
Google Doodle celebrates Canada’s coldest day, -63 ℃ - gruseom
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/story_print.html?id=9462148
======
bernardom
I've seen the wrong side of -40, when I was flying to work in Ft McMurray,
Alberta for a consulting job.

One time, I drew the short straw and had to go pick up our SUVs at the parking
lot upon landing. They were outside, plugged in.

The car started with the saddest sound I ever heard a mechanical thing make.

I put it in reverse, hit the gas, and pulled out of the spot. Then I put it in
drive and hit the gas- and the car moved backwards. Every gear except for Park
and Neutral did the same thing: reverse.

I reversed around the airport parking lot to the terminal and walked into the
Hertz. When I explained the problem, they had clearly heard it before. "Don't
worry about it. Just leave it on for a few minutes and you'll be fine.
Transmission fluid's frozen."

~~~
grecy
You didn't let it warm up?

In the Yukon, it's critical you let your car warm up. A block heater, battery
blanket and oil pan heater are all needed, but they're only heating the actual
engine block.

Think about how cold the oil in the transmission and diffs are.. let alone
everything else.

You also want to drive extremely smoothly and slowly for the first ~5 mins to
let everything circulate and slowly warm up to running temp - sudden moves or
turns tears apart CV joints, and destroys other rubber seals.

~~~
sliverstorm
These are aspects to driving vehicles most people do not even begin to need to
think about.

~~~
atwebb
Especially nowadays, I know that my 72 Chevy had a instructions for cold start
(<32 I believe) on the back of the driver's visor which included idling for a
few minutes. I've noticed people tend to turn their car on after getting
situated but I still have a habit of turning it over as soon as I get in to
let it warm up even though that car is, sadly, gone for now.

~~~
maxerickson
All the geegaws on a modern engine make it less important.

~~~
grecy
Hahaha.

Have you seen what engine oil looks like past -35C?

Butter. Same color, same consistency. You can cut and spread it with a knife.
Those geegaws aren't helping there.

Also, there is a hell of a lot more in a vehicle that's sensitive to extreme
cold than an engine.

~~~
maxerickson
Hohoho?

I said less for a reason. Most people don't have to worry about -35C. Cars
start reliably down to fairly low temperatures, so they don't need to worry
about it.

~~~
grecy
> _Most people don 't have to worry about -35C._

We're replying in a thread about someone trying to use a vehicle at -40C...

> _Cars start reliably down to fairly low temperatures_

Start? As the parent comment states, that's the least of your problems.

~~~
maxerickson
I replied to a comment that mentioned <32 Fahrenheit.

------
grecy
I live up in the Yukon and drove into Snag in the fall looking for Moose.

The history of the old abandoned town there is really cool, as were the
Northern lights. We spent a couple of days wandering around all the old
buildings, etc.

Pics here: [http://theroadchoseme.com/more-yukon-fall-
camping-2011](http://theroadchoseme.com/more-yukon-fall-camping-2011)

This year up on the Dempster for Caribou hunting, I saw -45C, the coldest I've
seen yet. We were outside for the whole day snowshoeing around, it was
spectacularly beautiful.

Lots of my friends up here have seen -55C.

------
georgecmu
Balmy Canada.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oymyakon](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oymyakon)

Oymyakon and Verkhoyansk are the only two permanently inhabited places in the
world that have recorded temperatures below −60.0 °C (−76 °F) for every day in
January. Oymyakon has never recorded an above freezing temperature between
October 25 and March 17.

------
mrfusion
Random crazy idea alert:

This is actually close to the temperature to sublimate CO2. I'm curious why we
couldn't lower the temperature a little more and pull carbon out of the air?
Has anyone investigated that?

