Thursday, January 23, 2014

More Upside Down Weather

We are experiencing very "unJanuary-like " weather these days much to the dismay of the eastern seaboard. I read an article yesterday that said that the average temperature in the lower-48 was 22°F and the average temperature in Alaska was 24°F. I can't complain too much about that especially after paying my last fuel oil bill. It's supposed to rain tonight which is never a good thing in the middle of winter.

As would be expected, I rode in again this morning but I think many are opting to try and work from home due to the forecast of slippery, wet roads. Normally, there would be a lot more vehicles in the parking lot. Last night, I had noticed that my messing around with the carbs have gotten them somewhat out of sync and this has made for a little rough running at low RPM. I don't have the tools to do a proper carb sync so I just loosened one of the throttle cables a couple of turns until it felt a little better. I don't know why anything I did would have affected the sync but maybe I'll look into it a little more. Syncing the carbs is making sure that the throttles blades open at the exact same time. Kind of a challenge when the linkage is a couple of steel cables.

Just for another perspective, here is a capture from the webcam at the local newspaper office. Note the lack of traffic at what would normally be our "rush hour". You'd expect to see at least a couple of cars. As the article says, "This is not the kind of weather most Alaskans like," "We'd be happy to swap.".

14 comments:

  1. Odd temps indeed. That's around what we have. Black ice caused some issues today, and there is currently a snowfall warning.

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    1. I just went for a short walk and came back wet, it's raining now on top of the snow. This is going to be a mess. Maybe I'll head home at noon to avoid some of the problems.

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  2. Richard:

    our problem here is icy roads in the morning. The past few days have been foggy which settles onto the frozen ground causing slippery roads. (Black Ice) During the day it warms and melts only to be frozen again during the night.

    We have lots of hills on the way to work and I could hear my ABS brakes coming on a few times.

    The second problem we have are drivers who drive like it's summer and never give a thought to the roads being slippery, and on summer tires too

    bob
    Riding the Wet Coast

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    1. By now, most of those drivers are either vehicle-less or have learned. It happens pretty quickly in the Fall. On the way in this morning there was water on the road in some areas.

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  3. Don't get used to this nice weather. Those of us down here will be asking you to take it back next year.

    I like your second photo. Snap the picture, squeaky boots thru the snow. Soft lighting.

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    1. No squeeky snow. Now it's ice on top of the snow. I'll be leaving shortly so I can travel during daylight...

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  4. Its hard whether to say enjoy the warming temps or pray for more cold. Our winters are pretty balmy and all over the place temp wise. We are sitting at about 9 C today which is normal. The fog has finally burned off and there is some watery looking sunshine poking through the clouds. Not complaining about my winter at all.

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    1. Definitely more cold. These "in-between" days are the worst and we've seen to have more of them this year than normal.

      Now, it's sunny and the morning rain has frozen on the surface of the snow. Fun, eh?

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  5. The weather is certainly crazy this year. Melt and freeze makes a mess doesn't it.

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    1. Yep, the melt freeze thing is the worst. But at least it isn't as bad as -40 to +40 in one day. Then the roads are almost impassable without chains.

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  6. Downright balmy for you.

    We actually had sunshine and low 50's today. What a weird weather month it has been.

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  7. I really dislike riding on top of frozen snow, but at least less cars on your commute....that's the only negative really about my present work gig, having to go to downtown Denver. Hope your normal weather returns soon, things are somewhat normal for here.

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    1. Frozen snow is one of the places that the studs work best. But I prefer less hazardous conditions.

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