..just a "little Chit-Chat" back & forth... (Billings: home, schools)

[Montana Griz]

, I just watched a few minutes of the Weather Channel--about 3pm......., and "Vivan Brown..(the tallest girl in Town)" said that EH's stompin' grounds are getting (and will continue to get) a fair amount of the white stuff

I know his neighbors "look-out-for-the little fella", so I guess we don't have to worry too much about him and Timber. (Hope he has taught one of those neighbors how to use that ATV/Snowplow rig).

Over here in the B.R. Valley tight up against the B.R. mountains --on the west side--,....we're lucky if we've got an inch or so. Maybe after we get into mid January, that elusive "El Nina" pattern will kick in and we'll get some
"old-fashion" winter weather

[bongo]

Perhaps La Nina/El Nino got mixed up this year, Griz. We're in the mountains of New Mexico & were to have a dry winter & we've been getting so much snow schools & highways have been shut down. We're snowbound in hidden cabin & thrilled.

[ElkHunter]

You know Griz, the neighbor lady has jumped on my 4 wheeler a hundred times to run down to the local convienience store. So I showed her how to raise and lower the plow. It's on a winch so it's a push button to raise and lower. Nothing to it. She said that was a piece of cake. Now this is a woman that fixes fence, help's shoe the team, hauls bales, dropped the fuel tank out of her truck to put a new fuel pump in, etc... I mean there is nothing she won't do or at least try to do. She's got a 20 year old son still at home (he's going to college in town) and he's borrowed the 4 wheeler several times.

Last time I was in the hospital, I come home to 4 inches of snow on the driveway. Hmmmmmmmmm.... It's not from lack of trying.

Do you know that I'm forced to get up in the morning? I can't sleep in. At 805, she will be knocking on my door or using her key to come right in and check on me. Every morning, I raise my flag. She can see it from her house, even though it's on the opposite side of my cabin. But she knows that I put that flag up every morning and if it doesn't go up, she's knocking on the door. She doesn't even call me, just comes straight over to check on me.

Course, truth be known, if her dogs ain't on my porch saying hi when I go out with the flag, I know there's something wrong over there and I'll go check on her. Her husband Mike is working the Oil Patch. Right now he's home so we've been harnessing the team almost every day to get some weight off of them.

This storm was supposed to be all over the Bozeman area and then there is a gap and then Red Lodge down to my place is supposed to be getting hammered. Last night at 11:30pm, it started raining and was raining when I went to bed. I got up at 6 and checked outside and we had about a half inch of snow. I report weather to Billings NOAA every morning. I have a big gage that I have to measure the snow depth and then bring it in and melt it so in my report I can report depth of snow (I measure 6 different places on the 3 acres and then average it), depth of new snow vrs old snow. I report amount of moisture in the snow. That's for CoCoRaHS reporting. If it's a snow storm then I have several other things I have to report like wind, humidity, pressure, etc.... But this morning I didn't even have enough snow in my gage to melt. All day it's kind of spit here and there, but nothing really. I went to town and the road was like greased teflon. 1/2 inch of ice with 1/2 inch of fresh snow on top makes for a bit of a slippery situation. I run 40-45 all the way to town and back. Bridges were worse. But on the way back, about 4:30 this afternoon, the wind was finally picking up.

But none of the supposed storm has really hit. Even now the wind speed from my weather station says 4.5 mph. with a gust up to 11.4. Whoopie. hahaha Barometer has really come up so the storm is past me.

Here's a weather site link that was sent to me today that seems a little better then what NWS has. Intellicast - Current Radar in Sheridan, Wyoming

It shows that the storm is getting a lot smaller then it was even a couple hours ago.

[jasper12]

Well, how is Santa going to get any place in Montana on his sleigh? I guess he better use a 4 wheeler.

Yum! I want some of that fudge. Just have them send a chunk to me at the fort.

[Montana Griz]

,,,,,don't know how many folks remember this date (12/22) in:

1983: Wisdom, MT...................minus 52
Plentywood, MT..............minus 59
Victor, MT.......minus 38
and Wind Chill readings across portions of western N.D.
were officially as low as MINUS 100F.
Even Missoula dropped to minus 28F (still air).


1989: Again Wisdom got down to minus 51, and
Chinook, MT was down to minus 50.

1990: Wisdom.....minus 53
Lincoln.......minus 48
Butte..........minus 44
Missoula.....minus28
Victor.........minus 34
Helena........minus 35

Interesting that Dec 22nd seems to really like to set records for that date..

My place sets at the confluence of two "down-canyon" air currents (west to east) that come together about 1/3 mile east of the mouth of each canyon.
The canyons are just 3000 feet apart. That super cold air coming down from approx 9000 to 9500 feet usually puts me about 10 to 12 degrees colder than Missoula and my daughter's place over on the east side of the valley floor 6 miles away.

Would love to see La Nina set in for Jan, Feb & March..................we need the moisture.

So this year, we're getting a "pass" on the real cold stuff............OK by me

.......Oh FWIW: The coldest temp EVER recorded in the lower 48 was at Rogers Pass (about 25 miles N/W of Helena) on Jan 20 1954===minus 70....still air, No wind chill.

[ElkHunter]

Because of contract we had to record temperatures any time we had concrete curing when we built Decker Coal in Decker Mt. We poured the truck dump on Christmas eve and I don't remember if it was Christmas Day or the following day the temp dropped and we recorded -58. There were no weather stations near to record the low but we had some expensive equipment recording everything by contract for warrentee purposes and for structural integrety. The -58 was with no wind.

We kept a dozer running to use as a push vehicle to push everything else to get it started. We were going to push my truck so I jumped in and when I did the naugahide seat shattered like sitting on a potatoe chip. But hey! It started. Good ole Ford F250 with a 360 engine.

[jasper12]

My Honda starts every day, it sits outside. I have not put a block heater in it yet.

[ElkHunter]

Originally Posted by jasper12

My Honda starts every day, it sits outside. I have not put a block heater in it yet.

When it hits -30 or so, let us know and we'll point you to a good place to pick up a block heater.

It's kind of nice to go out, unplug, crawl in and fire it up and when you turn on the heater there is already warm air.

[Montana Griz]

Originally Posted by ElkHunter

When it hits -30 or so, let us know and we'll point you to a good place to pick up a block heater.

It's kind of nice to go out, unplug, crawl in and fire it up and when you turn on the heater there is already warm air.

..

...............or, how 'bout you pick up your keys (while drinkin' that 2nd cup of coffee) 10 minutes before you want to leave.......'press the remote-start-button on the "key fob" and then check "C-D" for a few minutes while it's gettin' all warm & cozy inside the vehicle. . (the interior is really warm if you remember to set your heater controls to MAXIMUM when you shut-er-off the night before.

......Boy, aren't we a bunch of "Candy A$$ES"

[alaska961]

This reminds me of a question that I had. So can you tell me all about the heater blocks? Would I need one in Missoula? Are they difficult to use? I understand using one at home, but what about during the day while you are at work?

Just the thought of needing to use a HB worries me some.

Alaska