Winter in Arkansas

kgarkie

Been living the blues.
Last saturday, it was 75 degrees; but the temperatures have dropped, gulf air is being pulled in and a cold front is approaching. The meteorologists are calling for a possibility of snow friday into saturday this week. And that means by friday night, the bread aisle and milk cooler will be emptied. Because I'm originally from Montana, plowed snow at the Billings Logan International Airport in MT a couple of years and spent 2 winters in Korea, I always get a kick out of Southerners reaction to snow.
 

brent

Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.
Grew up in Texas, now live in Wisconsin. I know what you mean.
 

Silicon Valley Tom

It makes me happpy to play The Blues!
I grew up in San Francisco (fourth generation). My wife Katy, is from Peru. One day Katy said it was too hot! It was 73. The next day she said it was too cold! It was 72. So I concluded that the perfect temperature was 72.5. :)

The Air Force sent me to a number of places where the snow was in drifts 20 feet high. Minot, North Dakota, Lewistown, Montana, San Angelo, Texas, Orlando, Florida, Grandview, Missouri, and many other places, had interesting weather.

You can drive about 150 miles east from the California Coast, and in the winter be in snow. One year we had a storm that hit us hard, leaving 17 feet of snow in the Sierra's. It did not make the national news. That same storm left 17 inches on the Rockies, and did make the national news. We have deserts, and glaciers not too far apart. You can drive 50 miles east of San Francisco, and think that you are in Mississippi. So we have very definite areas of distinct weather, as well as value systems.

In 1965-66 we lived in San Angelo, Texas, and we found out that a tornado had destroyed the downtown section. Steel reinforced buildings were destroyed. We lived a few block from downtown, and our land lady said: "Don't worry about tornados! The brick building we live in will protect us"! :ROFLMAO:

The day we arrived in Grandview, Missouri (July 1966), they had an official sighting of 180 tornados that day, in our county. The week we left (October 1967) there were two tornados that touched down within 1 1/2 miles of our apartment, and a twister was directly over our apartment house but did not touch down. :eek:

We do have a variety of weather conditions in our country. Our weather persons that give the local weather really have a great job! They change the weather forecast for each news program. I think they make it up as they go along! ;) They can tell us two weeks in advance what the weather is going to be like, but have no clue what the hi or low temp was for the day. :D




Tom
 

PapaBear

Guit Fiddlier
Snow? we have no problem with snow in the south, as long as it's here today and gone tomorrow, and only accumulates less than three inches
 

Rancid Rumpboogie

Blues Mangler
I grew up in Havre, Montana. I remember once it got down to 60 below for a whole week! At the time I was living with four other guys and none of us had a car. A friend came by in his folks' caddy, turned it off and came in just long enough to ask if we wanted to get out of the house and go for a ride (all of about 5 minutes), and when we got out to the car the oil was so thick it wouldn't even turn over. 40 below was quite common. 30 below was "chilly". :confused:
 

Grateful_Ed

Student Of The Blues
I've been to Fargo, ND when it was 40 below. At least that's what my daughter told me it was. It was 70 above inside the house where I was. City boy can survive! :sneaky:
 

brent

Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.
I grew up in Havre, Montana. I remember once it got down to 60 below for a whole week! At the time I was living with four other guys and none of us had a car. A friend came by in his folks' caddy, turned it off and came in just long enough to ask if we wanted to get out of the house and go for a ride (all of about 5 minutes), and when we got out to the car the oil was so thick it wouldn't even turn over. 40 below was quite common. 30 below was "chilly". :confused:

That sounds like my first week of boot camp at Great Lakes Naval Base. Only we had to be out in it learning to march.
 

tommytubetone

Great Lakes
I used to go winter camping in northern Minnesota. The year Jack Daniels turned to slush, we had to put a metal garbage can lid full of Kingsford charcoal under the oil pan to get the oil heated up enough to let the engine turn over. Luckily it was a 4x4 with enough ground clearance that we didn't start it on fire. Ah, those were the days. :oops:
 

MarkDyson

Blues Hound Wannabe
I used to go winter camping in northern Minnesota. The year Jack Daniels turned to slush, we had to put a metal garbage can lid full of Kingsford charcoal under the oil pan to get the oil heated up enough to let the engine turn over. Luckily it was a 4x4 with enough ground clearance that we didn't start it on fire. Ah, those were the days. :oops:

The big boss for my main client (and the guy who was my boss's boss when I worked there) is heavily into winter camping; I guess it's a thing, with a community of enthusiasts and everything. Who knew?
 

