How Cold Can You Get?

[thejamppa]

its much worse for northern lapland units like Sissi platoons

wow, even the sissys are sent to -40° weather, I don't even want to think about what the real men have to do!

lol, that made me laugh. I guess correct term for Sissi what american and british would understant is: ranger. So finnish sissi is equal to ranger in terminology although their method's are more like L.R.R.P's. ( Long Range Reconaisence Patrol's )

But the finnish winter I am affraid is this year much more like British isle's winter. No real frosts now. Due with global warming, I guess we can kiss arctic warfare soon goodbye.

[floffe]

But fahrenheit?? yuck. I just convert by typing "45 F in C" in google.
And for quick conversions, I just know that -40 are the same in both, and a 400° oven is the same as a 200° oven, and of course 32 is zero.
And I kinda keep in mind that 90 is hot, just like 30 is hot, even though they're not really the same.

A decent rule of thumb is 10F for every 5C (it's really, 9, but close enough). So 10C = 50F, 20C = a little over 70F.

[Bluefront]

Here's the infernal cycle that tried to kill me when I was 18.....didn't succeed however. I'm pretty tough.



You're not likely to see anything like this again.... '56 Norton model 19S, a 600cc single cylinder machine designed to pull a side-car, a '57 Steib, a aluminum bodied model, with a wind-screen and a fold-down convertible top. Think I got about $275 when I traded the rig for a Yamaha a long time ago. I put about 60k miles on it, since I didn't own a car. Today that rig might bring $25k.

[mexell]

This bike looks infernal! Wow. I assume you are quite sad that you sold it - and not only because of the 25k$ you missed, but also because of the pleasure you had.

I'm just saving and convincing my significant other to allow me a BMW. With grip heating. And ABS. And a catalytic converter. Not something for real tough American conservatives, though


By the way, was the Norton silent? At least it was positive pressure

[Bluefront]

Well it was a relatively low-rpm motor, with a low compression engine. The sound was deep, throaty, and very pleasant. Of course I had to mod it... usually ran with the muffler tip removed. Not bad. I never got a noise ticket.

Those days were different. I was sitting on the porch one day at college when a fire truck blasted by....I chased it down. The cop who was behind me a ways said I was doing 80mph....25mph zone. I got a "warning" ticket.

A few years after this Norton I got a '57 Norton International. I think only 12 ever made it to the USA. It was a touring bike with a Norton Manx racing engine.....very fast, but not nearly as much fun as this 19S.

I also owned a BMW R50 for a few years....my favorite bike. I'd still have it but somebody offered me 3x what I paid for it. Sold... That thing was quiet.

[aristide1]

At the core of liberalism is the spoiled child - miserable, as all spoiled children are, unsatisfied, demanding, ill disciplined, despotic, and useless. Liberalism is the philosophy of sniveling brats." - P.J. O'Rourke

Oh brother, you quote Mr. O'Rouke's 2 sentences so that you can justify general bigotry while overlooking that he wrote an entire book about pro-corporate politican corruption (I think that's redundant, but still), and the poster child for that subject is in the White House for another year.

What a guffaw I got from this.

[Blue_Sky]

I remember walking to school in grade three when it was -56 C with the wind chill. I remember it so well because I was rather angry when I found out that I walked all that way for nothing - the teachers didn't show up.

[walle]

We used to have really cold winters over here too but that has become somewhat a thing of the past, so it seems that those in the “chill factorâ€

[djkest]

But the finnish winter I am affraid is this year much more like British isle's winter. No real frosts now. Due with global warming, I guess we can kiss arctic warfare soon goodbye.

Seriously? You actually believe that?

[jaganath]

But the finnish winter I am affraid is this year much more like British isle's winter. No real frosts now. Due with global warming, I guess we can kiss arctic warfare soon goodbye.

Seriously? You actually believe that?

dude, he lives there; i think he knows WTF is going on with his own climate slightly better than you do from all the way across the Atlantic.

[djkest]

well apparently he can predict the future as well. Who was it that said weather /= climate?

[Jokoto]

The most accurate term is global climate change and there is no denying it is occurring. Some places will get warmer whereas other places get anomalous weather patterns, like snow storms in Greece. Here in Finland the winter is coming increasingly late each year. Although we did have record early first (not permanent) snowfall, permanent snow cover sure took its sweet time. We actually had a black Christmas, something that was almost unheard of in the past, and even now in January the snow still keeps melting away and we are way below average in the amount of snow on the ground.

You can keep denying something needs to be done NOW, but the world around you will keep changing no matter how desperately you cling on to your old lifestyle. It would be better for us all if we finally stopped hesitating and actually did something to our current energy infrastructure. Unfortunately it is mostly in the hands of those who are notoriously bad at making long-term plans, namely politicians and businesses that only interest themselves in the next elections and the next quarter, respectively. If we miraculously do manage to develop and employ useful new technologies despite useless bickering leading up to it (ITER), underfunding (interesting research projects abound) and eventually not really encouraging its use (anything that threatens established businesses or seems outlandish), we'll be happy and thankful, but it requires that vision from key people first. Environmentally conscious decision makers are few and far between and the people... well, we mostly just like to consume.

Anyway, to keep this on topic, some of the coldest mornings I've recently ridden my bike to work (maybe a 20 minute trip) were a year ago and the year before that, in the February frosts. We had proper Finnish frosts for many weeks with -30 temperatures for several days. I have proper clothing though, so it did not faze me. After those trips I always had a frost-covered face (what little was visible), cap and scarf from exhalation and it was rather amusing, not least due to bragging rights to co-workers that commuted by car and were perhaps somewhat perturbed by the looks.

