Another Arctic Blast

Glassguy54

It began snowing yesterday in the upper midwest, then overnight turned bitterly cold and windy (-35 windchill). I have a 120ft long driveway and 90% was covered with knee high drifts this morning. Friday morning we fly out of here for a week in Puerto Morelos, Mexico, and will it be welcome!!! Have already booked a 1/2 day sail boat charter on a 47 ft catamaran (www.marinalabonita.com) so we will get a little bit of a fix, being on a boat, in the water, in January. Sure, it's a stickboat, but still, any day on the water..... All we have here is ice & snow!

Glassguy54

If I didn't have to, I wouldn't COME back! Puerto Morelos is a little slice of paradise. Laid back little fishing village, no high rise mega developements, very safe, family oriented environment, great fishing & scuba diving, cenotes everywhere, mayan ruins......You will never run out of things to do, or you can just relax and crack open another cerveza and watch the pelicans fly by!

TikiHut2

All right there Debbie Downer (RY). That's about enough negative whining from your jealous frozen soul (although it is a bit amazing how often they get whacked by storms in Cancun/Cozumel). The live webcam says it all about how much better it'd to be sitting poolside down there.

G54, Sounds like an awesome place and there ain't no shame it spending time on a stickboat. Nothing's more relaxing than the total quiet on-board while being mysteriously driven along in turquoise water by an unseen power source. Have a beer for us and don't forget the sunscreen. Your right about coming back being the hardest part. Mike

Glassguy54

Hurricanes! Here in the midwest we have our share of extreme weather events (tornadoes), other parts of the country - earthquakes, forest fires, floods, etc.  Please tell me where Utopia is!

212rowboat

there is a place (according to the tube) in Bolivia that has never recorded a temperature below 35*, and never above 85*... there is less than a foot of rain per year.. it ain't utopia, it's barren and desolate, not to mention remote..

there is a place in Libya/Chad/Niger region that is basically the worlds largest sensory deprivation chamber... there was a WWII B29 that went down, and wasn't found there until the late fifties.. it was w/o any corrosion at all, and the track it plowed was still clearly visible... they say the wind doesn't even move, and a two degree swing in temperature over a period of a week is huge.. it ain't no utopia, fo sho.

There is a place in the Med that overlooks the ocean from high bluffs, where a man can (could) live like a king for $20k a year after the purchase of property.. complete with staff and all.. I had a friend aiming for that- Turkish Cyprus (not the Greek side).. that ends up being a bad idea, due to political conflicts..

I'm thinking the place to be, is at the end of a three hour tour.. a three hour tour.. they had it made, and I don't blame the professor one bit for not applying his ingenuity on fixing a hole in that boat...  

edited to add: whoops, the b29 was found in 1958, not the nineties. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Be_Good_%28aircraft%29

TikiHut2

All hands lost in the desert, never seen again while the plane flew another 16mi..... That ain't a good 1st flight.

The hurricane hype is WAY over rated media drama...... unless you live 12' below sea level. Just sayin'.

It's the endless summer heat/humidity that get to the locals down here. Former snow shovelers may find it a relief.

212rowboat

Yeah, I saw that..

Glassguy54

Catherine Bach? Why, is she large and not so attractive anymore? How about Tuesday Weld (she was a Knockout!), Beverly D'Angelo, Stevie Nicks, Carrie Fisher? Dawn Wells (Mary Ann), not so bad, Tina Louise (Ginger), slender, but SCAREY lookin! Jamie Lee Curtis has aged pretty well. Diet, exercise & good genes is all it takes to look Fabulous as you get older! Well, maybe also a personal trainer and a make up artist, hair stylist, dietician, plastic surgeon, etc. etc.....

Dream_Inn

Yeah, you'll be disappointed if you look up olé daisy

Michael T

Hey Glassguy54. You have the right idea. I'm in the Turks and Caicos Islands right now. It's 9 o'clock at night and it's 29 degrees with a slight breeze. The palm trees are swaying just slightly! Just had dinner at a restaurant on the beach. Back home it's -35. Man, I LOVE retirement. Just heard from my Rinker dealer. They have finished the bottom paint and are getting ready to install the hard top on our 2014 EC 360 - then they'll install the radar and satellite domes. Best to all, stay warm :-) MT

Black_Diamond

29C I hope!

