Sunday, 9:35 am: It’s January, and not surprisingly it’s cold outside. The National Weather Service continues its Wind Chill Advisory for our area and most of northern Maine. A few times yesterday and today during high wind gusts the wind chill was -39° (F.). Generally the wind chill is in the minus mid -teens to the low -30s° (F.). What you read below in my weather data is based on a ten minute wind speed average, so it is misleading when first read.

The wind blew so strong and continuously that is was almost impossible to get some solid sack time during the past two nights. Unfortunately the wind blew mainly from the northwest which is the side our bedroom is on, and even today, it continues to get pummeled by snow and wind. I had to shovel our back stairs five times yesterday, the blowing snow just kept coming down. Strangely it was and continues clear outside. The wind driven snow is what is being blown off the ground. Just bringing in firewood requires bundling up with multiple layers of clothing. Frostbite is just around the corner if I am not careful.

In Germany and large parts of western and central Europe they were also hit with high winds causing widespread damage and power outages. My wife called some of her sisters to check on them. Lucky for them they live in solid [an very ugly] Stalinesque concrete high-rise gray apartment buildings. The architectural design is my satirical name, since most of her sisters live in the former DDR. In any case they were mostly unaffected by the winds.

As in so many other days, I’ll be heading downstairs to brew some espresso, eat a slice of some creamy chocolate cake and then it’s off to hauling in firewood. Tomorrow the whole cycle repeats itself . . . life in the fast lane.

Current Values from our wireless Vantage-Pro weather station:

Current temperature: -3° (F.)

Current wind chill: -18° (F.)

Barometer: 30.028 & rising rapidly

Wind: NNW at 19 mph & variable

Humidity: 56%

Visibility: ca. 3 miles

Skies: Clear with blowing snow

Precipitation: None

Since midnight:

Low temperature: -4.1° (F.) at 6:22 am

High wind: 31 mph at 12:06 am

Low wind chill: -21° (F.) at 4:49 am (Based on a ten minute average wind speed)