Wind Chills

[shortydude]

Lots of places are getting blasted by cold temps.

The Whitefish snow report this morning included this visual.
"The National Weather Service is calling for a high of -2 degrees and temperatures will continue to fall throughout the day to -21 degrees by 5 p.m. There will also be wind chill values as low as -54 degrees!"

[Steeps]

Kicking Horse is forecasting lows of -37C on the upper mountain tomorrow... they are not opening for the day. It's likely going to hit -30C at my house tonight, and it's been howling out there (the wind, that is; I expect the wolves are curled up in whatever shelter they can find). The wind concerns me in a different way... I live out in the woods and there's only a single power line connecting this area to the grid. It only takes one tree on the lines to knock the power out, and I'm on electric heat. During multi-day winter power failures I've resorted to sleeping in my wood-fired sauna trailer once it got too cold in the house.

I don't find wind chill numbers all that meaningful for skiers etc, since it's determined by how fast you are going. Choose your own wind chill!

[shortydude]

In these kinds of temps it doesn't take long to identify every sq cm of exposed flesh on your face.

I've got a thick fleece helmet cover that also has a neck gator and lower face covering sections. When I'm not skiing I wear that thing a lot without a helmet. It fits my melon head without being too tight like most headwear.