We're On the List!

dkozloski · #1 (**permalink**) 01-09-09, 01:35 PM

We're on the list of the coldest places on earth here in Fairbanks, Alaska.

http://www.wx-now.com/Weather/WxExtremes.aspx

orconn · #2 (**permalink**) 01-09-09, 02:01 PM

Congratulations to Fairbanks, AK! Having graduated from the U of Wisconsin back in the sixties when -35 below zero (no wind chill factor in those days!) was not uncommon in January and February I think commiseration is probably more appropriate. But then "whatever, turns you on!"

dkozloski · #3 (**permalink**) 01-09-09, 02:10 PM

I guess my thinking is that it's better to be notorious than ignored.

EcSTSatic · #4 (**permalink**) 01-09-09, 02:11 PM

I would hate to live in a place like that! Give me short winters and long sailing seasons

Coma · #5 (**permalink**) 01-09-09, 02:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EcSTSatic

I would hate to live in a place like that! Give me short winters and long sailing seasons

Brizzal · #6 (**permalink**) 01-09-09, 04:32 PM

wow -56F you can only what stay outside for 2 mins before you freeze? current florida weather FTW!

submariner409 · #7 (**permalink**) 01-09-09, 05:00 PM

Think of backpacking near Fairbanks. You rest, and decide to take a slug of that Courvoisier that's in your pack side pocket. You uncork the flask and dump a healthy slug down your throat - aaahhhh!!! (Except that the brandy is at -56F and you're now dead.)

orconn · #8 (**permalink**) 01-09-09, 05:10 PM

I would have thought moose on Main Street, Grizzly Bear dodge'em, and the "Bridge to Nowhere" would be notoriety enough!

dkozloski · #9 (**permalink**) 01-09-09, 05:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brizzal

wow -56F you can only what stay outside for 2 mins before you freeze? current florida weather FTW!

I stepped out the back door in my pajamas and slippers one morning in fifty below weather to put out some garbage and the door locked behind me. Of course I couldn't go to the neighbor and admit my stupidity so I had to hustle to my garage and get some tools to jimmy the back door. I got the job done without freezing some apppendages but it was a near thing. It concentrates the mind wonderfully to be looking at freezing to death from being a maladroit.

Aron9000 · #10 (**permalink**) 01-09-09, 05:53 PM

I know this is a dumb question, but when its -50F outside and you take a piss, does the stream start to freeze in midair before it hits the ground?

dkozloski · #11 (**permalink**) 01-09-09, 06:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aron9000

I know this is a dumb question, but when its -50F outside and you take a piss, does the stream start to freeze in midair before it hits the ground?

No, but there is a lot of steam.

**Ranger** · #12 (**permalink**) 01-09-09, 08:15 PM

Who in their right mind would whip it out in those temperatures? Then again, who in their right mind would LIVE in those temperatures? That is not fit for man nor beast. I've experience -27 (still air temp) down here once and that is enough.

Night Wolf · #13 (**permalink**) 01-09-09, 08:20 PM

It got really cold today, our high for most of the day was around 40, but this morning it was in the 30's... working outside on an airplane in an open tent with steady wind means that I was wearing a t-shirt, a hoodie sweatshirt (and knit winter hat), my work jacket from the airlines (that thinsulate stuff) as well as gortex coveralls and I was still cold the whole time.... I think I am really getting used to the warm weather.

orconn · #14 (**permalink**) 01-09-09, 08:40 PM

Back in the sixties (yar,yar,yar!) At Univ of Wisc (Madison) we still had class when it was -35F. One attacked getting up Bascom Hill from the Union in segments ...... building by building, warming inside each building on the way. The radio station broadcast warnings to watch your fellow students for sign of white patches indicating frost bight, and tell then to get inside immediately if you saw signs of it. Ofcourse, as students we didn't have the kind of ultra cold weather cloths available today so we just suffered through and made do with whatever we could come up with. If I remember, balaclavas were sold out at the Army Navy Store. I spent two and half more years, after college, on Japan's northern island of Hokkaido where it was plenty cold and snowy but nothing like the northern plains of the US or Fairbanks, AK. My sympathy dkoz for your discomfort, confinement and the cost of heating ..... but something must make living there worthwhile or a bright guy like you would have moved on long ago!

dkozloski · #15 (**permalink**) 01-09-09, 09:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by orconn

Back in the sixties (yar,yar,yar!) At Univ of Wisc (Madison) we still had class when it was -35F. One attacked getting up Bascom Hill from the Union in segments ...... building by building, warming inside each building on the way. The radio station broadcast warnings to watch your fellow students for sign of white patches indicating frost bight, and tell then to get inside immediately if you saw signs of it. Ofcourse, as students we didn't have the kind of ultra cold weather cloths available today so we just suffered through and made do with whatever we could come up with. If I remember, balaclavas were sold out at the Army Navy Store. I spent two and half more years, after college, on Japan's northern island of Hokkaido where it was plenty cold and snowy but nothing like the northern plains of the US or Fairbanks, AK. My sympathy dkoz for your discomfort, confinement and the cost of heating ..... but something must make living there worthwhile or a bright guy like you would have moved on long ago!

If you have the right equipment and some experience you can do just about anything you want to do in the cold weather. It's all in the knowing how. I've camped outdoors on the trail at -40F. My dad ran a trapline when the temp was in the -70s. Men and animals do better than machines. You learn to adapt.