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Living
with the wind and the cold
(part 3 of 4)
Tuesday June 27th 2000
I rubbed my hand over the window to build up charge on myself before
I touched the window frame to create a spark at least 10mm long. It
is this static electricity that is often the cause of false fire alarms
in the middle of Blizzards - just when you don't need them!
f
| Moving
around outside in Blizzards or high winds can be extremely difficult
and dangerous. There are Blizz lines, which are long lengths
of rope, to help you get from one building to another. The Blizz
lines show you where to go and stop you from becoming disorientated
in the poor visibility, but also stop you from being blown over
by the wind gusts. Often you have to use your arms to pull yourself
into the wind, or hold on to the rope to stop you being blown
over if you are travelling with the wind. |
Patrick
walking into the wind using the
Blizz line on a "moderately" windy day |
| If
you are not careful putting on your goggles and balaclava, the
wind and snow particles find their way through small holes and
strike your skin causing a sharp pain like pins being driven
into your cheeks or forehead. Even after 2 or 3 minutes outside
the snow fills any empty pockets and penetrates gaps between
your gloves and your jacket. While you are exerting yourself
to move against the wind, your breath causes condensation in
your goggles which then freezes to form a opaque layer that
makes it even harder to see. When I get into the building I
am usually gasping for air as the balaclava I am wearing makes
it difficult to breathe and that is the first thing I have to
take off. |
Patrick
diving against the
wind into the door of a building |
Due
to the difficulty in just moving around in a Blizzard it is even
harder to take pictures trying to depict what it is like. Snow accumulates
on the lens of the camera in seconds and it is very hard to hold
the camera still in the wind. So when there are high wind days with
no blowing snow I'm usually trying to find different ways of showing
the effects of the wind. As the wind strikes the end of a building
it flows sideways creating a large amount of turbulence. Walking
through this turbulence is also tricky because it feels like you
are in a crowd of people how are pushing against your from all directions.
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The
weather has a large impact on our life so we have weather
displays in the mess and living areas of the Red Shed showing
the Air Temperature (AT), Dew Point (DP), Average wind Direction
/ Speed (WIND) and wind gust (WG). The wind speeds are in
knots, and 1 knot = 1.85 kph.
The
weather "opinion" provided by the Met is also well read so
that we can plan outside work, or trips off station in good
weather.
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The
weather display on a dead calm day showing zero wind speed
and zero wind gust.
The
same weather display at night and during a fierce blizzard.
The wind is averaging 131kph, gusting to 200kph. |
Email
continues in part 4
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