Cold Snap

Mark Chisholm

Mark Chisholm

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Man it's been cold around the NorthEast. Today I went to the yard and it was -4*F when we were fueling up! I felt like I was in Edmondton or Toronto! /forum/images/graemlins/shades.gif

The only fun I've been having is with the kids in the neighborhood. Check this fort out.
 

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I made one of those years ago in my parents back yard. a snow tunnel. make a big pile of snow, let it sit for an hour or two then hollow it out. My mom freaked when I told her I was going to sleep in it!
 
Heck, it was -15 here last night and never got above zero this week until today. The temp's dropping below zero again and I'm getting ready to soak in my outdoor wood-heated hot tub (only 50 feet through the snow from the house).

Nice snow fort, but if you want to sleep warm in a Quinzee, dig the entrance tunnel low, protect it from the wind, and have the sleeping ledge above the top of the entrance. That way all the body heat stays in the dome.

I was in a Quinzee with another person in the Adirondacks High Peaks at -15 degrees outside and the "indoor" temp was +20 degrees, almost toasty! Another time, I built such a shelter on the flank of Mt. Washington and it was so quiet inside I didn't realize that there was a blizzard outside and almost got buried!

Fun stuff and a life saver in a pinch.

- Robert
 
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Another time, I built such a shelter on the flank of Mt. Washington and it was so quiet inside I didn't realize that there was a blizzard outside and almost got buried!


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That's hard core. I know Mt Washington has had wind records (over 230 MPH)! I can't really remember, but didn't that record get broken this past year somewhere else?
 
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That's hard core. I know Mt Washington has had wind records (over 230 MPH)! I can't really remember, but didn't that record get broken this past year somewhere else?

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Yeah, probably on Mars. /forum/images/graemlins/wink.gif Actually when that record was made it was already broken - literally - since the wind tower was blown over at the time of its highest measurement.

But hard core is exactly right. The wind-swept snow on Washington was as hard as concrete. I had to use my ice axe to start the digging (my lexan mountaineering shovel wasn't tough enough) and it took two of us three hours to carve out a space just big enough for our packs and sleeping bags. We had to take a supper break half way through just to get enough calories to keep on digging. /forum/images/graemlins/santa.gif

When I had to poop in the morning, the only place I could drop my drawers without risking instantaneous frostbite on parts I'd rather keep whole was the entrance tunnel to the shelter. But we were abandoning it at that point so what the heck!

- Robert
 
Robert,

I can't remember where, but I swear that I heard a place in the world that has seen the highest measured wind speed. I have to research that now!

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the only place I could drop my drawers without risking instantaneous frostbite on parts I'd rather keep whole was the entrance tunnel to the shelter

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Way to ruin it for the next expedition group! /forum/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Re: Highest Wind

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Robert,

I can't remember where, but I swear that I heard a place in the world that has seen the highest measured wind speed.

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Well, I Googled for "highest wind speed on earth" and only came up with references to Mt. Washington on April 12, 1934 at 231 mph. This is stated as "the all-time surface wind speed record" and the Mt. Washington website still claims it's the record.

the story of the world record wind

I thought I had heard years ago that it is thought that higher winds might exist in the circumferential oceans around Antartica (the only place on Earth uninterupted by land masses), but I don't believe that anyone's recorded them.

In early 2004, a DOW (doppler on wheels) recorded wind speeds of 246 mph near Spencer, S.D. inside a tornado which destroyed the entire town, which makes it an F-4 tornado in a scale of 0 to 5 (with 5 being estimated at more than 261 mph).

- Robert
 
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