Rancid Rumpboogie

Blues Mangler
I used to be a crew chief for a Forest Service survey crew, surveying timber sale access roads near Grangeville, Idaho. One winter, in late January, they sent us to a location called Blue Ridge. They packed us in 10 miles up a narrow rocky trail with a string of mules. We had a canvas tent with a long piece of lodgepole pine for a ridge pole, a little tin sheepherder's stove, and a pit in the ground about 4 X 10 filled with frozen fire rations. And a galvanized wash tub to heat water to boiling to prepare those frozen rations. Every day we had to leave one guy in camp to keep feeding that little stove just to get that tub of water hot enough to fix our dinner. We were in there for 10-day stretches. Lunches were also frozen fire rations ... a sandwich, a candy bar, and a tin of inedible frozen fruit cake. The damned chipmunks got into our catch of frozen rations and drilled right through all of them going for the candy bars. So we had frozen sandwiches with holes in them. Two days after we got up there and the mules left, it dumped snow and got colder than the hubs of hell. I woke up with the tent's ridgepole about six inches away from my chest. Went outside and you couldn't even tell there was a tent there, just a pile of snow. I radioed in to HQ and asked for blankets to be packed in. No problem they said. Next evening when we got back from out on the line there was a pile of paper fire blankets ... treated so they wouldn't burn, so we couldn't even burn the useless things in the stove. I just LOVE government work! My next radio call was 90% profanity, but the next night we had actual wool blankets.
 

sloslunas

NM Blues
Coldest night I ever spent was up in the Appalachians during annual ski training with the Green Berets. Tent posts? Forget about it. The ground was frozen solid. We used a hydraulic auger to put in 1 inch diameter corkscrew anchors for the tents. It was well below zero and the wind was blowing 60 miles an hour. We used very heavy ropes to secure the tents to the anchors. The ropes froze and the sides of our tent went horizontal to the ground. I had every piece of clothing that I had in the duffel bag...including my boots! In addition, I had two mummy bags wrapped around me. I was pretty sure that I was going to die that night...

Steve
 

tommytubetone

Great Lakes
Coldest night I ever spent was up in the Appalachians during annual ski training with the Green Berets. Tent posts? Forget about it. The ground was frozen solid. We used a hydraulic auger to put in 1 inch diameter corkscrew anchors for the tents. It was well below zero and the wind was blowing 60 miles an hour. We used very heavy ropes to secure the tents to the anchors. The ropes froze and the sides of our tent went horizontal to the ground. I had every piece of clothing that I had in the duffel bag...including my boots! In addition, I had two mummy bags wrapped around me. I was pretty sure that I was going to die that night...

Steve
Two good sleeping bags was the key for sure. One inside the other. We never brought tents. What's the R value of a tent wall after all? We dug out the snow and affixed a tarp to keep any snow off during the night. Sweating was the thing to avoid, so having just the right amount of clothes at night was a delicate balancing act. Boots were left out at night and were stiff in the morning due to foot perspiration during the day. Nothing a long walk over the lake wouldn't cure in the morning. :unsure: It's mostly a mental game. I've considered doing it again. We'll see. :whistle:
 

tommytubetone

Great Lakes
Two good sleeping bags was the key for sure. One inside the other. We never brought tents. What's the R value of a tent wall after all? We dug out the snow and affixed a tarp to keep any snow off during the night. Sweating was the thing to avoid, so having just the right amount of clothes at night was a delicate balancing act. Boots were left out at night and were stiff in the morning due to foot perspiration during the day. Nothing a long walk over the lake wouldn't cure in the morning. :unsure: It's mostly a mental game. I've considered doing it again. We'll see. :whistle:
After sleeping on it, what was I thinking? I need a good mattress these days. :rolleyes:
 
Top