Thread: Winnipeg deep freeze as cold as uninhabited planet - as cold as surface of Mars

Winnipeg deep freeze as cold as uninhabited planet

Manitoba Museum reports Winnipeg's temperature as cold as surface of Mars

CBC News Posted: Dec 31, 2013 8:23 AM CT Last Updated: Jan 01, 2014 10:01 AM CT

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Parts of Manitoba hit -53 C, colder than Mars 2:28

Manitoba cold: Bad to the bone 2:47


Bitter cold New Year expected 2:01


Related Stories Bitterly cold New Year expected in much of Canada

In terms of astonishing weather facts, it doesn't get much more impressive than being as cold as a distant planet for a day.

Grounded planes

It's so cold that one airline has decided not to fly in or out of Winnipeg.
ExpressJet, a partner of United Airlines, cancelled some flights Monday night and Tuesday morning.
Passengers are being moved onto flights operated by other airlines and rerouted through other cities. ExpressJet says the unique combination of extreme low temperatures and ice crystals exceed safe operating guidelines for their aircraft.
A spokesperson told CBC News there will be more cancellations as long as the forecast stays the same citing safety as the number one priority.
The aircraft ExpressJet flies are smaller commuter planes that carry 35-70 passengers.
However, other airlines operate the same type of planes and are flying as usual.

Happy for delay
Allison Schmidt, who teaches in Japan, was set to fly to Chicago and then Tokyo but her flight has been delayed for at least a day.
And the Winnipegger who was visiting family for Christmas couldn’t be happier about it.
“I had booked this flight because it was about $300 or $400 cheaper [to leave before the New Year]. I thought it was worth it for just one night,” she said.
“But I was really regretting it this morning, saying goodbye. I felt like the nine days just went by far too quickly.
“So now I get to spend New Year's with my family [and] January 1st is actually my mom's birthday.”
The Winnipeg Airports Authority says other than United, the cold weather hasn't impacted operations at Richardson International.

The Manitoba Museum is reporting Winnipeg's temperatures on Tuesday were actually as cold as the surface of Mars.
According to the Curiosity Rover, Mars reached a maximum temperature of -29 C on Tuesday, a temperature Winnipeg only reached shortly before 3 p.m.
The deep freeze over much of Southern Manitoba prompted extreme wind chill warnings in the area and most of the north.
In Winnipeg, the daytime high temperature for Tuesday was only expected to reach –31 C, but the windchill made it feel more like –40 to –50. That means exposed skin can freeze in less than five minutes.

On Monday, it got as warm as –28 C.

• Winter runners brave Winnipeg's cold snap
  
• Manitobans brace for -50 windchill expected overnight

In the northern half of the province, in places like Thompson, Nelson House, Lynn Lake, Leaf Rapids and Churchill, the wind chills on Tuesday made it feel like –48 to –53.
The entire province was under an extreme wind chill warning on Monday, but it was later lifted in the central portion of Manitoba as well as the southwest and southeast corners.

Some outdoor New Year's Eve activities cancelled

While many of the outdoor New Year’s Eve activities planned at The Forks will go on as planned tonight, at least one has been cancelled.

• Top 10 New Year’s Eve events in Winnipeg

“The only thing we’ve had to cancel is the horse-drawn wagon rides, scheduled from 5 p.m. until 9 p.m. It’s just too cold for that,” said Clare MacKay of The Forks. “Everything else we’ve been able to proceed with, and we have a lot of stuff that happens inside.”
The Forks is hosting crafts for kids, a number of bands and fireworks at 10 p.m. Festivities begin at 5 p.m.

Newcomer not dissuaded by cold

A 16-year-old girl from Nigeria hasn’t been dissuaded by Winnipeg’s other-worldly cold. Lynda Okeke-Okoli arrived in Winnipeg just 48 hours ago to attend high school here.
It wasn’t exactly a warm welcome for the teen, with temperatures hovering below -30 C.
“I was just like, ‘God help me!’ I said, ‘God, please help me. I don’t know how I’m going to handle this!’” she said.
She said even advice from her dad hadn’t prepared her for the weather. Despite that, plans to stick out in Winnipeg.

Cold, but not the coldest

It's cold but not enough for a record.
The historical mark for this day in history is a rattling –37.8 C, set in 1967.
Environment Canada meteorologist Dale Marciski said the coldest December on record for Winnipeg was set in 1879, with an average temperature of –26 C.
This December’s average temperature so far is close to –21 C. That is only about the fifth coldest ever.

The three coldest Decembers for Winnipeg are:

• 1879: –26.0 C
  
• 1872: –22.6​ C
  
• 2000: –22.0 C​
  
• 1876: –21.8
  
• 1893: –21.4

Finding the homeless

​​A downtown organization is trying to find those Winnipeggers who have no place to go, and get them out of the frigid cold.
The Downtown Biz' has volunteers on foot and in vehicles picking up people who need shelter.
“We have come across individuals, for example, who have been passed out in back lanes who have consumed too much and it has been as cold as –40 C," said Brendan Malaky, who is with the Biz's Downtown Watch program.
"In some instances, we haven't been able to wake them up, in which case we call 911 immediately.”
Malaky said they won't force someone inside but strongly encourage people to go to a nearby shelter.
“First thing we do is assess and make sure that they're alright, make sure their condition is good, make sure they've got appropriate clothing for the weather," he said.
"We're going to get them whatever they're missing and see if we can get them somewhere to stay for the night.”
The watch program has 200 volunteers and up to 35 staff members working seven days a week.

