Weather 11-06-09

The wind died down so all you really feel is the temperature. It actually felt pretty good out today. I had to switch back to my light weight jacket as my big down coat was making me sweat and that is the last thing you want to do out here.

Afternoon Sky

Here you go Wes the afternoon sky at 3:36 pm looking towards the Southeast. Maybe I will be able to get one at noon tomorrow.

Polar Bears

A lone polar bear was sighted about two miles from camp today and warning came across the radio. I did some research online to find out more about the bears and their characteristics and found that they can maintain a gait of 3.5 mph for several hours. That in mind if this bear was to catch a whiff of something good to eat(bears can smell a seal over 1 mile away buried in the snow) and started heading our way it could potential reach the camp in less than an hour. Given these variables why do we not see more bears around camp? The only conclusion that I can reach is the food here smells so bad that the bears are not interested in it. Unfortunately visibility today was less than 1 mile so you could not see it from here. It was about 300 yards off the road and I missed a ride into town which would have taken me right by it because I was in meetings most of the day. Speaking of meetings, I read Death by Meeting by Patrick Lencioni last night. Great read. It could inspire anyone to overcome the mistakes that cause meetings to be boring and unproductive. I recommend it for anyone who finds themselves in a meeting once a week.

Disappointment

Well I had gotten all excited from a meeting yesterday they had decided to send me and a couple other guys down to Anchorage for a meeting. Now the word is that we are just going to teleconference in from up here. So I am stuck on this Island until further notice. Well here are a couple of pictures of the arctic fox I saw during my trip to town yesterday. It was directly in front of the Caribou Inn in downtown Prudhoe Bay. We had to wait for it to pass by before getting out of the truck as 80% of the fox population up here carries the rabies virus.

Another sunset on the Beaufort Sea

This has been the first day you could really see the sun. On previous days the cloud cover has been so great the the sun itself was not even visible.

Wind Chill

Okay cold has now been redefined. Negative 14 degrees wind chill is really cold. We are in what is called a phase I condition. The wind is so high that work is being confined to indoor areas only. Unfortunately or fortunately i still have no work to do so I sit in the office shivering everytime someone opens the open. Went to "town" yesterday not much there. Picked up a few items at the general store: Shampoo=$12.00, Case of Monsters=$69.00, Flashlight=$52.00, and a pack of AA batteries=$24.00. They do not have much up here but what they have they are really proud of.

It is bitter cold, only about 18 degrees but the wind is up about 15-20 mph. After about ten minutes outside my face is toasted by the wind. Thankfully my gloves arrived today. The one I bought when I got up here for some reason I picked up the wrong size and my hands barely fit in them. Now that my camera is here I will try and get some better pictures so far all the photos I have posted have been from my Iphone.