Winter Weather

[Monroe]

Today it is -7F with the wind chill as -33F. that's -22C and the wind chill of -36C for Europeans. 10 minutes outside could result in frost bite.

I think we had that kind of windshield yesterday. We had gusts of 50 miles an hour when we were at 2F. It was freakin' freazing, high was at 12:01 AM

[Captain Picard's Hair]

It's not that cold today, but it's REALLY windy here on Staten Island (we get a lot of sea breaze right on the Atalntic coast here, but today the winds are enough to make it somewhat difficult to walk, and can be heard blowing from indoors)

[Mikey]

Yeah, I got that same wind down the shore here. And the river - the Toms River, which is inland from a bay which is sheltered by barrier islands from the ocean - with all that protection still had 6-ft. swells.

[Sionnach Glic]

Oh for.....it's freakin' snowing out here!
Not to mention the gale-force winds, lashing rain, and power outages this morning.

[Mikey]

There's a reason it's called "Hibernia," Rochey.

[mwhittington]

I get the same warming effect from living near the shore.

And mwhittington - I love a wood fire. What do you use? I like apple wood, myself.

I usually use almond or oak, but I've been known to use pine in an emergency because it burns so fast, and also if you ever use manzanita wood, which grows wild up here, use sparingly. This wood burns sooooo hot. And the oils in the leaves are flammable all by themselves.

[mwhittington]

Oh, and for the weather right now, from this morning to this afternoon we had snow coming down, high at 41 F. Then later this afternoon, we got DUMPED ON!! For about another 3 hours, we had blizzard like conditions, and of course, no one but me actually knows how to drive in this junk, everyone else thinks their 4x4s require no skill at all to drive, and I laugh when they're in the ditch, scratching their heads in confusion while I, in my rear wheel drive Dodge Dakota V8, slowly drive by them.

[Mikey]

We don't have anything as exotic as this manzanita of which you speak - mostly oak, with some fruitwoods. I had burning pine, because out by me you can never find it truly cured of all the resin.

And here it was near 50 during the day - at 9:00 pm, it was 31.

[mwhittington]

Yeah, manzanita wood is notoriously hard to cure, mostly due to cracking against the grain, so it doesn't have much use as timber. When it's dry, it's excellent for use in a campfire, barbecue, fireplace, or stove. It is a very dense, very hard wood and burns at a high temperature for long periods. However, caution should be exercised, because the high temperatures can damage thin-walled barbecues, and even crack cast iron stoves or cause chimney fires. When I use manzanita, I use small rounds no bigger than my wrists, mixed in with another wood.

[Sionnach Glic]

There's a reason it's called "Hibernia," Rochey.

I know. It just seems the country's doing it's best to remind us what that reason is.

[Mikey]

Hey, at least you're not in Scotland - "Ultima Thule," if I remember my Latin correctly...

[Sionnach Glic]

Yeah, I think that's the name alright.

[Monroe]

Well we got hammered with weather while the south got torn up with tornadoes. Another day off. This is so unusual. My college hasn't canceled classes since the 1993 Flood and now we've had 3 off this year.

[Blackstar the Chakat]

My town got buried under 10 inches of snow yesterday. I had to stay at a hotel just to be sure I could get to class today, because I'd be dropped if I missed the class three times. Up north barely got anything.

[Sionnach Glic]

Ouch, sounds bad.