Global Roaming 1/13/09

* Minnesota is in a deep freeze today. It was 43 below zero at Embarrass in the Vermillon Iron Range in NE Minnesota far from the nearest interstate highway. By the way, the town was not named that to reflect their being embarrassed at often being the coldest in the Lower Four Dozen States.

* Interesting that every single weather station in Minnesota reported below zero temperatures this morning. Much of the state was well below zero. In the south, it was 16 below at Minneapolis-St. Paul.

* Minnesota is often referred to as the “Land of 10,000 Lakes.” Actually there are 15,000 lakes and some sources say even 20,000! One of those, Lake Itasca, in the north, is the beginning of the Mighty Mississippi. My little 4th grade imagination now kicks in. I sure would like to know how long it takes a single drop of water to travel from Lake Itasca to Boothville, Louisiana, where the Mississippi flows out into the Gulf of Mexico. Of course a drop of water does not remain intact. Even if it did, it would have little chance of reaching the Gulf. It could evaporate, soak into the ground, or risk getting pumped into numerous municipal water systems. It could wind up in a St. Louis coffee pot.

* A hot 90 yesterday afternoon in Santa Ana, Calif., and the Santa Ana wind has a bad reputation for causing out-of-control wild fires as the wind pours down the canyons headed toward the Pacific.

* Not quite as cold in Alaska this morning but that is not saying much. It was -45 at Fort Yukon.

* Someone asked me recently if it ever rains in Alaska in winter? Sure does. Especially along the coast and out through the Aleutians. In fact, in the last 24 hours, Sitka was drenched with 1.84 inches of rain.

* At 9 pm, their time, it was still 101 degrees at Paraburdo, West Australia. Their high temperatures for the next five days will vary between 107 and 111. It is expected to be 104 later this week at Rosario, Argentina. Those places are experiencing mid-summer, of course.

* Way far away, it was a bitter 67 below zero at Summit, on the Greenland Ice Cap last night.

* 69 below zero! That was the overnight temperature at Ojmjakon, Siberia. That city bills itself as the coldest continuously inhabited places on earth. When they need to dig a grave in winter, they build a big bonfire over the site to soften the ground before they start digging.

* Chicago is really getting a winter blast. A Blizzard Watch is in effect tomorrow afternoon and tomorrow night. Wind chill as low as -15 to -20 tonight. Low tonight 5 to 9 below zero with about one inch of new snow. No hope for tomorrow with snow and blowing snow and 2-4 additional inches. Total for this latest event 3 to 5 inches. They have already received more than twice the amount of snow normally expected by this time. Outlook for Thursday is bitter cold with “highs” near zero, wind gusts to 35 mph and the old dreaded wind chill as much as 35 below zero in the morning. Low temperatures Thursday night 8 to 12 below zero. Too bad that Brian Peters is not there visiting his daughter who lives there. He could give us some first hand reports!

Outta here
Gotta address a second pot of coffee
No pop tarts
No moon pies (Did you know that moon pies (were invented) (got their start) in Chattanooga many years ago? Very interesting story about that not too long ago in the magazine supplement of the “Moundville Times.”

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