Winter's here..

It's white here too; one of those November storms of the type that sank the Edmund Fitzgerald: 50 to 70 mph winds and 12 to 16 foot waves, with an average wave period of 5.6 seconds. The waves on the Great Lakes are very steep, so when you think of a 12 foot wave, don't think of a nice 12 foot ocean swell, but instead picture a 12 foot nearly vertical wall of water, with another one less than six seconds behind it. I'm glad I'm not out on the lake today!

Tom

 

Yup, and the worst part is the wind is probably below freezing, so the fresh water that splashes on deck freezes. Soon the deck is too heavy, and the boat capsizes! Nice!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(David Beale @ Nov 27 2007, 03:24 PM) [snapback]544835[/snapback]</div>

Yep, it's about 21 F or -6 C air temperature, so you'd be making ice like crazy.

Tom

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(qbee42 @ Nov 27 2007, 02:52 PM) [snapback]544814[/snapback]</div>

Feh. I'd take the -24 C here, perhaps a bit of a windchill, over your weather.

 

I like being out on the water. But I like it to be bathwater warm, and as flat as possible, with a nice hot sun to evaporate it when I get out. 12-foot vertical walls of water and six degrees below zero Celsius make me glad I live in Spokane, where the only vertical water is what comes out of my shower head, and it's hot before I get under it.

But I did shovel the driveway. They don't do that for us unless there's 4 inches or more. I voted for two inches, but everyone else would rather save a little money, and I can handle under 4 inches. I'd say it was maybe 2 inches this morning.

 

Here is what our water looks like in the winter, This photo is looking north from the tip of the Leelanau peninsula. The piles of ice and snow have built up along the shoreline, with the waves pounding in just beyond.

Tom

 

Yikes, just like that scene from The Day After Tomorrow

Though we are getting strong winds and heavy snow right now. Quite happy to be able to work from home

 

For the Canadian members, the Goodyear Nordic at Canadian Tire is a very good deal. Studded, balanced, and mounted for around $120 a tire. The Nordic is the same as the Goodyear Ultra Grip 500 sold in Europe

http://eu.goodyear.com/home_en/tires/repository/UltraGrip500/index.jsp?page=benefits

If you click on Profile a Flash presentation of the tire will load. I should warn the Canadian members that this tire - due to it's tread design - is *very* noisy on dry pavement. At speeds of 40-60 km/h they howl like an off road mud tire

A co-worker just had factory studded Nokian Hakkapeliitta 5 put on her Camry, and they really are good ice tires. They also don't howl like mine, but are quite a bit more money.

http://www.nokiantires.com/en/tire_hakka5.aspx?season=winter

If local laws prohibit studded tires, I highly recommend the Toyo line of winter tires. They use a special ground up walnut shell in the tread compound. Unlike the Blizzak, the special tread compound is the full tire depth, not just 50% of the tread like the Blizzak

http://www.toyocanada.com/products/ObserveG02plus.asp

The passenger car Toyo winter tire is the Observe G-02 Plus. The pickup and SUV version is the Open Country G-02 Plus, which is what I have on my FJ Cruiser.

I personally feel the polished ice traction of the Open Country studless tires on my FJ falls short of the studded Goodyear Nordic on my Prius. However, they are very quiet and ride very smoothly

 

An inch of snow, followed by sleet, freezing rain, and ice. I made the mistake of brushing off all the snow, which would have provided a layer between the car and the 1/4" of ice that enveloped everything. I spent a half hour, enough gas to put my MPG in the toilet for that day, and most of a can of de-icer to get things clear enough to drive.

I have elected to try to make it though the winter on the Michelin Hydo-Edges ( I have snow on my mini-van if this is unsuccessful), on the theory that global warming, er, excuse me, climate change, has made this largely unecessary (was true last winter)

 

Unfortunately, Global Warming has caused a La Nina to develop, and that has pulled the jet stream south, exposing us in the North to the full blast from the pole.

More energy in the atmosphere means there needs to be more mixing (by nature), and more mixing means you could be covered by colder air just as much as warmer air.

People think global warming means they will be warmer everywhere. Obviously, this is not the case. That's why they call it "weather". We never know "weather" it will or "weather" it won't.

So far I'm happy with my Nokian WR tires. Today there was lots of ice on the roads, but it was "cold ice" (near -18C or 0F), not as slippery as ice near freezing. Still, if I plunked down the accelerator when the lights changed it tripped the traction control. The car still went, it just thought about it a lot, go-stop, go-stop, go-stop, go. If I was gentle on the accelerator I got no slip. Still, either way Pearl kept up with the traffic.

The nicest thing about the WRs is I don't have to change them as the seasons change.

 

Winter is icumen in

Winter is icumen in,
Lhude sing Goddamm,
Raineth drop and staineth slop,
And how the wind doth ramm!
Sing: Goddamm.
Skiddeth bus and sloppeth us,
An ague hath my ham.
Freezeth river, turneth liver,
Damn you, sing: Goddamm.
Goddamm, Goddamm, 'tis why I am, Goddamm,So 'gainst the winter's balm.
Sing goddamm, damm, sing Goddamm,
Sing goddamm, sing goddamm, DAMM.

--Ezra Pound

 

Winter tire pressure?

So with ole man Winter upon us - can anyone tell me what optimum tire pressure they have found that works well? Thanks!