It's not that I prefer cold, but I dislike too warm temperatures, especially indoors. I prefer a room temperature at or below 20 degrees Celsius, by the way. No socks needed, and maybe no shirt either. It is easy to wear more if it's colder but impossible to help it if the room is warmer than that. By the way, an increase of one degree in room temperature increases heating costs by 5%, IIRC. How do you like your indoor temperatures? I know a few people that prefer something like 25 degrees, which I find quite odd.

[derekva]

I didn't suffer any permanent injuries during that freezing ride.....but the Norton did. About 1/2 way through the generator crapped out....stupid Lucas parts. Luckily the Norton had a magneto so the engine stayed running, but I had no lights.

Why do Limeys drink warm beer? Because they have Lucas refrigerators.

Ah yes..."Lucas, Prince of Darkness"

-D

[mexell]

well apparently he can predict the future as well. Who was it that said weather /= climate?

I claimed that several times, and also others did. But it's also true that the polar regions get hit by climate change a lot more than intermediate regions. One of my professors said it like that:

"Well, climate change is all about moving climate zones. If you live in the middle of an intermediate zone, it is even possible that you will only suffer little effects. But if you live in the polar regions, you will most certainly see the climate zone you're used to drown in the polar sea."

Edit: I'm not talking about human-induced climate change here. Also, take notice that I'm not saying anything about carbon dioxide here. I'm only talking about real, happening, indisputable climate change. So, let's not start another "climate change? are we to blame?"-thread here.

[amiyours]

so cold

[Erssa]

But the finnish winter I am affraid is this year much more like British isle's winter. No real frosts now. Due with global warming, I guess we can kiss arctic warfare soon goodbye.

Seriously? You actually believe that?

dude, he lives there; i think he knows WTF is going on with his own climate slightly better than you do from all the way across the Atlantic.

I'll chime in on this as well. When I was kid first snow used to come in mid/late October and many times it snowed so much, that the snow was usually permanent. During my childhood there was only one Christmas, when we didn't have snow, probably around probably around 10-15 years ago. Last 3 years have been pretty exceptional. Currently we have practically no snow in Helsinki. And it's been relatively warm. Since 1900 five warmest Januaries in Helsinki have been 1930, 1925, 2008, 1989 and 2005. This year the average temperature was 0,6 Celsius. The average temperature between 1971-2000 was -4,2 Celsius. For reference the coldest year has been 1987, when the average temperature was -16,5 Celsius. This February seems to end up being 4 Celsius warmer then last February. 2006 was the warmest December ever. Average temperature in Helsinki was 4 Celsius, that's 6,2 Celsius above the 1971-2000 average. In Oulu (biggest town in Lapland, located 200km south of arctic circle) 2006 December was 7,5 Celsius warmer than average. In Sodankylä (town 120km north of arctic circle) December 2007 was 9 degrees warmer then the average. This year some people were mowing their lawns at Christmas eve. I can't even describe how crazy that sounds, if you are a Finn.

Not only are the average temperatures noticeably warmer, even more noticeable is the lack of freezing peak temperatures.

And now on topic... Bluefront, that's a crazy trip you made. It's truly a miracle you didn't suffer any serious frostbites. When I was a kid, I did something probably equally stupid. Back when I was in elementary school, we used to think, that wearing a woolly cap made you a sissy (because adults didn't wear them). I think was about 12 years old when I learned the hard way how important woolly cap is. It was -30 degrees and a bit windy. I rode 2,5km to school with my bike. It took probably only 10 minutes. But because I wasn't wearing any woolly cap, it was enough to freeze my ears almost solid. By the time I got to school, my ears were burning red and hurting like hell. Later that day then my ears had already thawed, I started to shed skin. Before night all the skin from my ears had peeled of off and they were so sensitive that I couldn't sleep, because whenever my ears touched a pillow the pain was so intensive I immediately woke up. I learned my lesson the hard way .

It was nice to spend a week in the woods with wood heaten tents when it was from -27 to - 42 Degree's C. There is reason why finnish army training is considered one of the hardest general army training, especially during the winter.

I don't know why, but when we were on our first camp, weren't allowed to bring our sleeping bags with us (perhaps to break our spirit?). It was only -20 degrees C, but after you have spent a day crawling in the snow with wet clothes, blanket just doesn't cut it. When I woke up in the morning, I had 39 degree fever and spend the next week in the infirmary.

Btw, I don't think anyone else (other countries) thinks our general training is "one of the hardest", and if they do, they are mislead. Especially considering the direction our army training has taken in the last few years. It's a picnic compared to what they go through in Russia, where people die every year as a result of hazing.

[djkest]

I know people die in the US army basic training, but probably half of them are suicides. They kind of do a psychological thing to you, some people can't handle it. And then of course every year some people have heart attacks, some people die during training. I remember one guy died at the gas chamber cause he had some sort of severe allergic reaction to the CS gas. But anyway, this is about being cold, right? I went to basic training in South Carolina, so we thought it would be mild and warm in March. Wrong. We had the coldest day on record on our first FTX (field training exercise). I remember shivering my ass off all night in those crappy canvas sleeping bags that didn't work. It still wasn't cold enough to man-cuddle though. Thats just too much for most guys.