Operation Red Nose

Even though it's bitterly cold, it's business as usual for Operation Red Nose tonight.
Over the weekend, the service shut down because of the extreme cold but coordinator Sharra Hinton said volunteers will be out in full force tonight, offering free rides for New Year’s Eve revelers --- even if the cold means a few delays.
“It is going to be cold and a lot of vehicles are going to be sitting for quite awhile before they start again so I'm hoping that everything will go OK,” she said.
Hinton says calls from 9 p.m. to midnight are answered pretty quickly but things get slower when the calls start pouring in after the ball drops and the New Year arrives.
“People are probably looking at closer to an hour, maybe an hour and a half wait with us,” she said.


http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manito...anet-1.2479967

Fierce Winter Storm Bearing Down on Northeast US

As much as a foot of snow or more is forecast for some areas overnight Thursday into Friday

BY ASSOCIATED PRESS
Story updated Thursday, Jan. 2, 2014 at 2 :29 p.m. ET
Video at the Page Link:

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - A winter storm promising significant snowfall, strong winds and frigid air bore down Thursday on the Northeast, making commutes hazardous for the first work day of the new year and giving some students an extra day off school following Christmas break.

Snow began falling overnight in parts of New England and New York, but the real brunt of the storm wasn't expected to hit until later Thursday. As much as a foot of snow or more was forecast for some areas overnight Thursday into Friday. Temperatures were expected to plummet, with some areas seeing highs just above zero, according to the National Weather Service.

"There will be travel problems," said Hugh Johnson, a weather service meteorologist in Albany, N.Y. "It will be very cold."

As much as 14 inches of snow was forecast for the Boston area, and the National Weather Service issued a blizzard warning for Long Island - where 8 to 10 inches of snow could fall and winds could gust up to 45 mph - from Thursday evening into Friday afternoon.

"We're going to see a lot of snow and a lot of wind," said Jason Tuell, director of the eastern region of the National Weather Service. "We're concerned about whiteout conditions possibly tonight with the blowing and drifting snow."

The wind chill will make it feel 10 degrees below zero or colder in some places, Tuell said.

Some schools in New England and New York closed preemptively or planned early dismissals, while cities issued parking bans and homeless shelters were expected to fill beyond capacity.

The storm dropped up to a foot of snow on parts of Michigan and 6 inches or more in Illinois, prompting hundreds of flight cancellations Wednesday into and out of Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, according to the aviation tracking website FlightAware.com.

U.S. airlines canceled more than 1,800 flights nationwide on Thursday in advance of the storm. Many were on regional airlines that handle shorter flights for the major carriers.

More than 500 flights in or out of O'Hare airport were canceled, according to FlightStats.com. The flights that were getting out were delayed more than half an hour, and incoming flights were being delayed at their origin, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

Airlines already have canceled more than 500 flights scheduled for Friday.

AAA Michigan says it received 500 calls by midmorning Thursday from drivers dealing with spinouts, cars in ditches and dead batteries. In New Hampshire, state police temporarily closed a busy section of northbound Interstate 93 just south of the Interstate 89 junction in Bow because of multiple accidents. Accidents were also reported in Ohio, Indiana and Missouri.

"Anything below 25 degrees and the salt isn't nearly as effective," said Becky Allmeroth, maintenance engineer for the Missouri Department of Transportation's St. Louis district, where crews were mixing chemicals and beet juice with salt to try and make roads passable. "Since the snow blows so easily and the temperatures are so cold, once it hits the roadway it freezes when it hits the surface."

In Maine, temperatures could plummet to minus-35 in the mountains Friday night, meteorologist John Cannon said. It's so cold that the Smiling Hill Farm cross-country ski area closed for the day on Thursday.

Authorities said the weather may have been a factor in a fatal crash Wednesday evening involving a pickup and a bus carrying casino patrons in Indiana. Police said the truck's driver was killed and 15 bus passengers were injured in the collision on a snow-covered and slushy highway in Rolling Prairie.

Sections of interior southern New England and New York could get up to a foot of snow by the time the storm moves out, with forecasts generally calling for 6 to 12 inches. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo urged the city's commuters to leave their cars a t home in case major highways are closed for Thursday's evening rush hour.

An early morning dusting of snow gave some residents an idea of what was to come later as the storm headed toward the city.

"I guess it's kind of a preview," said Helmut Kugler, 54, as he gassed up his car at a Mobil station in the Bronx. "It's not snowing now, but they say it's coming hard."

The forecast was for up to 8 inches in the city by Friday. The weather service issued a winter storm warning for New York and its northern suburbs.

Although lesser amounts of snow were forecast to the south, Philadelphia and parts of southern New Jersey were expected to see 3 to 7 inches of blowing, drifting snow.

In Toms River, N.J., Jonas Caldwell said he was prepared for whatever the storm might bring

"Santa brought me a snow blower, and I've got rock salt for the ice, so now I'm just waiting for the storm," he said while grabbing a coffee at a convenience store.

Caldwell, an investment adviser, said he could work from home if necessary, but he was hoping that wouldn't be the case.

"There are too many distractions at home," he said. "But I won't be stupid ... If it gets as bad as they say it will be, or looks like it will, I'll be staying put."

In Hartford, Hal Guy, of nearby Glastonbury, was shopping for snow shovels - three, to be exact.

"We broke a couple in the last storm," he said. "We have four kids, so, three shovels, and we still have a little one back home."

Guy said three of his kids, girls ages 8, 10 and 12, have been out of school for two weeks for the holidays and hope to get a couple more days off with the snow.

Over in Maine, where some communities are still recovering from a recent ice storm that cut power to more than 100,000 customers, people seemed prepared for more winter weather.

Kelly St. Denis, of Auburn, went skiing Wednesday at the Sunday River ski area with family and friends. She said it's been cold but the skiing has been good.

"Hey, it's winter in Maine," she said. "We go with it."

RELATED ON SKYE: 20 Photos of Monster Blizzards






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