I just remembered when we lived in Alaska, we had posts with outlets in the parking area at our apartment complex so all of us residents could plug in our automobiles, when the weather turned cold. I had forgotten about that. Wow, that is some kind of cold! And here I am already whining about the cold temps, some snow, and gusty winds coming towards the weekend, and praying that we have no power outages. I am NOT dreaming of a white Christmas. I am dreaming of Spring and a green vegetable garden.
I just have an old 1994 Dodge Ram 1500 4WD truck. It seems to always come through when called upon. It would probably actually still start at these temps, but it is hard on the ol' girl, so I don't want to stress it more than necessary. Synthetic oil types seem to work best at low temps.
Some businesses here have plug ins for employyee use, but in Fairbanks, they are everywhere. Where did you live in Alaska, @Krystal Shay ? The gardening season gets me through the end of winter. I begin to start garden plants in February depending on winter travel plans.
I remember when we lived here in Colorado before and I worked just north of downtown Denver. I got off of work at 3:30PM, got into our Dodge RAM 1500, looked at the overhead outside temperature and it was -15. Yes, minus 15. Steam was coming up out of the manhole covers as I drove down the street. Our temp on Wednesday and Thursday will be around -15 at 7AM, and on Thursday, the high will only be 8. Don't know how much snow is coming in Wednesday, but a few inches are predicted, so with the temps the following couple of days, we just might have a "White Christmas" on Sunday.
I wondered how to rewire the furnace so I could hook it up to a generator if I ever dragged it home from the farm. Look! it is not that hard!
-32 F. again this morning but no new snow, thank goodness! It got up to -5 yesterday when the wind picked up a bit, but as soon as the wind died, the temp dropped again.
This is a really weird weather pattern. Last one I can think of, no second to last one was back about 40 years, I was milking cows, got water in my boots, drove home in a borrowed car without a heater and froze three of my toes. Just filled up the car for the weekend. I don't let it go below half full. Keep my cell phone charged and have lots of 'hot hands and feet'. I've gotten soft.
The only thing that seems to bother me these days are my hands. Even with good gloves on, my hands can begin to hurt badly. It could be some circulation problem, or a result of having damaged them thermally in past years. I can only stay out for short periods, and I can only take my gloves off to do fine tasks for very short amounts of time. I am considering heated gloves. My toes don't seem to be affected, but then I don't take my boots off outside very often.
We just got a check in from Chicken, Alaska this evening. The low last night was -63 F. and the high this afternoon was -55 F. Our -32 F. seems mild by comparison. The snow is starting to settle a bit, so it doesn't seem so deep. Solstice is tomorrow, so we get another 16 seconds of daylight on Thursday. Whoopee! We are slowly sliding into summer now!
i fear the cold blizzard coming...got the little cats sheltered in...small exit and entry holes...150 watt bulb...thermostat control plug ...45 high...35 low...we have lil dog who's determined to go out...dread is my feeling
We're gonna get precip all day tomorrow (Thursday), and "they" have been vacillating between a rain event, an ice event, or a combination of the two. Right now it's a "wintry mix" overnight with the ice changing to rain around 9AM. That would only give us a few hours of dangerous road conditions which would then be washed away. Tomorrow night's low is gonna be 9°F (probably colder near my house) with another few nights near as chilly, so the stuff will likely freeze. I sent my barber a text this morning to see if I could get a haircut, and she's on the road to her family in West Virginia for Christmas, trying to beat the weather. I'm not sure she cares if she can't get back out.