It got down to -30 degrees Celsius last night, and hit a high of -20 this afternoon. With wind chill factored in, that was -39 and -26.

On the (old) Fart scale (that's what the F stands for, isn't it? ) that's -21 for last night's low and -1 for today's high. With wind chill, that becomes -38 and -18.

That's kinda what the weather's been like over the last couple of weeks. It's a bit nasty, but you can still launch in it. The snow is fantastic for recovery spotting. Add some glow sticks and night launches are really fun! A good pair of snow shoes is essential for chasing rockets over rough country covered with deep, unpacked snow.

Snow doesn't affect flight much, but gets dicey on recovery if you have a wide diameter airframe and a parachute. After landing, if there's any appreciable wind, the 'chute will open up and drag your airframe through the snow. If the airframe is still warm from the ejection charge, snow scooped into the airframe will melt and soak the airframe innards. If you can get to the airframe quick enough, you can shake the snow out before there's much damage.

At lower temperatures with a bit of wind, your fingers tend to get numb pretty quickly, so you've got to be fast when getting your ignitor clips hooked up. Having an excellent pair of mitts (deerhide mitts are fantastic!) is critical.

Also, it's best if you can keep your battery in a running vehicle during launch so that you can keep the battery warm. Extending those igniter wires is definitely worthwhile to make this happen.

Snowshoes and Rocketry are activities that should be mutually EXCLUSIVE in my book !

Actually, anytime the weather can justify snowshoes, I can justify keeping indoors !

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When in doubt, WHACK the GAS and DITCH the brake !!!

Yes, there is such a thing as NORMAL, if you have to ask what is "NORMAL" , you probably aren't !
Failure may not be an OPTION, but it is ALWAYS a POSSIBILITY.
ALL systems are GO for MAYHEM, CHAOS, TURMOIL, FIASCOS, and HAVOC !

Yep! That's regular Rocket Building weather!

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Have a good day
Bob
NAR 77103

Yeah, we've also got plenty of snow here in the Adirondacks, and that's regarded as a good thing around here - all of the ski areas are open!

In the winter, snow or not, I usually just launch my (low power) Art Applewhite or Fliskits saucers, and an occasional micromaxx model on the rare occasion when there is no wind. No worries about recovery deployment with the former, and with the latter, as long as something deploys enough to cause them to tumble, they always come in safely. Neither type goes very high, either, which is another advantage. I bring snowshoes, just in case anything lands more than 20 ft. from the pad.

I usually launch the micros from my driveway, so that they land on packed snow - they can be hard to find in deep snow!

Mark K.

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SAM # 0011

I have to hand it to you guys out on the Canadian prairie - now that's dedication! (Or is it desperation?)

The coldest weather that I've ever launched in was -15 on the Poindexter scale (5 deg. F here in the US of A, or, if you will, a balmy +258 Kelvin). On a number of occasions, I have thought of making launches in colder weather, but I've always found excuses to postpone them each time.


Actually, at this particular time of year, it isn't snow or cold that limits my launching - it's lack of daylight, or else dim, poor quality daylight (i.e., flat light). I'm sure that's even more of a problem further North. The mountainous terrain and dense forest all around us here shortens the day even further. And then, for the usual reasons, I have plenty of other things to do in December. Things start to improve after about mid-January.


Been there (frozen fingers) - I feel your pain! Have you ever accidently pulled an igniter loose because the clip got stuck to your finger due to the cold?

Mark K.

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SAM # 0011

You guys are such big chickens, Montanan winter is alot like Canadian winter I guess. In order for school to be closed there has to be a really bad Blizzard, even if icicles are hanging off our noses (and I am completely serious about that) other wise there would be no school for weeks if we closed school every time a snow flake hit the ground.



That's because the ice age is over.

ROTFLMAO!

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Don
NAR 53455
"Carpe Diem"

Yesterday our bus went into the ditch (with snow chains) because it snowed to much, and we still had to go to school.

It rained here and I still had to go to work....

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Don
NAR 53455
"Carpe Diem"

Yesterday the wind blew away everything around here that was not nailed down... and I still don't have a job.

Mark

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SAM # 0011