Baby, It’s Cold Outside!
I was planning on attending the Annamaet Challenge Series Race today, with my friend Denise. Unfortunately, the race was postponed due to cold. The temperature cut-off is 25 below. When I woke this morning at 7am, it was 28 below outside my front door. I called NOAA, as that’s where the organizers get the current temperature reading, and the temp at 8am was -27F. I’m disappointed, but hope to go next Sunday. I haven’t been to see the dogs run at all this winter.
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The night before last, I was up late - as I usually am when Steve is on day shift. He goes to bed so early, and I don’t like to disturb him, so I usually end up sitting up until the wee hours, or catching a little sleep on the sofa. I go to bed when he goes to work at 4am.
I was keeping an eye on the aurora web cam and the photos were showing faint green light in sky, with slender and brighter green bands low on the horizon. Because we have trees around our house, I can’t see the lights from my driveway or the road unless they’re higher up in the sky.
Suddenly, the camera showed that the bright bands had moved higher in the sky, so I put my camera on the tripod, and bundled up for the short trek down my driveway. The moon was fairly bright, so I didn’t have much hope of seeing anything.
About five minutes later, I saw a green band come over the trees. I shot some long exposures (about 13-15 seconds). Long exposures make the aurora look a lot brighter than it appears to the naked eye, but it’s still so pretty:
These next two photos are a more accurate representation of the brightness of the lights:
And then, as quickly as they appeared, they were gone. Good thing though, because my fingers were burning with the pain of the cold (-20F) - even with gloves on!
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Tomorrow I have plans to go on a road trip with my friend Lori. I’d love to drive down to Black Rapids (about 130 miles one way), or even as far as Gulkana Glacier (about 160 miles), but with the extreme cold, and the fact that my car does not like it when it’s colder than 10 below, I’m a little nervous about making that drive. Once you get through Delta, there’s not much in the way of civilization. Of course I’d be prepared with emergency gear, but the thought of breaking down doesn’t give me any warm and fuzzies. We’ll see what the temperature gauge is reading tomorrow and decide then.
Enjoy what’s left of your weekend!
