Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire How Cold was it?

What's the coldest conditions you've ever encountered?
Mine were while working in the absolute most Northern reaches of Alberts, and we saw a week where the mercury never rose above -50 Celcius (-58 F), night time lows were in the -55(-67 F) celcius range.
Just kept working, never outside for more than 30 minuites, but kept the place running. interesting thing was it was'nt a whole bit more noticable than -35 celcius(-31F), but I guess when your dressed like the Michlin Man already, the cold is just cold.

-70� F

-64

-18 here now

-54 * F air temp (-75* wind chill)

Once you get below -10 or -20 you really don't notice

Saw colder than seventy below several times, mostly in the south edge of the Brooks Range - Bettles, Coldfoot, and Prospect Creek, and also in Tanana and Northway.

Prospect Creek (Alaska)set the hemisphere low temperature record in January 1989 - a nasty -88.... This was during an extreme high-pressure period that set low temperature records all over the state.

-68 F. Montana, winter of '59-60. Those of you who think -60 isn't any different than -20 never had to feed cows or chop holes in the ice so they could get a drink. Cows, unlike people, are smart enough not to eat snow.

Wayne

-70 plus windchill while working on Ellesmere Island.
Kind of chilly!!

I don't recall exactly what the coldest temperature was but it was during January and February of 1974 while I was working up in Edmonton. We'd buy our beer warm at the liquor store and set it outside for a couple minutes to chill it down. If you happened to forget about it it was KABOOM!

I do recall that 40� below was real common but it's common here too..

December of 1974 and January of 1975 saw -68*F for several days and then three weeks of -60. I was stationed in Armstrong, Ont. We used to leave a police car running all night so it wouldn't freeze up, and we plugged another one in (block heater) inside a heated and poorly insulated garage so it would start.

One Xmas Eve I was on patrol and I found a young Indian girl with her knickers around her heels, laying in the middle of the road. She was drunk and had stopped to relieve herself and fell over and passed out. She was wearing those canvas deck shoes, thin cotton socks, jeans, a light western shirt and a denim jacket that was unlined and unfastened. She was delerious and it took me several hours with heated wool blankets to get her thawed out. No serious damage. And she had chronic bronchitis BEFORE this incident. Tough young lady.

Twodogs ... do you remember the radio station (CJCA)in Edmonton that winter that gave out certificates stating you had survived the longest cold spell in history (IIRC) in 1974? I believe it was something like 54 days where the temp didn't get above -18F. I was going to the U of A that year & had to walk a few blocks to get to classes. That winter I bought a fur-lined hat with ear flaps ... still have it ... haven't needed it as bad as I did then.
That was COLD!!!!

It was 34 degrees above zero hero last night. There's no way I could beat any of those boost that have preseded me.

I have a picture of a sign at Coldfoot Alaska that states in part "On Jaunary 26th a new record was established when -82F was recorded. The summer high in 1988 of +97F creates a spread of 179 Degrees."

It also states "The winter of 1989 made North American winter histroy, shattering previous high pressure and cold temperature records. Here at Coldfoot on January 14th, the temperature dropped to -64F, where for seventeen consecutive days the temperature remained at -60F or colder."

And hey - it got COLD down the road at Prospect Creek --

I have a picture of my thermometer outside the house in Fbx that read -55*F and used it as a Christmas card with something dumazz like "It's chilly - wish you were here".

It's on film and I need to digitize it.

When I lived in Salcha, I spent vacation time pulling dead wood for the stove from the back parts of the property at colder than -60. Only heat in the house and the rig wouldn't start. Pulling an ahkio full of firewood is a great way to stay warm at those temp! <sigh> I almost miss it!

During that cold snap in January 1989, I moved from Fairbanks to South East - I spent three days loading stuff from the house into my motorhome, and don't believe it ever got much above -55F. We also loaded my '77 shovelhead into the back of a new Chevy pickup in this killer cold and took off for Haines.

We rolled into Delta about midnight, where it became obvious the charging system on the motorhome's big-block Chevy was not working. We spent that long cold night charging the motorhome batteries off the truck with jumpers - luckily I found a broken wire the next morning and we rolled on south, leaving the fond memories of the Interior behind.

I don't handle the cold like I did when I was a young buck.

December 1977-I was 22 yo and going to save a lot of money on airfare by driving to Anch rather than flying out of Fai. (That's another story!) It had been around 50 below for most of a week. The morning I'm planning to drive, it had warmed up to -20. HUGE difference for those that think there might not be. I was hauling bags out to the car in just a flannel shirt and was perfectly comfortable!

I should have been more respectful to my elders.

HA! I mean, yep!

Bearhuntd...is that you?

I earned the title "Blue Nose" when I was in the Navy...
That's cold....

-50 and that was the year I learned running water could freeze from the bottom up. Not good when using horses, .

I don't envy you Northern folks a bit, you are tough!!!

Got to say, those clear, cold nights when the cracking/splitting timber happens, are sure a beautiful experience.