Is it cold yet?

[Fast One]

Just had to start a cold wx thread. I'm surprised that Bob didn't beat me to it.

-27 F here in East Bethel this morning. What was the lowest temp at your place?

Joel

[MR.hp]

-24° here where I live, This is nothing though. When I was going to high school in 1970 I was at the bus stop and it was -32°. Now that day was cold.

[Fast One]

Yeah, I know what you mean. It may be the coldest wx we've seen in a couple decades, but it's a walk in the park compared to some of the nasty winters we had back then. The only time I remember school being closed just for cold up in Warroad was when it got down to -54 F two nights in a row & it didn't get above -35 F on either day. They closed school for two days. I remember tossing a glass of water into the air & watching it freeze before it hit the ground. I also remember spitting & hearing it crack in midair. The only road vehicles that could go anywhere were garaged. The wind was in the teens, so the windchill was -100 on the old scale - which is -87 F on the new scale. Anything that sat out overnight in that wx was thoroughly cold-soaked. Even if it was plugged-in & managed to start, the wheel-bearing & rear-end grease got so thick that the wheels wouldn't budge. Being a high-school kid with a 'weather can't stop me' attitude, I was determined to go out for a cruise around town just to prove that I could. I remember feeling kinda smug because my old 425 nailhead started (thanks to the 2/0 welder's cable I used for battery cables & the 1500W tank heater I had installed), while my dad's 383-powered '69 Fury III game warden car w/block heater wouldn't start. However, when I put the Dynaflow into reverse, it felt like I had my foot on the brake. I had to really get into the throttle to break the rear-end loose, but the front wheels were so stiff that they just slid on the hardpack snow, so I couldn't go anywhere. For a few days afterward, snowmobiles ruled the streets - while the local service stations were dragging stuff in & using Bertha torches to thaw-out wheel bearings, rear-ends, and manual transmissions.

That's the coldest wx I've ever experienced.

Joel

[MR.hp]

Warmer this weekend, time to wash the trucks.

[Fast One]

Yup. The salt is so thick on the GTP that I can hardly tell what color it is. Nasty. Gotta get it cleaned up so the next layer of car-eating crap will have something to stick to.

Joel