Sub Zero Temps

[Mighty Bite]

We're in the middle of a protracted cold spell. Temperature in Fairbanks
as we speak is -51 degrees F. Even Joe (Sea Wolf) would have to swap
out his sneakers and cut offs for long johns. Seattle in January has to
be a step up weather wise, even if it's nasty. See ya all at the SBS.

 

[jennykatz]

We are planning on going to the CBGathering in Seattle in Jan. what can we expect cold and rainy or very Cold ?
I guess I"LL have to give up my shorts and T shirts for long john's and winter coats . Anyway it's about 80 here in Naples .We seem to be having a mild winter so far .

 

[Sea Wolf]

We're in the middle of a protracted cold spell. Temperature in Fairbanks
as we speak is -51 degrees F. Even Joe (Sea Wolf) would have to swap
out his sneakers and cut offs for long johns. Seattle in January has to
be a step up weather wise, even if it's nasty. See ya all at the SBS.

Mark-

Wow!

-51 degrees F!!! :xseek :xseek :xseek

Not for me! With or without long pants!


Let's take up a collection to send ✈ Jim Bathurst (James TXSD) from the Tropical Tip of Texas☀ to the Bottom of the Freezer ☃☃☃ in Fairbanks, just to see if he can cool off enough to make Seattle sound attracive enough to want to go to the Boat Show in January! :lol:

See ya' in Seattle!

Joe. :teeth :thup

 

[Yellowstone]

Mark - It is good to learn that you are still living in the land of the midnight sun. I know Fairbanks gets colder than most of Montana in the winter, but 30 below with the wind blowing is really, really nasty, and it happens now and then. I believe we chatted years ago when you came to the SBS and I drove up from Oregon. I need to tear myself away and come to Seattle and join the group. John

 

[Sea Wolf]

I need to tear myself away and come to Seattle and join the group. John

John-

Do It!

Love to see you and Edna at the SBS/CBGT!!!

Joe.

 

[TyBoo]

I need to tear myself away and come to Seattle and join the group. John

You bet, John. Do it. We'll go for a little walk. I'm a year into the no smoking so I might even be able to keep up with you this time.

 

[Pat Anderson]

In normal times, I would have said 55 - 60 degrees F and raining - or possibly bright and sunny, if you are lucky. But this is not a normal year, and who knows what normal is any more anyway. It has been hovering between cold and rainy and very cold, leaning more to "very cold" - not Fairbanks cold, mind you. There is still snow on the ground here in Fall City. We have had more of it and it has stayed around longer than it has before in my memory...The truth of the matter is, I really have no idea what to expect come the SBS, please plan accordingly!

We are planning on going to the CBGathering in Seattle in Jan. what can we expect cold and rainy or very Cold ?

 

[hardee]

Jim, (jennykatz), I think you would be safe in planning to have layers --- lots of them. Start with the tropical version, shorts and tee Shirts and then add some SE, Jeans and a shirt, moving north something from the midwest, (Add longjohns and a turtle neck) and then move north, a vest and fleece jacket would work here. Some PNW layers of fleece and nylon or gortex and then looking north to some Central BC and up to Alaska layers of Down, or Thermapile.

We are all hoping that you won't need the Sealskins and buffalo hide, however, like Pat said, at this point even the weather guessers are scratching their heads. We are looking forward to seeing you, and will have some extra blankets and coats along.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

 

[Hunkydory]

Being as we heat our home with a coal furnace think I might try and help you guys out there by upping the thermostat and just maybe quickening that world warming. Seems you in the PNW and Mark in the far north could use a touch of it about now. :lol:

 

[Mighty Bite]

I've got one of those wireless weather stations that go down to a max
of minus 39.9 degrees. It's been reading OFL (off limit) for several days
now. A plus in this scenario is that when it gets this cold the wind
doesn't work either. At least the "weather" wind.

You might want to try it sometime Joe, may find it invigorating.

Come on up to the SBS, John. You and Edna can use the break from
routine. Betty and I will be looking forward to seeing you if the SBS
works out for you. It would be good to see you folks again, been a
while now. I understand they have plenty of space available at the
Larkspur and you already know the way there. That almost makes
it a no-brainer.

Enjoy the weather...wherever you are!

 

[breausaw]

We're in the middle of a protracted cold spell. Temperature in Fairbanks
as we speak is -51 degrees F. Even Joe (Sea Wolf) would have to swap
out his sneakers and cut offs for long johns. Seattle in January has to
be a step up weather wise, even if it's nasty. See ya all at the SBS.

Here your pain brother, it’s not as bad here but certainly been staying in the mines zone for a couple of weeks. Lived in Fairbanks in the early 80s, remember washing my new 82 mustang in mines 40 something..Younger and definitely more stoic in those days.

Top of my list this weekend is hitting the Alaska club; leave the kids in the pool while daddy works out and takes a long steam.

The days are getting longer however, and liberation is on the horizon.

 

[T.R. Bauer]

I wonder how cold it is in Tok? If I had to choose which place is worse to live, it is Tok. Those poor people.

 

[Sea Wolf]

I wonder how cold it is in Tok? If I had to choose which place is worse to live, it is Tok. Those poor people.

I had no idea where Tok was, or what it was about.

