh" snowplows having to "buck" the high drifted snow on my road. taking a run at the drift, being forced to come to a stop, then backing up to take another rushing run at it until through. Know how to deal with it and you are fine. Panic at heavy snowfall and you might as well move to tornado/hurricane/wildfire country to be happy.
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