-40 Degrees and Ice Fog

For three days it has been -40 degrees with ice fog. What is ice fog? Well it is very similar to regular fog. Only imagine that the fog freezes in the air. You can see all the ice particles sparkling and reflecting in your headlights. We still don't have much light. Sunrise 9:45 a.m., sunset 4:19 p.m. This is the time of year when the temperatures and the darkness really start to drive you mad. The first 3 months of winter are survivable. It's expected...winter--3 months. Come January your body and your mind are screaming for warmth and light. Here in Alaska you usually only get one or the other during the winter. If it is clear and sunny, it is freezing (and to clarify freezing--for those of you in California--freezing is colder than -20 degrees, not 30 or 40 degrees above zero). We long for the days when it is warm enough to snow. If only it could be 5 or 10 degrees above zero. When the temperatures start rising again (30 to 40 degrees)--somewhere around March--you will see Alaskans begin to celebrate the warmth. We stop wearing jackets and start wearing t-shirts.
But January and February are tough months. People still function. We still go out to the store, fill our cars with gas, etc... But we do it quickly and begrudgingly and only because we have to.
When it is -40 it hurts to breath. You can't touch metal doorknobs (or really anything metal) without burning your hand. Weird lights in your car come on for no reason--Airbag, Check Engine. People leave their cars running while they rent movies or do their grocery shopping. If you can't leave the car running you need to plug it in. (The heater in my car never quite makes the car warm and can't keep the windows from icing up.) The tires on a car left outside will freeze. Whatever part of the tire that is pushed flat from sitting on the ground will stay flat. You'll drive around bouncing on squared off tires until they thaw. And really cool...you can take a pan of hot or boiling water outside, throw it up in the air and it will freeze before it hits the ground.

Bethany's New Hat

Dan is off on one of his many adventures. Bethany got a new hat. This was the best way to share it with him. I mean other than emailing it which would have worked just as well. But then you my devoted audience would not have gotten to share in this beautiful moment.