Author Topic: How's the weather?  (Read 210013 times)

Offline DSJ™

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Re: How's the weather?
« Reply #1425 on: December 21, 2008, 03:42 AM »
I just got home from visiting friends before the holiday, it's -30°C here but out in the country... -35°C to -38°C & no wind. Yeah the car had to warm up before I left, only a 20 min drive & the cold from the steering wheel went right through my gloves. I'm still shaking from the chill. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Offline I Am Sith

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Re: How's the weather?
« Reply #1426 on: December 21, 2008, 08:29 PM »
The wind has been pretty bad today (up to 45mph) and all the snow that we got on Friday has been blowing all over the place.  We had to run out and go grocery shopping this afternoon, so we waited until it warmed up to -2o (wind chill -25o) before we went.  Tomorrow's supposed to be more of the same then warming up for more snow on Tuesday. 
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Offline DSJ™

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Re: How's the weather?
« Reply #1427 on: January 2, 2009, 01:16 PM »
It's a crisp day today, clear skies & -30°C & with the little breeze it feels like -41°C. I just finished shoveling the walks, nothing like having snotcicles.

Offline Keonobi

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Re: How's the weather?
« Reply #1428 on: January 2, 2009, 01:42 PM »
Everytime I feel like complaining about the weather I just check the JD weather report and it brightens things up for me.  I believe the current temp is a balmy 20 (F).  It was about 0 (F) when I was up at 2:30 this morning, but that's not quite snoticle weather ;D
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Offline Morgbug

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Re: How's the weather?
« Reply #1429 on: January 2, 2009, 02:25 PM »
Yeah, it's pretty frickin' frigid around these parts too.  I'm south of Dale, and for once we're actually warmer.  -26C without the windchill cuz for once there ain't no wind really.  Probably go out skating today.  Took my daughter skiing yesterday for the first time at around -40.  Stay inside and you go crazy.  Crazier. 
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Offline Morgbug

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Re: How's the weather?
« Reply #1430 on: January 5, 2009, 01:56 PM »
Holy frozen snot balls Batman.  It was really cold this morning.  I'm sure it hasn't been that long, but it was -40 (celsius or fahrenheit, you pick, same at that point) without any wind this morning for the drive into work :o  Car started just fine but the engine just couldn't keep warm in fifth gear so kept downshifting itself to get the revs up to warm up the engine.  Was never really warm for the whole 45 minute drive.   Brrrrrrrrrrfrickinrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. 
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Offline Matt_Fury

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Re: How's the weather?
« Reply #1431 on: January 5, 2009, 02:38 PM »
Brent, do you use block-heaters in your cars in the winter?  I used them in Alaska and I know some people in North Dakota used them from time to time, but I don't know if it's consistently cold enough in your part of Canada for them.
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Offline Morgbug

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Re: How's the weather?
« Reply #1432 on: January 5, 2009, 04:10 PM »
Yeah they're pretty much standard issue on cars sold here.  Generally I don't plug in my car inside the garage unless it's going below minus 30 C or so and then it is on a timer so it's only on for about two hours before I go to work.  Just enough to heat up the oil so it starts more easily.  I do plug in my car at work because it is parked outside all day.  In one of my older cars I used to have an internal car heater as well, but haven't bothered with this car.  Usually switch to 5W30 for winter as well, though they've got a 0W30 out now that might be interesting. 

The magic block heater line occurs somewhere around Fargo.  You'll see the plugs hanging out of every car in Grand Forks (70 miles north of Fargo; 130 miles south of Winnipeg) and on most cars in Fargo.  As you go west towards Minneapolis they become a lot less common (it seems).  Maybe one of the MN guys can confirm whether there are many/any in that burg, but I don't think so. 

It is definitely consistently cold enough to merit them as well.  When we get snow (some time between October 15 and November 15 is the norm for it to arrive and stay) it sticks around for 5 months or so.  During that time period the average monthly temperatures for Winnipeg are as follows:

November -5 C (23F)
December - 13 C (8.5F)
January -16 C (3.2F)
February - 13 C (8.5F)
March -6 C (21F)

(0 C = 32 F)

So well below freezing.  Not Alaska cold but pretty damn cold no matter how you cut it.  Generally it's about 10 F colder, on average, than Minneapolis in each month during the winter.  This past December was quite a bit colder than normal, at -19.3 C (-2.7F) and January thus far is quite cold too.  In a sense you definitely get used to it, but it's still frigging cold. 

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Offline Jeff

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Re: How's the weather?
« Reply #1433 on: January 5, 2009, 04:29 PM »
The magic block heater line occurs somewhere around Fargo.  You'll see the plugs hanging out of every car in Grand Forks (70 miles north of Fargo; 130 miles south of Winnipeg) and on most cars in Fargo.  As you go west towards Minneapolis they become a lot less common (it seems).  Maybe one of the MN guys can confirm whether there are many/any in that burg, but I don't think so. 

It depends on where you live...  when I was in school and when I lived without a garage, the block heater was almost a necessity to keep the car running during the overnight/outside parking in Dec & Jan. 

Now that I park my car inside a garage overnight during the winter, the block heater isn't used as often.  There is usually a one week period during mid-January though where it never goes above 0F that you will see plugs hanging out of cars all over though.

So yeah - I'd say maybe 33-50% of the cars have them here, but definitely not all of them...

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Offline Keonobi

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Re: How's the weather?
« Reply #1434 on: January 5, 2009, 04:36 PM »
Usually switch to 5W30 for winter as well, though they've got a 0W30 out now that might be interesting. 
I have a friend who is a bimmer nut and he said that with the new high quality synthetics, ie Mobil1, you could safely run those Zero weight oils in the car all year round.  You might want to discuss that with you mechanic though.  Not sure how much of a difference changing the weight has, where I'm from we usually get a week or less of consistent sub-zero temps, so changing oil weights isn't as much a concern, and block heaters are only found on oil burners, excuse me, diesels.
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Offline john todd

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Re: How's the weather?
« Reply #1435 on: January 5, 2009, 05:59 PM »
I love TX weather. 

yup... plenty warm for shorts on saturday... 40ish on sunday.  never out of the 30's with freezing drizzle all day today and 60 tomorrow.

Offline DSJ™

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Re: How's the weather?
« Reply #1436 on: January 6, 2009, 02:36 AM »
It warmed up here for awhile, yesterday it was -8°C which was quite nice. It's -10°C right now & snowing abit. If the long range forecast holds up, we will be above zero for a couple of days & more likly some freezing rain.

Offline DSJ™

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Re: How's the weather?
« Reply #1437 on: January 10, 2009, 06:09 PM »
Beautiful day out today, it hit around 2°C.  8)

I finally got around to cleaning up the snow on the garage pad, just spent 2 1/2 hrs snowblowing & chipping away at the packed snow which in some places were 2" thick from driving on it.

Going to be a nice week coming up after Mondays high of -15°C, around zero & 1 day hitting 4°C. Yeah I can handle that.  ;D

Offline Jesse James

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Re: How's the weather?
« Reply #1438 on: January 10, 2009, 06:34 PM »
Snowed an inch an hour here today, and I had the joy of working in it, in a vehicle that isn't meant for wet roads, much less snow.  And it's colder than a witch's knocker too.  We're in the 20's with wind chills in the 1's or -1's. 
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Offline Nicklab

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Re: How's the weather?
« Reply #1439 on: January 10, 2009, 10:26 PM »
I never cease to be amazed by my fellow Northeasterners.  Snow is a semi-regular occurrance in these parts.  But somehow people always forget how to drive in the stuff.  Amazing.
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