Joe. :teeth :thup

 

[Mighty Bite]

Joe, you'd frequently be right on Tok, but not this time around. Current
temp in Tok is -28.1, Fairbanks has warmed to -39.6 and North Pole, which is a small town about 12 miles south of Fairbanks has -47 at present, but has been under -60 during this spell.

Enough of that, think SBS!

 

[JamesTXSD]

...

-51 degrees F!!! :xseek :xseek :xseek

Not for me! With or without long pants!


Let's take up a collection to send ✈ Jim Bathurst (James TXSD) from the Tropical Tip of Texas☀ to the Bottom of the Freezer ☃☃☃ in Fairbanks, just to see if he can cool off enough to make Seattle sound attracive enough to want to go to the Boat Show in January! :lol:

See ya' in Seattle!

Joe. :teeth :thup

You couldn't come up with enough money to make me willingly go to -51º! :disgust When we lived in the Black HIlls, there were a couple times we saw -35º with even worse wind chills. Never again. Never. NEVER!

I was out on the boat today... barefoot, no shirt. Wild Blue has spoiled me. It was near 80º. I salute those of you who can do those evil cold temps... this island boy is a big wuss when it comes to cold. :xseek

Warm wishes,
Jim B.

 

[tpbrady]

The state low this morning was Eagle at -60. Just got back from retrieving my diesel truck from Summit Lake where we spent New Year's in a cabin. Had to bring the batteries back to town to warm them up and pick up a can of starting fluid. Every was OK down to -10 but the last night it hit -26. We went through lot of wood in 3 days.

 

[rogerbum]

I've never been in weather that cold and don't intend to do so. Makes our complaining down here about the cold and snow in Seattle seem a little whiny. I used to live in the suburbs of Chicago and it wasn't unusual to have a couple of weeks below 0F with the occasional -20F night. When it used to get that cold, I had either straight 10W or 5W-20 oil in the car and even then, I still got up 2-3 times per night to run the car for 20 mins to keep things warm. I had no garage space for my car nor did I have an electric oil or coolant heater so if I didn't run that car at 10PM, 1AM and about 4AM, it wouldn't start at 7AM when I needed it. -50 or even -60! How do you guys keep the diesel from gelling and keep the oil from turning to vaseline?

 

[tpbrady]

Two things are critical to starting a car in the cold. One is to the keep the battery warm. The second is to use synthetic oil. When I first moved to Fairbanks in the mid 70's synthetic oil was just coming out. The first one I remember was something called Conoco DN600. I remember starting my old Toyota LandCruiser at -35 with only the battery blanket working. I had been gone for a month and my engine heater had failed. It didn't start easy but it started. The viscosity of synthetic oils is pretty much the same over the normal operating temperature range. I remember seeing some 5w30 come out of the can like pudding at -40. Conoco DN600 poured out like normal. Since then in all my gasoline vehicles I have always run Mobil 1 including the snow blower. I haven't done that with my diesel trucks (10 quarts of oil is a lot) and because the fuel needs to be somewhat warm to start at -30. The block heater does that. I don't know what the diesel designation in Fairbanks is, but in the days before low sulphur diesel, it used to be DFA (diesel fuel arctic). It was basically jet fuel minus the additives. On the pumps it was labelled as winterized number 1 diesel.

 

[Mighty Bite]

Amen, on the Mobil1 synthetic oil. A little spendier, but a lot better
product, particularly for the extreme temperatures. It cuts down on
the wear factor and up's the cold weather starting reliability. Diesel's
don't like cold weather starts so they present a greater challenge
than gas burners.

Auto Starts are sooooooo nice in cold weather and in Fairbanks their
value ranges between hellaciously convenient and absolutely
necessary. Between the Auto Start and Mobil 1, operating vehicles
in extreme temps is pretty doable.

Now, if I coulld just afford the heating oil to keep my house warm.
Gas $2.45 gal ..............#2 heating oil $2.08 gal. in Fbks.

 

[breausaw]

Two things are critical to starting a car in the cold. One is to the keep the battery warm. The second is to use synthetic oil. When I first moved to Fairbanks in the mid 70's synthetic oil was just coming out. The first one I remember was something called Conoco DN600. I remember starting my old Toyota LandCruiser at -35 with only the battery blanket working. I had been gone for a month and my engine heater had failed. It didn't start easy but it started. The viscosity of synthetic oils is pretty much the same over the normal operating temperature range. I remember seeing some 5w30 come out of the can like pudding at -40. Conoco DN600 poured out like normal. Since then in all my gasoline vehicles I have always run Mobil 1 including the snow blower. I haven't done that with my diesel trucks (10 quarts of oil is a lot) and because the fuel needs to be somewhat warm to start at -30. The block heater does that. I don't know what the diesel designation in Fairbanks is, but in the days before low sulphur diesel, it used to be DFA (diesel fuel arctic). It was basically jet fuel minus the additives. On the pumps it was labelled as winterized number 1 diesel.

I remember a product called Frigid-Go, think it was straight ATF. ATF is what’s been used for years on the slope in please of hydraulic fluid. Had a 327v8 69 El Camino back in the 70s and it would start up no problem at -40 using Frigid-Go in the crankcase. I now use AMSOIL Series 3000 SAE 5W-30 Synthetic Heavy Duty Diesel Oil in everything, except my outboard.