Steve, totally agree about the tires, should be the law for winter driving to have snow tires (in some Canadian provinces it is now), but as good as snow tires are, studded snow tires are that much better on any icy surface. All you need is one time not getting stuck, or being able to stop, or steer, potentially saving lives and vehicles and the savings are immense.
Also total agreement that the salt on bridges (and vehicles), does far greater harm than help. We can’t afford to keep up with the infrastructure damage. On that note, why on earth aren’t they using stainless steel rebar and structural steel in bridges in salt country anyways? Doubling the lifespan of a bridge far outweighs the cost of stainless.
I don’t think studded tires are even legal here. What would they do with all that salt and all those man hours to spread it and repair the damage it caused, How about the sales tax on them cars replaced,sold. Sales tax collected twice every time someone sells there car and buys a replacement. Big money in all that destructive, wasteful spending.
Studs are not allowed in the southern half of ontario but legal up north basically at the line where salt is no longer effective. Snow tires are not mandatory but you get a break on your insurance if you have them. I would never drive in winter without true snow tires. As far as rebar goes the salt would corrode stainless steel as well… the corrosion problem has been reduced by switching to epoxy coated rebar for exposed concrete. That switch occurred only 30 ish years ago though.
I could be wrong, but my understanding is that stainless doesn’t cake and spall as carbon steel will when exposed to high concentration salt, which I understand is the principal mode of reinforced concrete failure. 316 series stainless seems to have high corrosion resistance. My impression is that the obstacle is price, and possibly planned obsolescence. I wonder what the design life of a bridge deck would be if epoxy coated stainless rebar was used?
Over across the Puget Sound on the Olympic Peninsula, we got 2-3 inches (50-75mm) of snow, but it was the morning before the snow that I saw 16F (-8.8C) in the morning, and a sheet of ice in my truck bed.
Our population of wolves are growing rapidly. 40 years ago we had almost none. All shot back in the 1800s.
Now days the Saami get hundereds of reindeer killed by wolves every year. Owners of sheep and other critters also have a hard time.
Government city people decided the population has to grow to maintain the genetic variety but when ever a lone wolf show up in the city it will immediately get shot by the authorities. Out here whole packs are lurking around in our villages and if a wolf gets shot there are more police involved than if people get murdered. You can expect jail time if you get caught. There’s a tacit agreement in the countryside: SGT (skjut, gräv, tig) = shoot, dig, shut up.
Garry, minus 29 is no fun. I think already below minus 15 is actually when things start to get a bit aggrivating. That’s the temp I have right now and the dogs alteady start running around on three legs in just 10 minutes.
Even if we are in Alaska latitudes we’re fortunate to get a wisk of the Gulf stream tail from time to time. We hardly see below minus 30 temps at all. Maybe only a few days a year.
The SGT allso applys for us l lose lots of poultry to foxes and similar pests. Only a hunter can eliminate anyithing bigger thain a mouse, and most hunters here are lazy drunks. They dont eaven shoot deer anymore.
Fox population did multiply about 4 years back when we had a explosion in mouse population. There were mice everywhere. I shot 52 with my blowgun in a night in our livingroom! They quickly ate all the acorns ans seeds and eaven turned canibalistic in war for food.
But as fast as they came so fast they dissapeared, leaveing only hungry young foxes behind.
Thanks for the pics JO and Garry . Too cold for me !!
On another note I have been working the wood burners daily. The big ole V-10 a lot of hours, not a many miles . The little Dakota a lot of miles , not many hours .
To our Canadian friends; You can take your Arctic air back up north. I know you fellows like to “brag” about temperatures down to - 30 or -40, but what you have sent us today was only -5 with a wind chill of -25. I know to you, that isn’t enough to deserve any bragging rights, but it sure is a “pain” for us southern folks.TomC
Yes Jo, below minus 15 views on outdoor activities change, including for dogs. Being so deep in the middle of the continent we get an extreme climate, despite being on the same latitude as France. At least we never see minus 40’s any more, (minus 45 is the same in Fahrenheit and Celsius), we have increased 2 climate zones over the last 30 years, you can start to see new plant diseases and insects appearing.
On the topic of wolves, rare in the south, more common around my land. Farmers are allowed to shoot animals in the act of damaging their stock, and there is also a compensation system for losses.
Same as here I guess. Only discovering wolfs “in the act” almost never happens and most people don’t own guns anyway. If they do they never carry them except for hunting.
Normally wolfs are very shy and very few ever see them. Bears are much more common and actually more dangerous. People are getting chewed at every year but somehow the fear of wolves is greater. Maybe Little Red Riding Hood is why
No I haven’t moved but compared to our Canadian friends, I am down south. And yes we really are having T-shirt weather, along with long underwear, flannel shirt, sweat shirt, a hooded sweat shirt, a coat, and my thermal coveralls. Went out to the shed to move the battery chargers around on equipment. I knew I would be in the shed out of the wind so I just put on a coat— with Levis on, it felt like bermuda shorts. Have I complained enough? Am I getting any sympathy. Hmmm. TomC
Being so deep in the middle of the continent we get an extreme climate, despite being on the same latitude as France. At least we never see minus 40’s any more, (minus 45 is the same in Fahrenheit and Celsius), we have increased 2 climate zones over the last 30 years, you can start to see new plant diseases and insects appearing.