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Here i sit reading through the forum posts and it is 0720. Thinking of getting into gear and taking Boston (my Border Collie) for his long walk before the sun gets going up to an estimated 34c. Thinking in Australia we have very little Covid and it is warm. Elsewhere there are freezing conditions and Covid runs rampant. So if you are in one of the colder areas stay healthy, safe and warm my friends. :drinks:
Nice. Last Thursday we had -15 C°. Looking forward to the spring.
We like the summer, the rain is warmer :p
17 degrees F and snowing in Ohio. Another 4 inches to go on top of the 8 we got earlier. Thanks goodness I am not any farther north! :serious:
Please be a nice spring and summer!
ill gladly send you some cold from ohio. weve got plenty to spare at the moment.
Here in Louisville, we're 13 degrees F at 11 AM, very grateful to be in double digits above zero!!! :eek:
Here is today's SitRep from the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station:
Temp: -46C/-50.8F
Wind Chill: -61C/-77.8F
Wind Speed: 8 knots
Wind Direction: NE Grid 52
Barometer: 678 mb
Pressure Altitude: 3,262 m/10,701 ft
Station Population: 55
This is the "winter" crew coming into the station to perform a few days of turnover with the outgoing summer crew. This will be the last flight out until November's return.
Since the USAF has stopped flying to South Pole due to temps below their min of -50F (hydraulics get all squishy), the last plane in/out is a Basler BT-67 Turbo Conversion. If it looks familiar, it is a remanufactured and modified Douglas DC-3. We use them extensively in the Antarctic. Their "heaters" can in no way make the plane anything even resembling warm, so the occupants wear full survival gear. "Big Red" as they are known (manufactured for the National Science Foundation by Canada Goose) are iconic coats for the US Antarctic Program. Good to about -40F without significant layering. We have special versions good to -90F on station for when the poor IT types (my guys) have to go out and tinker with the satellite ground stations in the dark, cold winter.
Anyone not wearing Big Red, already lives on station as it is not "cool" to wear your survival gear on such a balmy fall day.
Note everyone wearing a mask. The entire station will go "yellow" and wear masks for 10 days while new people are present. Ten super lucky, super excited bastards will get to go home soon as most will have been there for 12 months now.
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Holy frozen Toledo, Jeff wins the thread. :p That pic makes me want to put on 2 Big Reds and read a book near the space heater.
Cheeses fork, Von Scharf! Zip that thing up and put on your mittens!
It's great to see there is still some life in the venerable DC-3!
Im not actually at South Pole this year. I didn't exactly make that clear, did I? I get the SitRep emails from all US Antarctic stations each week. I thought I'd share this week's photo as it had an aviation and temperature theme. Deploying to Antarctica was a nightmare this year with all the managed isolation that was required. A week in San Fran hotel, 20 days in a Christchurch, NZ hotel, 7 more days in McMurdo Station. 20 COVID tests...before you can even fly to South Pole - not for me.
My last time at Pole was November 2018.
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Here is the procedure for taking a picture at the South Pole: Keep camera outside of your coat, but tucked in your armpit to keep batteries warm and internals unfrozen. Take off your goggles and hood. Put on lucky hat, so you look cool. Stand by ceremonial pole marker and smile like it's not -45F. Hold your breath so that you don't create a giant frost cloud over your face. Swear to God that the person taking the picture is being slow on purpose so that your ears fall off. VOILA!
In keeping with the aviation theme, here was my ride in that day:
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Here we are stomping towards the US station:
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A pic from the LC-130 of the Trans-Antarctic mountain range. It's likely no human has ever set foot here in millennia. hundreds of miles from any station and some of those mountains are 13,000 ft tall, but buried in 10,000 ft of glacier:
Attachment 297604
Coming your way Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky. Fast moving and lots of snow. Second storm in a few days.
Photo taken from inside my nice warm house. SWMBO is cooking something delicious smelling in the croc pot and we are day drinking a lovely red. Well, it is 1:42pm here in the beautiful Colorado mountains. Hey, it "feels" dark outside already. Don't judge... :p
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Looking at the Hercules in this extreme environment, a story from Erich Hartmann's biography came to my mind. In Russia, they were wondering how the Russians could maintain flights, when the temperatures were extrem low. Then they got a prisoner on their airbase and they interviewed him about this. He promised to show them the secret. He took a tub, put it under the engine of a 109, filled it with oil and put it on fire. The surrounding German personal jumped in cover, because they expected the engine to explode. But after a few minutes the prisoner asked them to start the engine and everything was fine. :D
What an amazing and interesting life Jeff Scharf lives! :)
We are heading for another 38c/100F day here and I have walked my dog early to avoid the heat. No deer can be seen from my windows but there are a lot of Bin Chickens a few meters up the road. I am thinking that here in Adelaide extreme cold would be for us just like it is in Texas. We are not equipped to deal with that.
It’s heading for 35 today at Victor Harbor another day of Kong painting for me!
From my front door camera a couple nights ago when things were getting started. I live 2 miles from the airport lol. Is your dog lost, Gary? :p
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Victor Harbor is South Australia's premier vacation spot and gets cool sea breezes. Not so much today from the sound of things. :eek:Quote:
Originally Posted by Biggles downunder
I thought on holidays you take in the sea air, not the smell of hobby paints. You get sand between your toes, not paint on your fingers.Quote:
Originally Posted by Biggles downunder
Two pictures for our Aussie friends:
1) Because the mule deer would not stop looking in my windows today. I set down the iPhone and picked up the "good" camera. It is snowing at a rate of about 2 inches per hour now:
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2) This is the absolute "coldest" picture I could find in my entire Antarctic collection. While it might reach -119F at South Pole... this is Palmer Station on the peninsula side (due South from the tip of Chile) where they have humidity and the cold seems so very much worse. Just hold the picture against your forehead:
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geeze forget my complaints about ohio lol.
Some awesome cold scenes here, was going to dig out my winter tour pics from Bosnia but they won’t even touch those above :eek:
Last flight out of South Pole. Conditions at time of photo:
Attachment 297773
Temperature: -49.0°C / -56.2 °F
Wind Chill: -63.7°C / -82.7°F
Wind Speed: 7 knots
Effective Altitude: 10,701 ft
Note that at these temperatures, the engines will actually form contrails while still on the ground.
Since a couple of you asked:
The austral summer season is officially completed at Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. 39 brave souls will now spend the Antarctic winter at the pole for the next 8.5 months... with 6 months in total darkness... with an average winter low temperature of -85F / -65C.
Wintering at pole is a bucket list item that will unfortunately escape me. The wife and I never saw eye-to-eye on that one.
I get a chill, and colder, just reading those numbers.............
Weather here in Masterton, New Zealand, is 27° Celsius (80°F), sunny, with an great airshow in progress
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Wish you were here!
I wish I was there!!Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptMoonbeam
Dakotas will fly 100+ years. Amazing construction, especially in those conditions... :eek:
Gotta get my butt to NZ for one of these airshows someday.
Wish we were there too Terry !Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptMoonbeam
Absolutely!Quote:
Originally Posted by flash