BRU-TAL !!!

[grumpa]

In the depths of the coldest, snowiest, most brutal winter weather ever!!
In all my years living in these mountains and just living in the northeastern U.S. (my whole life)
I have never encountered such wicked conditions! When it gets like this that extra gear kicks in and basic survival becomes a real issue.

At the moment we are -9F with a wind chill of -43F. we just had half a meter of snow just last night and that's on top of a foot or so that was just laying around.
All around many are literally "freezing up". Water pipes are bursting, wells are freezing over, folks are running low on basic fuels.
Roads are blocked with snow drifts and with many isolated stubborn old goats (those who never heeded their children's pleas to come back to civilization as many youngsters have moved off when mature enough)

Luckily my boys have chosen the old man's ways and we have claimed this mountain and are here to stay.
But we have so many friends that we kind of all worry about each other and make sure everyone is ok and if not we go into action.

We have three homes on the homestead and a slew of young'ins, we have to make sure the cattle are fed and don't freeze to death.
Some are clamering for wood but it is too far off and too frozen down to even try to cut!
These temps are dangerous indeed and aside from keeping the roads open leading up to us everything else takes second fiddle.

My electric service conductors were sucked down about 6 inches into the ground (by frost) totally destroying my outdoor electrical service and we had to change out entire 200 amp meter and main service switch in sub zero temps!
Our wood supplies are in good stead, we are in the business after all, but others lack of preparedness does not constitute a major crisis on my end.
If life and limb are at stake of course we would do our all but "part timers" as we call them (those with vacation properties sprinkled about) are not a priority since they can sit this out in more civilized environs.

Staying alive in "New Siberia" N.Y. U.S.A. :anguished:

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[stillp]

Ouch! Over here we get worried if we get 3" of snow or temperatures below -5C

Pete

[papa 695]

Ive been hearing about the bad weather/ temps you've been getting over there Jim. I hope it's not too bad for you, the pictures make it look very festive, and hide the real danger that it brings with it.

[grumpa]

Ive been hearing about the bad weather/ temps you've been getting over there Jim. I hope it's not too bad for you, the pictures make it look very festive, and hide the real danger that it brings with it.

We're getting through Ian, this ain't our first rodeo :rolling:
It sure seems like the toughest though :face-with-head-bandage:
We're used to copious amounts of snow but this "polar vortex" business of the past few years with these dangerous temps is something new.

If one were to say here that it's because of the infamous "global warming" one might wind up on the seat of his pants lickety split! :upside:
There is a light at the end of the tunnel though, things are supposed to moderate in the coming weeks temperature wise, though that means more snow, but at least we have a handle on that.

[Ian M]

Hope that you keep safe and warm.
Here in Denmark there is hardly any signs of winter yet so you can send some snow this way if you like.

[Guest]

Same here as with Ian, no snow as far as you can see and it's not freezing outside either, although things are going to change on Sunday by the looks of things...

Growing up in the north of Sweden I've seen more snow in my life than one should have to but this was business as usual and we had the facilities to handle it. Snow (or any other form of extreme weather) is hard when you're not used to it because there's no infrastructure and routines to take care of it so I'm feeling for you Grumpa and all the others who're stuck in the white crap!

I saw a video from somewhere in Canada the last week where they'd just had an ice storm. Supercooled water came down with gale force and instantly froze whenever it hit something. Trees were falling like domino in the forest and all wires (electrical and phone) were covered in 4-8" of ice which caused them to snap.
You can't prepare for weather like that other than having your own generator and ways to keep the house warm.

We're currently in a period of "extreme" weather and it's going to stay like this for quite a few years. How much has got to do with global warming I don't know, but the climate goes up and down and we're apparently just had a peak of one of the cycles, which makes this weather normal in a sense, but still...

Hang in there, keep warm and ensure yer freezers are full of meat and it's soon spring again!

[Guest]

I’m in the middle of a heatwave in excess of 43C (108 degrees Fahrenheit)!

[grumpa]

Same here as with Ian, no snow as far as you can see and it's not freezing outside either, although things are going to change on Sunday by the looks of things... :sad:

Growing up in the north of Sweden I've seen more snow in my life than one should have to but this was business as usual and we had the facilities to handle it. Snow (or any other form of extreme weather) is hard when you're not used to it because there's no infrastructure and routines to take care of it so I'm feeling for you Grumpa and all the others who're stuck in the white crap!

I saw a video from somewhere in Canada the last week where they'd just had an ice storm. Supercooled water came down with gale force and instantly froze whenever it hit something. Trees were falling like domino in the forest and all wires (electrical and phone) were covered in 4-8" of ice which caused them to snap.
You can't prepare for weather like that other than having your own generator and ways to keep the house warm.

We're currently in a period of "extreme" weather and it's going to stay like this for quite a few years. How much has got to do with global warming I don't know, but the climate goes up and down and we're apparently just had a peak of one of the cycles, which makes this weather normal in a sense, but still...

Hang in there, keep warm and ensure yer freezers are full of meat and it's soon spring again! :smiling3:

We'll be ok Jens, freezers are full (four big bucks) and we even have a couple of lambs, butchered a hefty steer (1,200lbs) no feral hogs this year but we'll barter for a pig or two this winter
usually a full cord of split wood gets a nice fat piggy and the kids shot up a few dozen chubby rabbits this fall:hungry:
Chickens and ducks we get fresh off the feather from one of our local keepers....we do alright I guess.

[grumpa]

I’m in the middle of a heatwave in excess of 43C (108 degrees Fahrenheit)!

I'm proper jealous John, where might you be? New Zealand or Australia maybe?
108F is just a wee bit warm for me though :smiling6:

[grumpa]

Hope that you keep safe and warm.
Here in Denmark there is hardly any signs of winter yet so you can send some snow this way if you like.

You can have all the snow you like Ian, Free of charge!
I'll put in a call to the Paris climate accord folks and see if they can arrange shipment :smirk:

[Guest]

I'm proper jealous John, where might you be? New Zealand or Australia maybe?
108F is just a wee bit warm for me though :smiling6:

Australia. Don’t be jealous. We have wildfires!

[stillp]

Australia. Don’t be jealous. We have wildfires!

And wildlife that mostly tries to kill you.

Pete

[grumpa]

And wildlife that mostly tries to kill you.

Pete

Look up California wildfires and you will see record breaking highly destructive wild fires this past 2017
I know you guys hold the record for poisonous snake species but we do have rattlers and moccasins which are deadly.
Bears ,wolves, coyotes and mountain lions kill hundreds every year and deer and moose kill more hundreds in road collisions. :anguished:

[stillp]

Yes, but in Oz even the spiders are deadly!

Pete

[Guest]

Look up California wildfires and you will see record breaking highly destructive wild fires this past 2017
I know you guys hold the record for poisonous snake species but we do have rattlers and moccasins which are deadly.
Bears ,wolves, coyotes and mountain lions kill hundreds every year and deer and moose kill more hundreds in road collisions. :anguished:

The Roos kill a lot in road collisions as well too....