Blowy Snowy Day

I really can’t believe it’s September tomorrow. But I have no frame of reference

either. I guess at home you’ll be watching the leaves become less green or recently-born

animals becoming be less cute. You can feel it in the air, the crisper breeze,

the extra layer you need to wear outside. In Australia and NZ the changes are

different but it’s change towards an equinox season nonetheless. I guess that’s

the only similarity I share – the change towards equinox, the hours of

light and dark becoming more equal. That is something we’re experiencing everywhere

around the globe.

Today is a snowy, blowy day. I looked at the weather chart this morning and

saw it was blowing 37 knots with an ambient temperature around -17C. Thirty-seven

knots… hmm, I tried to remember: was the threshold for visiting the lab 30

or 40 knots? Minus seventeen?! That can’t be right, it’s toasty outside! What

a change from the minus forties and clear skies we had last week.

Still, at least you could work outside in that weather. The first time I experienced

weather like this it was exhilarating, it was phenomenal, it was an Incredible

Storm. We found excuses to go outside just to know what it felt like, to say

we’d been here and battled it. In contrast, no-one seemed very fussed at all

this morning. Breakfast, cup of tea, melt-tank was a bit of a slog I imagine

and off to work. The CASLab is out of bounds but we expected that yesterday

and Steph set it up to run without us today so I’m not concerned. I went to

the Simpson platform to work on some emails and make some chemical solutions.

Digging snow for the Simpson melt-tank was a bit cold on the face but not as

bad as I had expected it to be.

It’s not like we aren’t fussed or touched by this weather – I wore goggles

today, pulled my bearpaws well over my sleeves and made sure to put my windy

top hood up before going outside. Ness and I unwound and connected the line

between the Laws platform and the other hand-lines so we can feel our way home

from anywhere even if the visibility craps out completely. I mean, it was blowing

40 knots outside! When I got inside finally I was covered in snow and exhausted.

Battling against that wind is a struggle but going home is bliss!

It’s now reached 45 knots and -13C. The temperature is a bit deceptive though

since at wind speeds like that you don’t feel much warmth. The subjective temperature

is -37.8C, much closer to what we’re used to! Still, I didn’t bother with my

dead rabbit hat today: already had enough clobber on my head without the hassle

of that! The building is shaking and wind howling, you can hear it everywhere.

I can’t weigh anything accurately in the wet chem lab cos the platform is shaking

so much. The rocking chairs in the living room rock on their own and pictures

start tilting. I have to head back to the Laws now and know it will take a good

ten minutes to get properly togged up and I’ll be fairly tired when I get there.

I don’t really know why I’m writing this blog – I have nothing new and

exciting to report. Just thought I’d say hello and talk about the weather. Some

things are the same all the world over I guess.