Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Man this Weather is Crazy!!!

God must hate us in North Pole! My thermometer hasn't budged above -40 since this stuff began.

Weather is cyclable, it swings back and forth. This is the big reason that The so called environmentalist get away with what they do. The lack of memory in the public mind. If you had a web site to go to, that shows the temps in the 60/70's you would see long durations of these temperatures. We have been in a warming trend for a couple of decades, it's over and going back to cold.

I'd like to see your data.

In the mere dozen winters we've been up here, this certainly isn't the coldest cold snap we've had in southcentral. I recall -30 as fairly common, and the coldest I've seen in this snap was -24 in Eagle River this morning, I have yet to see colder than the negative teens in anchortown this snap, but I'd bet far north bicentenial is pretty chilly.

I picked up a little 4 wheeler for the kids to play with, and it came with a burned out starter and solenoid, but was too cheap to pass up. We figured out how to bump start it in 4th. Anyhow, even after going to synthetic oil in the crakecase, it's tough to start it when it's been sitting at -20. I tried starting the snow blower yesterday to blow off another path for the 4 wheeler, and I could just barely turn over the engine with the pull starter, and never got it started. So if it's less than -10, you definately want to heat up your oil before starting an infernal combustion engine. Also don't be suprised if your vehicles mileage goes to crap, that 80w oil in your diffs is akin to molases, and requires a few hp for your engine to overcome the increased drag.

I had batteries in my diesel go TU. It wouldn't start with out the charger at 40A for half an hour and then the 200A boost - even after sitting with the 2A trickle all night.

Changed the batteries and cleaned off the top tag. I got those batteries in Oct 2000. That's 99 months!

I wonder what the next cold-casualty will be.

It'll be my usually awesome and good sense of humor!

bhtr

This morning NPR had some gal on who's husband works for USFWS in Tok and she is claiming her thermometer is registering somewhere below -78.
Suprised NPR didn't follow up with a feature on global warming.
they asked how she started her vehicle and she said everyone has a plug in and put cardboard in front of the radiator but it is so cold she can feel the brakes and steering wheel get stiffer as she drives to town - it sounds like she must start from a warm garage.

Does anyone remember the days before battery blankets, dip stick heater, circulating heaters and frost shields, freeze plug heaters?

I recall the favorite method was a kerosene lamp under the oil pan surrounded by a tarp and hauling the battery back and forth from house to car and back inside when you got home.

Then the guys with air planes draining the oil, heating it up in a can on a stove and pouring it back in. Crank away as fast as they could get in the seat.

Heck I went around trying to find frost shields and nobody has even heard of them. We have been lucky and not seen these really cold temperatures in decades, so we got lolled in to thinking we did not have to be prepared.

I got caught with these Optima batteries, I hadn't put a blanket on them since I started using them in the early 90's. Now I know that they will fall on there butts at -20, if you leave them set for a couple of days.

I figure I live in Alaska and I expect it to be cold, in the winter. Over the years I've learned to live with it and even enjoy it. An old timer once told me to make winters enjoyable you have to be prepared and get out in the weather. I try to get out even durning the cold days. This may be just a short walk or an outing of some sort. For example, tonight will be a great time to get out for a walk especially away from town, there is a full moon and a clear sky. It will almost be daylight with the bright moon. This cold spell will soon end and I expect another one prior to spring.
pak

My brother in law left the door open on my wife's car overnight, drained the battery and now I can't get it started again, just won't take a charge in the cold. Gonna have to either pull it out or wait till it warms up, that is if the battery will ever work again. Fortunately my old Ford Escort is as reliable as ever, it may not be able to defrost the windows but atleast it starts.

Bring it in the house away from any flame or spark source and where it's warm. Let it stand for 24 hours and trickle charge.

Take a voltage reading when you get it in the house. after a 24 hour trickle charge check the battery voltage again. You want to see a voltage above 12.4 volts. Any where from 13.2 to 14.8 is ideal. If it lower than the 12.5 volts, you maybe looking at a new battery.

You might just want to think about removing the light bulb in the overhead. Just so you don't get caught out again.

I found what works for me, take a piece of insulation and put under the battery, put a battery blanket and plug it in over night or as long as it sets.

Wasn't too cold here in the banana belt this morning; -16 at my house. Yesterday it was -26.