Maybe I should buy some land there and start making dry ice and selling carbon
offsets?

~~~
maxerickson
The partial pressure is too low:

[http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/06/13/results-lab-
experiment...](http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/06/13/results-lab-experiment-
regarding-co2-snow-in-antarctica-at-113%C2%B0f-80-5%C2%B0c-not-possible/)

~~~
mrfusion
But you just need to lower the temperature another 20-40 degrees. It would
still take some energy but since youre starting at such a low temp It would
seem it would save a lot of energy.

~~~
maxerickson
The link is pretty convincing. What it amounts to is that there is so little
CO2 in the air that sublimation into the air happens faster than any freezing
out of the air.

------
plaguuuuuu
"thermometers don't use mercury"

uhh... many of them do in fact use mercury..

~~~
gojomo
Indeed, the article errs on that general statement. But it seems per Wikipedia
that pure-mercury thermometers become unusable at -39C, when mercury
solidifies. A mercury-thallium alloy can go to -61C, but apparently alcohol
thermometers are preferred for measuring extreme cold, as they work to -70C.
So the actual observed thermometers on that record day – _those_ thermometers
– likely did not use mercury.

------
rkuykendall-com
The physics of this article was incredible to think about. It must have been
like visiting another world.

------
mjn
Goddamn, there are places actually above the arctic circle with milder
climates than this. Tromsø, Norway, has a low of -6 C (21 F) over the next
week! And highs above freezing!

~~~
lisper
The Gulf Stream is a wonderful thing. Without it, Tromsø would be a frozen
wasteland.

------
fxpester
>100.000 people smiling now at Norilsk :)

Taken several days ago -
[http://s2.pikabu.ru/post_img2/2014/01/30/9/1391089429_818451...](http://s2.pikabu.ru/post_img2/2014/01/30/9/1391089429_818451032.jpg)

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norilsk](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norilsk)

------
NN88
Thats -81.4(F), btw.

~~~
BlackDeath3
Wow. When I heard -60, I thought Fahrenheit. Christ.

------
jebblue
In 1981 when I was just out of boot camp and waiting for BE/E school at Great
Lakes, IL, we had to patrol the base for I think it was 4 hours. It was -80 F
wind chill factor. I thought I was going to die. I can't imagine being
somewhere where the normal temperature on a given day is that cold. The wind
chill must be unbearable to be outside for long.

------
sdfjkl
Made me think of Vernor Vinge's "A Deepness in the Sky"[1], which is set on a
planet where the atmosphere freezes and snows to the ground before thawing
again (in 250 year cycles).

[1]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Deepness_in_the_Sky#Backgroun...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Deepness_in_the_Sky#Background)

~~~
arethuza
Of course, the best bit is _why_ the atmosphere freezes (i.e. why the On/Off
star acts like it does)

------
nl
I can't imagine what that must be like. OTOH, I've been out in a few days
where it was over 45C, and that's not pleasant either.

~~~
grecy
I've seen +47.8C (in Australia) and -45C (in northern Canada).

I'm still hoping for the full 100C temp swing, which I'm getting mighty close
to :)

~~~
Jacqued
Hahah, nice ! I've seen 50C in the Sahara desert but never below -20C. Guess I
should try spending a winter in Canada :)

~~~
panacea
Am in Aus and experienced 43c this summer, and have been on a husky safari in
Lapland at -40c.

I can't recommend a husky safari enough:

[http://www.harriniva.fi/en/destinations/harriniva/programme-...](http://www.harriniva.fi/en/destinations/harriniva/programme-
packages/travelogue-husky-safari/)

------
splicer
It's -24C in Waterloo, ON right now. I think I might work from home
tomorrow...

------
colmvp
lol makes me feel like a wimp for feeling like -20 was cold.

------
BlindRubyCoder
"Climate Change"

~~~
bjz_
Whilst no single weather event can be linked directly to climate change, this
is, surprisingly, consistent with a global increase in temperature. Whilst the
rest of the Northern Hemisphere is warmer than it ever has been, Canada and
the North Eastern US freezes due to an alteration to the jet stream:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZGsdnYqbjk](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZGsdnYqbjk)

