Chena Hot Springs run #2

Well, last week, Martina and I headed out to Chena Hot Springs to do some shoeing, when we were about 30 miles out, the wind started to pick up....have you ever seen a snow devil? We saw plenty on the way there & when we arrived. It wasn't a hard decision to make when we got out of the truck that we weren't going to be doing any shoeing that day. The temp was already -20, factor in what I'm guessing was at least 20-30 mile an hour winds.....don't want to think about the wind chill factor...BBBrrr.
Since we weren't about to waste an hours drive, we pretty much spent the day in the water, well, 90 minutes the first go round, then had lunch and got back in for about another 2 or so hours. We are planning on going back in a week or so to give it another go for both Martina & I want to do some shoeing and cross country skiing out in the Chena area.

It's a Tropical Heat Wave!!!!!

Could 21 above zero ever be considered warm?
You bet your sweet bucket it is!
Never in a million years would I think that I would ever consider 21 above warm.
Though, then again, I've never thought that I'd experience -39 either.
When I arrived in Fairbanks, just a hair over two weeks ago, when I stepped out of the airport most of the signs ranged from -28 to -40 (I've wondered if there is a competition to see who can register the lowest temp). And it stayed that cold for almost a week. We had a gradual warm up and the highs would hover around -20 to -10 for the next week. Then we finally warmed up really good on 12/4...the official temp was 21 above, though, it was my understanding that a lot of the signs in town were saying 26 to 28 above.
So, when you look at the temp difference from when I arrived and from yesterday...that is a temp difference of anywhere between 50 & 70 degrees difference!!!!! (depending on who you want to believe!)
So, in my book, that would make 21 above, warm.
I mean, heck, you all back in Missouri would be breaking out the shorts & flip flops if it had been 10 above and then it hit 60 or 70, right?

Which would you rather have....single digit temps and lower, or an inch of ice and maybe no heat?

HHHMMMMM....I really don't have to think about that one! Would rather have the low temps! All that ice is more dangerous than the low temps. Not to mention that I absolutely HATE driving on ice!
We got a little snow here in Fairbanks also, but not much. Everyone here tells me that we are behind in snowfall and when I told them of what was going on in the Midwest, they said that you all were getting our snow!!! I'm sure many people would be more than happy to send it this way!!
I just read something on the net that Amerun UE (the electric company that serves most of the southern halves of Illinois & Missouri) is reporting that 520,000 customers are without electricity. Sounds like a repeat of almost 6 months ago where 1 million + were without power for a minimum of 3 days after two powerful sets of thunderstorms rolled through.

The above pictures are from:
http://iwitness.stltoday.com/mycapture/photos/Album.aspx?EventID=202597&CategoryID=23106

I found several pictures I'd love to post, but I'd have to shell out ~$8 @ to the Post Dispatch to buy them...will describe some.

1. Someone cleaning up a downed tree due to the ice....they had on the basics:coat with a hood & gloves, and then had a face mask on. All I can say is "Wuss!!!!" (the temps was somewhere around 30--again WUSS!)

2. Someone shoveling their driveway in flipflops & shorts. O.k.....can we say "Stupid?!"

Well, it's about 1:30 am, no longer snowing. I guess I should get to bed for I want to get up and take some pictures of the thick coating of frost on everything around here when the sun is coming up...that is about 10:22 am... will have about 4 1/2 hours of light......by 12/22, will be down to 3 hours and 42 minutes.
http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/astronomy.html?n=81&month=12&year=2006&obj=sun&afl=-11&day=1