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There's no good canoeing in North America: A Rant

This past week, records for coldest minimum daily temperature have been broken in 1,913 places in the East and Midwest USA. In one town in Kentucky, the old cold record of +15 degrees was broken down to -23 degrees, a swing of 38 degrees. Each read dot is a place where the former cold record for the day was broken.

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Have fun canoeing in these places. The Southwest is in the grips of a near historic drought. The Northwest apparently is warmer than usual and probably has lots of water. Time to visit Oldie Moldy.

Maybe the minority solar scientists are right: we are entering the next Little Ice Age. The first lasted from about 1350 to 1850. There are no canoe videos on YouTube from this period.
 
I just returned from a skiing and canoe buying trip in the Adirondacks this week. I can atteset toothe cold temps. Every morning was sub zero, some day temps started @ -14F, another -19F. Every stream/river /lake from Maryland to NY was frozen solid. I was the only car carrying a canoe on the NJT.

The snow in the Daks was/is HUGE. Fat skis were not fat enough, snow-shoers reported chest high conditions. Every snowflake that has fallen remains this season. Only expert could ski off piste. I stayed on the trails, Avalanche pass, Jack Rabbit trail. It was splendid.
 
Living in Winnipeg, all I can say is that anyone whose previous record cold temp had a plus in front of it can just shut up. A new record for us would be in the minus40-50 range and it would only be by a few degrees. I did grow up in Niagara Falls so yes I get that it is cold for you. My winter starts in mid October and goes until Easter. Some years there is ice or snow in May. June even.

Yeah I am really thinking of a better place to live, 'cept then summer comes along and there are rivers and fishing EVERYWHERE. Until October. Then it blows again. Just like now. I need to retire and spend the summer here, the fall in Ontario, the winter in Arizona or BC, then back here in the spring to prep the fleet for the years trips. Hmmmmmm.
 
Yup, I'm feeling that way to, morning temps have been -30 to -40 ish for over a month now, along with freakish winds that gave us windchill of -50 something on a few days.
 
I love maps. The map Glenn provided is nice to look at, and sure is easy to understand. But there's one dot missing. That's the big red dot that's been my shadow for the past 4 weeks. It's been following me around, from the time my toes touch our bedroom hardwood floor in the morning, to the time I'm skipping across the same oak skating rink from bath to bed in the evening. Every few days I hear another weather report "There's another cold warning...blah blah blah..." I've come to accept it all as approaching normal. Normal used to be frequent mild spells and intermittent snow storms, followed finally by several spring false starts. The past 2 winters have been solid cold and snow. I remember my childhood winters being much like these, though I also remember enjoying them more.
Today I attended my good friend Pete's granddaughter's first birthday. As we were laughing at all the young children playing and rambling through shredded piles of wrapping paper, Pete turned to me and asked "So tell me, has this brutally cold winter been tough on you? Doesn't it just seem to last forever!?" I agreed "Yes, it's been a long snowy cold one! It's hard to believe we used to love winters like this one." Looking over his shoulder and out the front living room window I could see party guests trudging past waist high drifts, their breath hanging in whispery clouds around them, and I couldn't help but smile.
 
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They only issue an "Extreme Cold Warning" here when the windchill is -40 or more. Remember, at -40C it is -40F and from then it gets colder by F's. Not too bad this year, only one day of -49C windchill (-56F), only a handful in the -40's at all, unlike last year with wind chills in the -60's. Nothing stops here at those temps, the buses run, kids go to school, everyone is expected at work, the wait for CAA to come boost your car could be 8 hours...

Brad, how cold does it need to be for a Extreme Cold warning there?

This hasn't been a bad Winter, not so much for driving, too many freezing rain days in January, but I'm ready for it to end. Cabin fever has arrived, but I am hopeful, it is March, the time changes next weekend, one of my commutes is during daylight. It can only get better. 19 days til Spring.

Grab the chainsaw, go to the local river and cut out a trench, throw the canoe in and go for a paddle, No Bugs!
 
