Commentary, musings, Photography

Cold Weather

42 Comments

This is what -36°C looks like …

… at the southern end of Great Slave Lake in Northwest Territories. In Fahrenheit, that’s -33.

Very sharp and sunny, but my, is it chilly!

Somehow, the air looks cold.

I usually walk to work, but today I needed to take my vehicle; it was slow to start even though it had been plugged in.

I let it run, but the doors protested at being opened (skreeeech) and the tires felt square as I pressed the gas and started moving forward (they had frozen a bit).

I feel like that too when I have to do something I don’t want to do. I’m slow to start and I don’t want to move. My tires are frozen.

Sometimes, you’re just cold and need to get going.

Sometimes, you need to listen to your warmer, more blanket-buried self.

42 thoughts on “Cold Weather”

    1. It’s easier than driving, actually. I can just bundle up and go – work is very close by, so I’m not walking far. The truck has to be babied because it’s been in a deep freeze all night. 🙂

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  2. Ahhh, the good old days. The common comment “but, its a dry cold”. do not always make you eel warmer. I hear some of the chill is coming South to Edmonton. Time for a bit of hibernation. Allan

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    1. To some extent. You get used to the need for lots of gear, and to be cautious, but I still get surprised by how deeply cold it gets. Yesterday I had to take my mitt off briefly and my hand started to hurt from the cold almost immediately.

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  4. Beautiful photograph, Lynette, and I love the analogy!

    I’ve noticed in Winter that when the sky is clear it’s always much colder than when it is overcast, but when it’s overcast you feel the inner cold and grey more than when the sun is out. So there’s this conflict within about which kind of weather you prefer.

    What strikes me the most about the photograph is the shadow. The line between the sunny snow and shadowy snow is so defined. You know the moment you cross from the bright to the dark the chill is going to hit even harder. It reminds me of sunsets in mountainous regions, when you’re in a valley and it goes from day to night, hot to cold in an instant.

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    1. Thank you! 🙂

      I’ve been amazed by how bright and sunny it can be on extremely cold days, but the air has a sort of brittle, crackling quality to it – the molecules are frozen! 😉

      You’re very right about the demarcation between light and shadow. The temp drops immediately, and if wind is blowing, it’s worse. But I love the colours – the sky is blue, the snow is blue … the blues are lovely, not sad at all, just tough. 🙂

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  5. I’m shivering just reading about it.
    I just got in from walking Max. Although there’s snow on the ground, it’s the last day of decent temperatures for a while. Max will just have to go in the back yard, because I’m not walking him in subzero temps (Fahrenheit).
    Stay warm up there at the north pole. 😉

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    1. Are you expecting a cold front or bad storm? No doubt Max will want to be quick about it and come back inside! I have lots of great clothes to stay warm but I remember my Rudy dashing outside for a pee and his poor feet very quickly becoming cold.

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      1. Yep, snow storm is coming. I just posted about it on my blog. Max loves the snow . . . emphasis, LOVES. I can’t get him to come inside. We put booties on him so ice pellets don’t form between is pads, and he goes nuts running around in it. His thick fur coat keeps him warm. Us, on the other hand, have tons of bundling up to do to take him out. He’ll just have to play in the back yard. 🙂

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        1. Max is a very tolerant guy if he will tolerate booties! 🙂 My dear Rudy – being mostly terrier – had a stubborn streak. He tried booties a few times and then went on strike. He would just lie down and give me this wounded stare, as if I was trying to poison him or something. 😉

          I remember you commenting before about Max’s love of snow. I hope he has a wonderful few snow days – a winter doggie treat. 🙂

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  6. Stay warm! Beautiful picture!!! It’s mostly in the 50s and 60s here. This weekend it was actually sunny, which was nice, but now we’re back to rain and clouds. Enjoy the sun:)

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    1. It IS cold, and you do need to dress well because this cold can be dangerous, but getting in the habit of bundling up with the right clothes is the key. I’m not really used to this degree of cold, it’s more that I accept it and have gotten used to dealing with it. 🙂

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    1. It can get pretty cold there too.
      There aren’t many garages here because it’s really too cold for them to be very effective. A heated one would be heaven, but that would be horribly expensive. One nice thing – there are plug-ins everywhere and they are free. 🙂

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  11. Mostly, at this stage, I am glad to live in a more benign climate. But, sometimes, I suddenly and sharply miss the wondrous magic of deep cold — the way its throat-catching frozen perfection snaps you to greater energy and life.

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          1. Take care (well, you know that). I was just looking at a photo of me in Greenland on a snowmobile outing — swaddled in layers of sealskin clothing, but my cheeks crimson with cold.

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  12. I hereby cordially invite you to slap me hard across the face the next time I whine about it being a bit chilly in Dallas. I will not challenge the action nor seek retribution…

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  13. That is cold, -36’C. Your photo looks beautiful but it does look a blue cold. Good that you got the car going. It can be tricky driving in these conditions. Here in Australia I’ve never experienced this kind of cold…where I live in Melbourne at most it gets down to 0’C thereabouts in winter. Hopefully you were all rugged up that day, and for any more cold days to come. I could never get used to that and not sure I’ll even like it!

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    1. The sky is very blue and clear here – I think because we are so close to the top of the world, light reaches us at a much sharper angle and provides us with a much sharper blue.
      Oh yes – I have lots of great clothes for the cold. That’s very important because it’s dangerous otherwise. I can’t say that I’m used to the cold. It’s more that I’m used to dressing for it. 🙂

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  16. OMG! Have never been in -33 deg. cold. Have no idea what that’s like. Here in PA, it can get as low as -5 deg. and I think that’s too darn cold for me!

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      1. For the past 5 day’s or so, the temperature has been darn hot. 97 deg. + with a heat index of 105! Yesterday, it was 105 deg. with heat index of 110! Our central air conditioning is getting a real work out!

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        1. Here it’s very dry and hot (the Okanagan is at the very northern tip of the Sonoran Desert) in the summer and since it’s a very protected valley, the winters are really mild with skiing 20 min away in the mountains. There’s little in the way of humidity which I find so uncomfortable. It’s really quite a great climate. On the other hand, I work in the north (just above 60° north latitude, so I’m north but not in the arctic). Winter is really what it’s best at and it’s stunningly beautiful. The sky, the snow, the air, they all combine into a winterscape that’s really amazing and I have taken some amazing photos. Cold though!

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  17. Reading temp’s in Celcius is not common here in the USA. It’s always in Fahrenheit. We just haven’t adopted the Celcius scale and probably never will. However, it does get darn cold here during the Winter months. Winter is one season that I can do without, but it does have some advantages for my photography if I can brave the cold.

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