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keltor wrote:

The real question is, what temperature do you go camping at? I've been in the teens F a few times, but nothing colder.

40s is fine in a tent. By the time water is freezing, I'm starting to feel a little less enthusiastic...

Went camping at Grand Canyon several Christmases ago. The first two days were fine, with a sunny 60 or so for a high, and an overnight low in the mid 30s. Then a front arrived.... Woke up early, too cold to sleep, to <= 15F and 3 inches of snow! Went to the rim and watch the sun rise as bitter air blasted out of the chasm. Memorable, and VERY pretty, but not something I try to do too often.

If there is a 'heaven,' it's camping in S. Utah in the spring. Highs from 60~80, with lows in the 40s. Glorious scenery, fun hikes, etc.

I'm ok with southern Utah except for the people, which is why I don't go camping in Southern Utah (or Utah at all) ((Or Western Colorado as it happen.)

We've camped below freezing, but not on purpose. Didn't think about the fact that the campground we were planning to stay at (somewhere in Colorado, I forget the specific campground) was at high enough altitude that it still dipped below freezing at night in June. The freezing temperatures were the least of our problems though, as my wife and I both started suffering from altitude sickness the second day there.

I got caught out on the trail during late season elk bowhunting. We spent the night in a snow cave we made. It was -40f outside, but the cave was close to 32. Cold, but we made it.

Deanjo wrote:

Brrrr, someone make a Tim Horton's delivery run for me.

This happens in Tampere every year

NeelyCam wrote:

Deanjo wrote:

Brrrr, someone make a Tim Horton's delivery run for me.

This happens in Tampere every year

Oh, it happens every year here too, it doesn't mean it's easy to handle, especially not the first couple of days like that. That said, with remote car starters and other modern gadgets, it's not like people face winter much any more.

Not quite there yet, was only -10F this AM.

I am with you Ned. Only -14F this morning. I am so glad it has warmed up to 5F with snow. It feels like a heat wave.

Ugh. Looks like we're getting a repeat of January 1998, a/k/a The Great Ice Storm of 1998. Roads are already near-impassable and we're not even in the 24/36 hours the weather boffins have said will be the bad bit.

Hope the power grid has more redundancy than back in '98 as I lost power for 3 days back then. If I have a significant outage this time I will override SWMBO (perilously dangerous and limited to about 1 per decade) and there will be a NG-fueled whole-house generator (single mains cable transfer switch) installed pronto.

Good luck Captain Ned.

It was in the 70s today. Lovely weather. Drove around with the windows down, wore shorts and a t-shirt all day. Tomorrow's high is only 40 though.

Weather is crazy here in the SSW Philadelphia suburbs.
It was averaging 20F to 35F and we even had 3 snowfall days of 3 inches or more already.
Now it was 65F when I woke up sweating this morning and its now 70F. It melted away the first white Christmas since I was under 10yrs old.
Now tomorrow night it is going into the 20's again with a chance of snow Christmas eve.

Major ice storm here in the Toronto area ruined my damn car man

One interstate is closed down and TDOT is advising people not to drive on the other (but isn't actually blocking it). Heck of a lot of ice.

Freezing rain and a dusting of snow overnight here. Temperatures are hovering just below the freezing mark. I bet the roads are "interesting" (haven't been out yet myself).

Got lucky in that power was only down for 2 hours. 1998 cleaned out all of the susceptible trees. Had my hand on the doorknob to go to Lowe's and buy a temporary generator when the lights came back on. I was ecstatic 10 minutes earlier when I'd checked the breaker panel and realized I had enough open slots to slap a 240V socket on the panel board and backfeed rather than pulling circuits out of breakers and putting plugs on them. And yes, before anyone goes all NEC on me, I would have tripped the main before back-feeding.

Living in a house powered by natural gas means that I don't have any 240V appliances left. All the 240V stuff (stove, dryer, water heater) is now NG. Now off to Lowe's to get the supplies for a backfeed setup. Methinks 100' or more of 8 gauge 3-wire (i.e. 2 hot wires) won't be cheap. Wiring those into the appropriate connectors (4-pin twist-locks) is already making my fingers cramp up.

Another hour and SWMBO would have signed off on the whole-house genny. Damn.

DancinJack wrote:

Some of you keep the house at 70? That is nuts. I would be burning up.

I never let the thermo go above 62 in the winter, and I live in a really old, drafty apartment.

I keep my apt between 72 & 74. even when it's -18° F out

Captain Ned wrote:

Another hour and SWMBO would have signed off on the whole-house genny. Damn.