TikiHut2

MT, pics of that turquoise water would be something to see. B-)

212rowboat

RinkerYan said:

5 here and 4 inches. 

you're doing pretty good, RY, if you're talking about 4" @ 5 degrees... Impressive, actually.  I've never got an accurate measurement at that temperature

JoeStang

Drew what he doesnt tell everyone is that he measures from the dirty neighbor next door, so in all actuality its really negative 3. LOL

212rowboat

Wha, everyone doesn't do that? Sometimes I start between the blades, or.. I conveniently use the metric system and centimeters..

Dream_Inn

You guys gave me a good chuckle!  In that case it was 4 degrees here and 6 inches. 

:P

& those Canucks need to use the English system on here!  29 degrees to me is too cold for palm trees!

:-O

Capt Ron

Just so you know, the USA has agreed to convert to the metric system (heard it on the news up here, nothing States side)...they are keeping it low key... good luck boys and girls I still struggle because I grew up in the Imperial age and wouldn't know a cm from mm. I still have trouble ordering meat from the butchers, I ask for a 1 inch steak and you should see what I've handed...good luck. Still can't buy a 5/16th drill if my life depended on it..

Black_Diamond

Here's an interesting read: http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2014/01/great_lakes_ice_cover_most_in.html All the inland lakes are froze. Good for snowmobilers like Al!

Black_Diamond

RY: I love snow/winter, so doing just fine. Thank you very much. (Add Elvis voice)

Dream_Inn

I know the creeks in our area are freezing. It'd be wild to see the bay freeze (I guess it did many years ago)

l-skynyrd

Hi all.....

We were out on the boat Wed, Thur and yesterday. In case you all have not heard we here in CA have not seen rain in 51 days and still none in sight. Many record high temps have been broken. This is supposed to be winter and the rainy season, what it is, is boating season in Jan. with temps in the 70's, no wind and lots of sunshine. We will have to pay later, price of water this summer will go thru the roof.

Enjoy your winter....I sure am.

Len

Glassguy54

Waaa!! Just returned from Puerto Morelos where the daytime temps were mid 80's(F) and Sunny every day that we were there. This morning in Cedar Rapids it is hovering around 1*-2* and is snowing. We did a 1/2 day charter on a 47 ft catamaran, and with the other couple we were with, were the only ones on board, besides the captain & deck hand. Snorkeled on the reef for about 40 minutes, sailed down the coast, were served lunch of fresh Ceviche, and I have never had better octopus, Tomato Caprese salad with avacado & pesto, Grilled chicken,  Pico de Gallo & chips (of course!) and non-stop Margaritas. All for only $99USD per person! The rest of the week, spent a good deal of time in the warm Caribbean water, and good thing too, because it appears we will still be in winter's icy grip for some time yet. BUMMER!!!

Black_Diamond

They have had ice in July in Lake Superior before, rare though. 0F this am, more snow coming. Winter as it should be. I bet Al is having a blast snowmobiling this year! Best conditions in years.

Black_Diamond

Another cool picture set from frozen Lk Superior: http://news.yahoo.com/winter-builds-rare-icy-path-lake-superior-sea-195507377--business.html

Capt Ron

Heard today that 88% of the great lakes are frozen... never seen in our lifetime

Black_Diamond

There are some great places to see ice caves now, especially Pictured Rocks in Munising, MI.

MarkB

Capt Ron said:

Heard today that 88% of the great lakes are frozen... never seen in our lifetime<script charset="UTF-8" src="chrome://hdv/content/hdv.js" type="application/javascript"></script>

 

Apparently in the late 70's it was 93% covered?  In the early 90'C it got to around what it is now.  Anyhow, you can't look at it any other way, it is friggin cold out there!