Challenges at 29F Below Zero (-34C)

Brrrrrr!

After the record breaking warmth in Alaska during every month of 2019, including rain on New Year's Eve (!), I was astonished when the temperatures plummeted last week to teens below 0 F, and kept dropping to the low 20s and 30s below 0 F this week. These arctic conditions are predicted to remain for another week.  (Thank goodness there is no windchill factor).  Interior Alaskans might regard me as wimpy (Bettles was 60F below 0 last week), but I find this weather brutal.

For three days, I had NO interest in doing any projects outside.  My husband dressed up like an astronaut in multiple layers of quilted, lined winter wear to do any outdoor chores, such as checking on the animals and hauling load after load of wood to our cabin.   When I finally ventured out myself, I could perform only one or two brief projects before retreating inside to warm up.

As you can imagine, we are rapidly depleting the wood supply that heats our two room, 750 sq. ft. cabin and our hot tub.  On warm winter days  of +20 to 30 F, we burn, per day, about 15 small birch logs in our wood stove.  At 0 degrees F, we ignite up to 30.  Currently, we are churning through about 45 logs to maintain patchy interior temperatures of low 50s to high 60s.  That may sound cool, but it is 70-80 degrees warmer than outside. We have already burned half of the dry logs my husband cut last summer.  (Fortunately, we live in a forest and have already flagged standing dead trees for future fuel).


This weather has inspired us to implement two ways to maximize our heat source.  Above and behind the wood stove we hung a little desktop type fan to propel some of the rising heat out into the room.  This helped a bit.  We also decided to minimize the space we needed to heat during the day.  So I sewed loops onto the edges of a flannel sheet and cup-hooked it onto the wood frame around the 4x6 foot aperture through which our circular stairs rise to the second floor.  This traps the heat that rises, increasing the differential between the first and second floors.  Currently, it is 66 degrees at the bottom of the stairs and 51 up top!  I got this idea from my husband's 140 year old log cabin in Wisconsin, which had a hinged "floor door" at the top of the stairs that was closed when the bedrooms were unoccupied. 

Water is another concern.  To keep the kitchen sink drain open in winter, an electric heat trace line melts any ice formation in the pipe.  But not at these cold temperatures!   So I have reverted to a “dry sink” strategy: I pour water that is heated in a 23 gallon tank above the wood stove into wash buckets and then toss the dirty water outside in the snow.

However, we are starting to ration water because we are afraid of damaging the hoses and metal spigot if we try to replenish water from the well.  So we load an 8 gallon pot with snow that we melt inside for coffee, cooking, and cool rinse water. 

Naturally, we HAVE to heat the hot tub or we would have 450 gallons of ice in a busted cedar barrel.  I must say, though, that these baths are super fast.  My wet hair freezes, my ears get cold, and I don't want my hands out of the water to hold a book, as I normally do.  We are shoveling snow in each day to replace what evaporates.

Electric and battery power are problematic, too.  At these temperatures, the battery powered clocks (outside) stopped running.  Exterior lights flicker.  The battery bank of our solar/wind system is always less efficient in winter than in summer.  It can't hold a charge as long.  Fortunately, it is too cold to snow, so the solar panels receive some weak winter sun.  But at 20 to 30 below 0, the batteries are storing a measly 4-5 hours.  Throughout the day and night, my husband drags one small Honda generator inside to warm up while the other one runs for four hours ($1/hr) to charge the batteries which power electricity for telephony, Internet, lights and the heaters for the animals.  We could go without the first three for many hours, but the animals would die.  So, when the power goes out at 3 in the morning, Bryan suits up, poor guy.   

I wonder what old-timers did to keep their animals alive through the winter. They probably brought them into their cabins (or butchered them in the fall).  Our chicken coop in insulated, but the modest heat lamps and their body heat fight a tough battle.  To my surprise, the hens favor the roost during the day, rather than warming their feet in hay beneath their heat lamps.  Presumably, some minimal heat rises, to their benefit.  By contrast, if we don't retrieve them quickly, the eggs freeze in the nesting boxes, and then crack as their interior liquid expands.

The rabbits are in uninsulated wire hutches with wood walls on one side.  In prior winters, we have never had to provide them with heat, but this month, we gave them a heat lamp, which they practically worship, crowding underneath and turning their faces upward. The heavy snow earlier this year has formed a thick and high ice wall that insulates them from any wind, but they huddle together on hay and blankets to keep warm.  If the power goes out for more than a few minutes, the metal drinking “nipples” freeze so the rabbits cannot suck water out.  My husband has to thaw them with a heat gun.  Starting today,  we will carry house warmed waterers to replace any that freeze or crack.

We have not listened to the beehives for buzzing sounds of survival.  Nothing we can do but hope that the insulation of polystyrene and snow on five sides  will enable them live through this. 

Run fast to get in the hot water!

It is SILENT outside.  No footprints in the snow.  Any animal that can burrow beneath the snow is about 60 degrees warmer than we are above it.  Generally we hear and see several small private planes fly over our lake but not this week.  Those drafty cockpits would be so cold that avionics could freeze up and the smooth flow of gasoline and oil could be compromised.  Too risky for a prudent pilot.

This is the longest, deepest cold spell I have experienced here.  No wonder I am lovingly perusing seed catalogs and planning my summer gardens, while sipping copious cups of tea.