A common rumor among alarmists is that you can’t get much snow when it is cold, which is why they think global warming brings snow to Mississippi.
Boulder broke our all time January one day snowfall record today with 14 inches of snow. The maximum temperature today was 8F. At 11PM it is -36F in Wyoming and -22F in Colorado.
Those poor dogs.
Someone needs to rescue them from the extreme heat.
:D
It snows when it’s very cold and when it does the character of the snow is different. The problem when living out in the stuff out of a ruck sack is that snow in extreme cold is so powdery you can’t make a shelter in it. It’s like a lighter version of fine, dry, white sand and will not form and if there isn’t much of a layer of older snow below it you have a problem. Add a high wind above the tree line and things get nasty quickly. You have to find rocks or boulders that will provide a void where the snow drifts around it for a wind break and then build your shelter using dead weights to secure it. If your stuck in an open snow field in those white out conditions and can’t keep moving in such a situation your in for a very tough and long night.
You also sink like a rock in that powdery stuff. As a young kid I had to use skis all winter to keep from sinking in over my head. (Northern NY in the 1950s)
When we went to Dombas, Norway for their Army’s winter warfare training we didn’t take our Alpine Touring skies. Those skis simply did not have the surface area needed for the deep Norwegian powder. Like all SF teams that cycled through their school, we used their skis which were massive boats compared to ours.
We jumped in on their DZ after they had received a good snow. Had our snowshoes rigged for the jump (not on but so they rode down the lowering line and rested on the rucksack for the landing). When I saw my rucksack go out of sight in the snow on it’s 15′ lowering line just before I hit I knew it was deep. But still wasn’t prepared for how deep it was. It would have been very tough to move across that DZ without snow shoes. The Norwegians used a snowmobile to run from one jumper to another to ensure they were OK. An injured jumper could have been in real trouble in that stuff. Second softest parachute landing I ever experienced.
But snow can go the other way for a jumper. Jumping onto a small DZ in Germany we all missed the DZ and went into the cultivated pine grove bordering it on the down wind side. Again with ruck sack. When going into the trees the jumper doesn’t lower the rucksack. I steered to come down in a snow pile between and row of trees and hit my target perfectly. My feet penetrated but the ruck didn’t and brought me to an abrupt stop. My upper torso slammed down over the top of the Large ALICE rucksack and it’s metal frame and knocked the wind out of me. I had a bruise across my torso just below the ribs and was pretty sore for a couple days.
RAH, when learning to telemark in virgin powder in Smithers BC, I manage to fall off my skis. I trip the release and sink over my head in powder. I had a devil of a time trying to climb out of that [self-snip] hole and back onto my skis. I never did touch the ground.
A very, very scary situation since we were miles from the nearest humans and my partner was too busy laughing his head off to help.
We’ll see if the PRE tag works like in WUWT….
The San Jose CA forecast for the next .. 15 days:
TODAY Partly Cloudy
Sat Jan 7 Rain
Sun Jan 8 Rain / Wind
Mon Jan 9 Showers
Tue Jan 10 Rain
Wed Jan 11 AM Showers
Thu Jan 12 Showers
Fri Jan 13 Showers
Sat Jan 14 Showers
Sun Jan 15 Showers
Mon Jan 16 Showers
Tue Jan 17 Showers
Wed Jan 18 Showers
Thu Jan 19 Few Showers
(that’s as far as it goes)
“Too Cold To Snow”
Is the usual ClimAstrologist shell game.
That is —
Iit is sort of true in that the coldest place on earth, Antarctica is a Polar Desert.
It is sort of true in that the Wisconsin Ice age was cold and dry and dusty.
It is sort of true in that higher TSI or warmer temperatures aid evaporation of the ocean water that ends up as snow.
It is entirely false because it misses the meandering jets that dump huge amounts of snow where moist tropical air combines with cold polar air.
Those dogs are simply ‘virtually challenged’…. :)
Dang, “vertically”