The Chill Continues...

Day by day, with the temperatures not budging above -20. The wind has eased, and that helps a little, but it is not gone, and it still adds to the bite of the cold. Everyone is pretty tired of the persistence of the cold, and the suggestion that there might be a break towards the weekend is welcome. Of course, that does not mean that it will actually happen. We shall simply have to wait and see what transpires. It would be nice to see some temps above zero for a few days. It might give us a chance to thaw a couple of things out...

Da Chill Continues...

-61 windchill the last that I looked...what does that feel like? It is kind of hard to tell, as I made sure to cover as much of my body as was absolutely possible for the morning dog walk (read dog dash). However, I did need to keep a small patch open through which I could see. Within a matter of about a minute or less, I began to develop an "ice cream" headache caused by exposure to the wind and cold. It was, fortunately, a simple matter to turn my head away from direct exposure. I made sure to wear my goggles for the later walk to the school.

Today is a mandatory contract work day, which means that we get paid for the kinds of things that we do for free on the other weekends of the year. I have a stack of papers to grade, and plans to finish, and a project to lay out.

It is quiet here, and another week of the semester has already come and gone. One of my students is doing a news article about her perception that this year seems to be going faster than last year. She is actually interviewing some of the staff about their perceptions. I certainly think that it seems to be going faster and better than last year at this point. Two weeks down, sixteen left to go...

So Much For That...

The travel plans got canceled for everyone. The windchill out at the site to which they would have traveled was reportedly -50, which is an automatic no-go under district rules. So, everyone stays put, we have a work day tomorrow, but we are done for today, and it is time to walk and have a leisurely evening. We can come in tomorrow at whatever time we wish, as long as we put in the time. That will give us a nice break that we would not have had otherwise. I feel badly for the kids, but a breather is hard to sneer at.

Now for the treadmill and some quality time with my wife...

Not So Bad Really, But It Is Cold...

The temperature seems to be the main topic of conversation this morning, with frozen water pipes and sewer alarms going off across the two teacher housing buildings. It has essentially been a frozen month. The high temperatures hovered around five degrees F for a few days and then descended back below zero, where they have remained. It has not been this cold here since I arrived in these parts. Well, it has not been this cold for this long. The effect is being felt especially in the form of frozen pipes and more frozen pipes. Of course, that is a thing that can be repaired. It will be interesting to see whether or not teams can travel for ball if it gets colder.

Enough Already...

Wind Chill Advisory remains in effect from 6 PM this evening
to 9 am akst Saturday...

A Wind Chill Advisory remains in effect for the Kuskokwim Delta from
6 PM this evening to 9 am akst Saturday.

* Wind chill values... 35 below to 45 below

* wind... northeast 10 to 20 mph.

* Timing... dangerously low wind chills will develop early this
evening as north winds develop and temperatures cool and then
persist through mid morning Saturday.

* Impacts... increased risk of hypothermia and frostbite.

Precautionary/preparedness actions...

A Wind Chill Advisory means that very cold air and strong winds
will combine to generate low wind chills. This will result in
frostbite and lead to hypothermia if precautions are not taken.

Heat Wave...

Up to -25.1...

Brrrrr3...

The National Weather Service (that evil Federal menace!!!) says that it is -31.6 F in Bethel now. One of our staff members reported a local reading of -35 and change. Cold for sure, but it is very still, and the cold does not bite as much as it does with the wind blowing. The most interesting visual phenomenon is the fact that smoke coming out of various chimneys (or steam for that matter) will not rise much at all. It flattens out at about ten feet or so above the top of the stacks. Kinda cool looking, and it speaks eloquently to the mass of cold air that is present here.

We have DARE presenters coming to the junior high this morning (they should be in there now), and it will break up the morning a little bit. We will see how the kids process it.

My plan is to head home "early" (read 5:15) to get caught up on the domestic chores before the upcoming weekend, which promises to be hectic. We have junior high basketball here, and no seniors available to staff the concession stand. My wife and I are in our second year of senior class sponsorship, and we have to be there to help raise funds for the senior trip. A couple of obliging underclassmen have promised to help (they are actually girls), and I think that we may have some parental support as well. There is also a work day scheduled for Saturday, and a lot of people are going to be gone as chaperons. It ought to be an interesting weekend, but it sure won't be a restful one. Oh, well, that wouldn't be that much fun anyway. We would just get bored.

We are actually working on a plan to get ourselves out of the building at a reasonable time at the end of the day, and it will be interesting to see how it progresses. Even a small break before we come back to work out in the evening is nice to change the day's pace.