Glenn you need a winter hobby. Something like basket weaving or weaving Navajo type blankets out of (shedded) dog hair. I consider both of these hobbies to be very practical. Weave the baskets first then you can use them to collect the dog hair. Maybe make some ponchos out of the blankets. You could probably use the same skills to make wicker furniture with dog hair seat covers. You seem to enjoy research, give the wheel a spin and see where it lands. Maybe you could start a Navajo dog hair poncho wearing Basket Sexual fad. Dave
 
Mihun, the cold warnings are issued for this region of south central and south western Ontario if the temperature or windchill reaches -30C for at least 2 hours. I might wonder what the temperatures have been doing throughout February, but I won't; all I know is the air is cold enough to keep the snow piled fluffy and deepish around here. There used to be convoys of trucks pulling sleds (snowmobiles) on trailers heading north. The sledders have been pretty happy around here for the past 2 winters. That means good news and good business further north where tourism needs fun seekers year round. In my teens I enjoyed playing on old sleds here in the south, as well further north (Temagami). I don't remember any shortage of snow. A few years ago we were all bunked down at a B&B in the Restoule area heading to a wedding. The B&B owner explained the newness of his sleds "They don't get used much. Despite the snow, the temperatures are always too mild. These air cooled engines just can't handle the spring like conditions." I thought "Shucks, that's a shame." I bet it's a little different these days. I had plans to get the snowshoes out today, but a plumbing problem here at home has changed my plans. I'll be playing with ABS and listening to music instead. Sometimes ya gotta just go with the flow.
 
Something like basket weaving or weaving Navajo type blankets out of (shedded) dog hair. I consider both of these hobbies to be very practical. Weave the baskets first then you can use them to collect the dog hair. Maybe make some ponchos out of the blankets. You could probably use the same skills to make wicker furniture with dog hair seat covers.
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I'll give you practicality on the basket weaving but making your own dog hair blankets and seat covers is ridiculous and nothing more than busy work. Any fool knows all you need to do is get yourself a dog that is allowed on the furniture and it willl make dog hair blankets and seat covers for you.

Alan
 
Alan Gage said:
I'll give you practicality on the basket weaving but making your own dog hair blankets and seat covers is ridiculous and nothing more than busy work. Any fool knows all you need to do is get yourself a dog that is allowed on the furniture and it willl make dog hair blankets and seat covers for you.Alan
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Shhhhh, Alan you know this and I know this but I thought I could get this past Glenn. Besides, he seems to need some busy work.
 
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Paddling the Great Lakes will have to wait a while again. Last winter the GL reached a second of all time ice cover of 92.5% on March 6, 2014.

IceCoverAvg1973_2014.jpg





That may be exceeded this winter. The ice cover was 88.8% on February 28, 2015.



glsea_cur.png
 
Snow is predicted in all 50 US states for the first seven days in March, more in Texas than Winnepeg.

gfs_6hr_snow_acc_conus2_29.png
 
Rippy said:
Glenn you need a winter hobby. Something like basket weaving or weaving Navajo type blankets out of (shedded) dog hair....
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That's a great idea, Rippy. But to make blankets Glenn would first need to make thread or yarn out of the dog hair. For that he'd need a spinning wheel. With his luck he'd prick his finger on the spindle. With our luck he'd rant about it.
But you get an A for the suggestion. :)
 
Philtrum said:
That's a great idea, Rippy. But to make blankets Glenn would first need to make thread or yarn out of the dog hair. For that he'd need a spinning wheel. With his luck he'd prick his finger on the spindle. With our luck he'd rant about it.
But you get an A for the suggestion. :)
Click to expand...


Thank you, I did put a lot of thought into Glenn's predicament but I'm afraid you might be right.
 
"Snow is predicted in all 50 US states for the first seven days in March, more in Texas than Winnepeg."

Really? Hawaii too?

Kidding aside, I'm ready for this endless winter to end. At this pint I could care less about crowds, mosquitos, highway noise, or what have you, I just want to get out and paddle in some great places, and right now they are all looking great.

-rs
 
We've had a pretty mild winter here. Still lots of water though. That's all I'm gonna say about that....
 
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