It's times like that you go check the breaker and switch it off in case the power does come back

Captain Ned wrote:

Got lucky in that power was only down for 2 hours. 1998 cleaned out all of the susceptible trees. Had my hand on the doorknob to go to Lowe's and buy a temporary generator when the lights came back on. I was ecstatic 10 minutes earlier when I'd checked the breaker panel and realized I had enough open slots to slap a 240V socket on the panel board and backfeed rather than pulling circuits out of breakers and putting plugs on them. And yes, before anyone goes all NEC on me, I would have tripped the main before back-feeding.

Living in a house powered by natural gas means that I don't have any 240V appliances left. All the 240V stuff (stove, dryer, water heater) is now NG. Now off to Lowe's to get the supplies for a backfeed setup. Methinks 100' or more of 8 gauge 3-wire (i.e. 2 hot wires) won't be cheap. Wiring those into the appropriate connectors (4-pin twist-locks) is already making my fingers cramp up.

Another hour and SWMBO would have signed off on the whole-house genny. Damn.

There was a time here when 2 sets of 10 wire were considerably cheaper than one 8 wire run. Worth a look at the prices.

On Saturday we managed to slither down the 401 from Ottawa to London. Left Ottawa and it was fine, half way down the 416 the windscreen started freezing up and even on full defrost it wasn't keeping the top clear. At one point wo pulled off on an off ramp to swap drivers and my wife got out and sat down on the ice. Went past 14 cars in the ditch including one on the side with an ambulance in attendance, plus two transport trucks jackknifed at the side of the road. By the time we got to Toronto it had warmed up enough to stop freezing, we had accumulated about a fist sized lump of ice on each door mirror until some idiot on the 401 express pulled in directly in front of us and my wife had to stand on the brakes. That got rid of it!

My car when I left the house around noon today:

The snow appears to have stuck together in a continuous sheet and slid off in one piece as the outside temperature crept above freezing. The bottom right bit was dangling free, and you can also see how the top edge is notched from where the windshield washer nozzles were poking through. I also love how it folded up around the license plate frame!

I don't remember your feet being that large.

PenGun wrote:

There was a time here when 2 sets of 10 wire were considerably cheaper than one 8 wire run. Worth a look at the prices.

I tend to the conservative side when it comes to ampacity, so it'll be a single run of 8/3. It's rated to 50 amps while 10-gauge is rated to 30 amps.

I can get 8 at Lowe's. If I needed to go to 6 or 4 I'd have to pretend to be in the business and hit up a real distributor. That would not be pleasant.

Ah, a lovely 1" or so of ice around everything this AM. Walking in the driveway is impossible and I never learned how to properly skate. I need to find some random Zamboni driver and give him a piece of my mind.

When it's so slick that the dog can't stay upright ....

And SWMBO is attempting to clear the back steps. It's her pet project every winter. From the sounds, she's got an uphill struggle. There's a reason I haven't replaced the deck boards since we bought the house in 1994.

Severe windchill warning here today -50C.

Captain Ned wrote:

PenGun wrote:

There was a time here when 2 sets of 10 wire were considerably cheaper than one 8 wire run. Worth a look at the prices.

I tend to the conservative side when it comes to ampacity, so it'll be a single run of 8/3. It's rated to 50 amps while 10-gauge is rated to 30 amps.

I can get 8 at Lowe's. If I needed to go to 6 or 4 I'd have to pretend to be in the business and hit up a real distributor. That would not be pleasant.

What I meant was 2 runs of 10 wire as opposed to one run of 8 wire, all three wire. So slightly more capacity. At one time 2 runs of 10 wire was actually cheaper than one run of 8 wire in this part of the world.

Long as the lugs on both ends are approved for double tapping it's not a terrible plan.

No freezing rain here. -25C takes care of that.

jss21382 wrote:

Long as the lugs on both ends are approved for double tapping it's not a terrible plan.

Probably harder to shove 2 runs of 10/3 over a single run of 8/3 through the strain-relief clamp. Then again, 50-amp rated 4-pin twistlocks are beefy devices.

Besides, power is back on and I now dream of my whole-house NG gen set. Seeing as we lost power twice in a single day, I might not even have to spend the one per decade override card.

EDIT: Oh, and you people up in Timmins got lost on your way south to more temperate climes. Not my fault if you're not smart enough to move (says this life-long heat-hating Vermonter). Have a TimBit on me. I'm good for it through PayPal. Just keep your stick on the ice and if they don't find you handsome, be sure they find you handy.

One of the best parts of where I live is having both CBC and CTV on the cable plan. The Chicken Cannon and "Talking to Americans" will always be with me. How do you top Jean Poutine?

So apparently my old hometown of Indianapolis is basically shut down due to weather. Roads here were partially cleared, but we're still at -16F (-26.7C) but feels like -43F (-41.7C).