The other day when I arrived at the gym at 8 am I asked my friend Charlie how cold it was out in Sterling. -22 was his reply, its always colder in Sterling. So I got to thinking about how us northerners have this almost perverse view of the weather, its almost like bragging when its colder at my house than it is at yours. You know the deal, that walk to school was uphill both ways.
Down in Mexico we have alot of friends from Minnesota, and here at mile 14 we seem to collect Minnesotans. To give them credit, as a group they're the best fisherman I've ever met and I've learned to get used to that unique Minnesota twang. But my only gripe is when I hear from a Minnesotan that "our winters are just like yours".....mmm.....well I know they got hit hard last weekend with snow knee deep to a tall Indian, but in the spirit of cocktail hour science I've done a little research. Following is a 'snapshot' of the current conditions and forecast for Mile 14 and to make it look so I didn't rig this deal I picked out the coldest and darkest of Minnesota, International Falls which I think is near the Canadian border....eh.....
Current temp: ours, -2. Theirs , 12.
Conditions: ours, clear. Theirs, light snow, mist.
Sun up: ours, 10.09 am. Theirs, 8.01 am
Sun down: ours, 3.52 pm. Theirs 4.19 pm. .....that would be a difference of 2 hours and 19 minutes of life sustaining daylight.
Dew point: ours, -6. Theirs, 8.
Wind: ours, calm. Theirs, 6mph
Current snow pack; ours, 12 inches. Theirs, 25 inches....trade ya some dark for some snow?
Coldest forecast temp for the next week; ours, -6. Theirs - 3.
So, you get the idea. AND, mind you this snapshot is a little skewed by the fact that as I type this its evening here and its the middle of the night in International Falls....mmm.....
But in my research I found that we certainly share the same moon. Its a Waxing Gibbous and ours is 94% illuminated, how about that?
I know, I know, I know Mel....you guys in Fairbanks could do the same to us.
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Bob and I were laughing today when Jed told his gramma, "It's totally warmed up today; it's only, like, -25."
ReplyDeleteWell...I check the weather in Soldotna often as it can be an indicator of what our weather will be. It always seems that when it's cold there, it will be warm here and visa versa. This becames more prevalent later in January/February time frame. I will give you the daylight issue as even when the temp is -10, the sun can really add some heat to anything black or through a window. I thing being essentially surrounded by water works in your favor. In 1996 we had the coldest Arctic front recorded in modern history with Embarrass Mn, a small town in northern MN located in a low area, checking in at -60, beating the old record by like 2 degrees. That night at the house I had an unofficial reading on my new digital thermometer of -46. I remember going outside and shouting to my next door neighbor. It wasn't till the end of March before he heard me!
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