Running errands at 40 degrees below zero
I started by titling this post “Running errands at 40 below” then decided that normal terminology here might make no sense to people in other places 🙂
Anyway, with the temperature right at -40°C (which is also -40°F), I needed to go into Whitehorse this morning because I offered to take a friend to the airport. I decided to pick up a few things while I was there, and brought my camera gear for a bit of a photo-wander.
Before leaving home, though, I’ll show you what our property has looked like for quite a while now. I thought a north wind was going to blow in with that cold air and knock all this frost and snow off, but it didn’t happen. It is beautiful.
First, the view to the west from our breakfast table – when it’s clear, the mountain called Golden Horn can be seen.
Trying to decide what to call the directions, I had to pull out an aerial 🙂
The big willow beside the main wood storage shed gathers frost well.
Looking out from our master bedroom, to the north-west over my new bee garden area.
Looking up alongside the driveway.
I shot the previous photos 2 days ago when it was cloudy. The sky was clear this morning so in the next photo of our memorial area, where we spread the ashes of our pets who have crossed the Rainbow Bridge, the bluish colour that clouds cause is gone.
This morning, I was almost to the Alaska Highway when I shot the first photo at 11:04, four minutes after official sunrise. I left Bella and Tucker at home on this outing – if anything goes wrong at this sort of temperature, I want them to be in a warm, safe place.
I picked up my friend and dropped her off at the airport, then went wandering. The next photo, of our LNG power production operation, was shot at 11:39. The “smoke” is just water vapour – made visible by the extremely cold air that freezes it.
The diesel power production was going full tilt!
Yukon Energy posted on Facebook this morning: “On cold winter days like today, we usually see demand for electricity increase in the mornings when people are getting ready for work or school, and in the evenings when people get home. When this happens, it puts pressure on our electricity system and we need to use more diesel and LNG to generate electricity. To reduce this pressure and the amount of diesel and LNG we need to use, consider reducing your electricity usage during peak times.” Note how much electricity is still being produced by the hydro turbines.
Wow – the “steam” coming off the open water on the Yukon River is certainly the photo of the day.
I saw this view as I was going past the SS Klondike, and had to go around the block and go for a bit of a walk to capture it. Actually, construction fences blocked the view I saw and wanted, but this is close enough.
When I was getting groceries, I saw two ATRs land, so stopped in at the airport on the way home, but things were pretty quiet by then.
One last photo…
Back at home, nice and cozy. I lit the woodstove at about 04:00, and as I finish writing this just after 5:00 pm, the propane furnace still hasn’t needed to fire – the Blaze King is keeping the house at 21°C 🙂
Unlike the “gold old days,” this deep cold is just a one-day blip – it’s starting to warm tomorrow.
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Meant to ask, comment from the last post where you did a lot of driving… How is the older vehicle working out now for you? (you had a lot of it rebuilt I think you mentioned) For the long drives do you miss the Caddy? And do you have plans to replace that for something else? (I do remember the little Audi you looked at in the fall, but that for fun) …and some mentioning of a newer motorhome too.
Hopefully you are feeling a more ambitious driving and RV schedule is on tap for these upcoming months.
The Tracker is working out really well – it was a good investment. I’m not functioning in anything close to a normal way, so any planning, or thinking about “what-ifs”, isn’t possible. With my memory decimated, I also don’t have regrets except in the most vague sort of way, and that’s a good thing.
Sure does look fantastic with the snow all over everything like that. We had the luxury of that for about a week after the last snowstorm just before Christmas before things got warm for a few weeks. This weekends storm was pretty nasty but too much snow to have the same effect sadly. That said, I am not envious of the temperature – I’ll take my -8 any day!
Another great post. A lovely reminder of the good old days of square tires and plugging in the car through extended cold snaps. Hoping for a chinook to blow in and bring the temperature above zero was usually rewarded with exactly that until the next big deep freeze. The diesel plant was a good place to thrill to the sound of those big throbbing engines. Never knew there was an LNG plant as well keeping yukoners warm in winter. Your photos are really nice from where I sit in Vancouver. Clear and windy this morning. Snowing heavily by 3 pm but only minus 4. By 4 pm traffic had already ground to a halt as bus passengers were told to start walking home. Stay warm. Dogs too.