Arctic Blast

 

This morning the wind chill factor is -16°. Not real cold compared to other places but cold enough for Banner, the dog, to be uncomfortable.  East on the High Plains it is maybe 20° colder.

With his winter coat this morning he was happy to run around.

My parents had a very small ranch outside of Steamboat Springs, CO. We had a recording thermometer that went to -50°. More than once we saw it stuck on the bottom.

Maybell, CO, about 70 miles NNW of Steamboat, holds the state record of -61°.

You know it is cold when you drive five miles before your tires warm up enough for the flat spots to go away.

Modern engines seem to start easier than the older carburetor models. Block heaters and starting fluid was part of life.

Walking four miles home after wrestling practice no matter the weather or temperature was just what I did along with chores.

Tis' A Privilege To Live In Colorado

Virtual Mirage http://symbolic-mirage.blogspot.com is promoting the concept of global cooling and the coming ice age. He may be right given what is happening in the Colorado Mountains.

https://avalanche.state.co.us/

Roads are closed everywhere and some communities nearly isolated (Leadville, Silverton).

https://denver.cbslocal.com/2019/03/07/interstate-70-closed-avalanche/?fbclid=IwAR1T2F5lJIbE7PzSGvacnjuXn2YCQ7-ymH-0IMgDNVOgv1m9-WCqxex6haM

Living on the Western side of the Divide, winters are rated by the number of wires covered on a four strand barbed wire fence. A normal winter is a ‘three wire’. A bitch of a winter is when the posts are covered. A ‘one or two’ wire winter means no irrigating water come summer.

Leading up to February, a ‘two wire’ seemed to be happening. Now? Irrigating water won’t be short.

This winter’s weather pattern has shifted South. Wyoming is having a mild (by Wyoming standards) winter. Arizona? Read LL’s blog.

The topography of Colorado is such that many highways are built in the bottom of canons or alongside cliffs. I-70 through Glenwood Canyon is a good example or Red Mountain Pass. In addition to avalanches, rock slides often block the highway with rocks the size of small houses coming down. As we get deeper into Spring with freeze/thaw cycles, look out!

Not all the news is bad. Thirty days or longer of sub-zero weather goes a long ways to killing off the pine beetles.

Want to escape to your dream retreat in the Rockies? Please consider this.

https://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/our-colorado/this-colorado-town-was-wiped-off-the-map-by-an-avalanche-135-years-ago?fbclid=IwAR14IHdyLN-DGTNw_pSNCgiwP6wDrGSLWyb7UYBf4K9Y9CZvScrciRkLP0c

A really great winter would be avalanches engulfing the imported (P)regressives infesting the mountain towns IMO. YMMV

First Liar Doesn't Stand A Chance

Lots of jokes about how tough people had it going to school.

“Walked ten miles through the snow, uphill both ways, and into a 90 mph headwind”.

Attended high school in Steamboat Springs, CO. On average Steamboat gets 30 feet of snow each winter. Winters are judged by how many wires on a four strand barb wire fence are covered. A bad winter is when the posts are covered.

Unless there is a cloud cover, temperatures drop to – 20 degrees when the sun goes down. – 50 is not unknown.

Until I was a senior and had a car, it was ¼ of a mile in a rarely plowed lane to the highway where we caught the school bus. As a jock I had to walk home after practice and  a shower. Out of a hot locker room into a sub zero night and a 1.3 mile walk to home. Downhill to the river then along the railroad tracks in the snow between the rails was my quickest way to the ranch chores waiting at home. I made the walk everyday regardless of the temperature or if it was snowing.

Breathing was sometimes difficult in the cold without wrapping a scarf across your face. The hair is your nose froze. Your cheeks went numb. Now 1.3 miles doesn’t sound like much of a distance but I would challenge you to try it in those conditions.

Our school had a dress code where all the females had to wear dresses. Stupid! Most wore some sort of pants to school and changed when they arrived.

Skiing was different as you could dress for the cold. Night skiing on Howelsen Hill was quite popular. Fortifying the hot chocolate with adult beverages was also popular with the adults.

All in all, I prefer the cold to heat and humidity. A summer day in Corpus Christi? No thank you. I’ll take a Wyoming blizzard first.