I was coming back from Beauty's Barn this evening just after 5 p.m. and saw the dogs gathered on the front porch of Widget's House. Jodie had just gone over to let them out again before feeding them. It was already 10 below zero and the sun was barely below the horizon; that's Ovando Mountain in the background, still capturing some light from the setting sun. You can tell from the gathering on the porch that the dogs do not want to go outside and go potty. No, sir.
I reported on the blog yesterday evening that our forecast low for last night was minus 11. Well, it was actually minus 30 when we got up this morning. (For our international readers, that's minus 34 Celsius.) This is what our back porch thermometer was showing just before I headed out to start taking care of the horses:
To double-check, I went out and looked at the thermometer in the wood shed, and this is what I found:
Our really sophisticated wireless weather station, an expensive LaCrosse Technology unit that measures wind speed and lots of other conditions, goes offline at 20 below zero ... now isn't that helpful? So when it gets this cold, we rely on the $10 thermometers to know what the temperature really is.
When I returned from barn chores two hours later, it had warmed up to a brisk 18 below zero (-27 C) in the sun.
As I sat down to write this post about 5:30 p.m., it had already dropped another 5 degrees to 15 below ... but the National Weather Service office in Missoula had a forecast calling for a low of minus 19 for tonight. So I just called the office (we're "official weather spotters" for the NWS) to let them know we were going to blow past minus 19 in a matter of minutes. They want that kind of feedback so they can update their forecasts accordingly. And sure enough, at 5:53 p.m., we just hit 20 below. It drops that fast after the sun sets out here.
BRRRRRRRRRR !!!! You must be so bundled up you can barely move! How cold does it get in the barns where the horses are stalled at night?
Posted by: Mircat | January 22, 2008 at 02:00 PM
I think my eyes froze when I read this.
Posted by: Janet | January 22, 2008 at 01:26 PM
(we're "official weather spotters" for the NWS)
Oh, it's nice that you two have something to do with all your free time !! :) :)
Hope you're wearing lots of layers today !!
Posted by: Bibi | January 22, 2008 at 12:55 PM
Bless your hearts! Hang in there.
Posted by: Allison | January 22, 2008 at 09:53 AM
Thank you for describing your climate and conditions. It helps me put my area's -11 in perspective. It also gives all your readers a hint of the huge climate challenges you face on RDR. All I can say is that you're a better man than I am, Gunga Steve.
Posted by: Moon Rani | January 22, 2008 at 09:32 AM
It is amazing how fast the temperature drops as the sun sets. All I can say is brrrrr....
see you in spring.
Posted by: Boundforglory | January 22, 2008 at 07:30 AM
Your work is a labor of love that is for sure....no fair weather friends at RDR!!
Posted by: Shirley & James, Portland, OR | January 21, 2008 at 10:28 PM
They say a picture paints a 1000 words but all I can think of from seeing the picture of the dogs sitting out on the front porch is....haha. I don't know why but it just brings a smile to my face. Although -30 does not :( I think the coldest I've ever encountered is maybe -10.
Posted by: Andrew | January 21, 2008 at 09:24 PM
Wow! That's chilly! We were only at -7F overnight! Our crew seems to need booties once it gets to about 15F degrees if we want to do anything other than a quick potty break. It would take all day to bootie-up the Ranch dog population :)
Do you have to do anything special with the horses other than blankets at that temperature?
Posted by: smrp | January 21, 2008 at 07:21 PM
Ahhh.... that brings back memories of our winters in Maine!!! We'd hit
0* and think it was a heatwave!
Hope this cold snap ends soon!
Hope Uncle Dillion is doing o.k. he
has been on my mind lately.
Posted by: Lynn | January 21, 2008 at 06:37 PM