Bundle Up
4:00 pm Sunday afternoon. It's still relatively warm outside at 37 degrees, but a very cold air mass from the northeast is coming our way this evening. This will be our first arctic breakout of the winter, but not at all unusual for January. Expect low temperatures over the next 4 days in the mid teens and maybe lower. In these type of events, we'll have east winds of 5 to 10 mph while Portland on the other end of the Gorge will have 50+ mph east winds. Brrrrr!
However, no chance of breaking any local all time cold records this week, as low temperatures in 1930 at this time in January were in the -15 to -20 range.
The Hood River Weather poll this week attempts to be topical with the question "how do you heat your home?" We have a natural gas furnace, supplemented occasionally with a wood stove. I've lived in 6 different houses here since 1976, and this combination of heating along with a pretty tight house is the best ever. Still, winter heating bills just keep climbing. It doesn't seem to matter that we use the same or fewer therms or KW hours, since the cost per unit continues to climb.
Oh, by the way, I replaced the outside temperature sensor late last week, and the occasional "extremely high temperature" reading problem hasn't reoccurred. Keeping my fingers crossed.
Hi Larry;
ReplyDeleteI'm concerned about your thermometer and have been for some time. It says that the high today was 39 but it really didn't get past 32 anywhere I drove today (thermometer in the car matches closely with my and the neighbors' home systems). I've noticed that your thermometer reads high when there's no air movement and the sun is out. Is it subjected to transient (patio, roof) heating? I've noticed this in summer or winter and it correlates to a no wind situation. Just wondering. I'm located 1/2 mile south of you.
Thanks, I've been watching this also. I've seen the pattern you mention in the winter on sunny windless days, but not so much in the warmer months.
ReplyDeleteThe outside temperature sensor is fan aspirated, and should be less affected by radiant heat than a non-aspirated sensor.
However, as you mentioned, it is possible that the location/elevation of the sensor is being influenced by rising warm air from below the sensor I will look into this further and experiment with different locations. Thanks for the feedback!
I've moved the temperature sensor somewhat and it seems to be less susceptible to no-wind convective heat sources below. Not totally sure at this point, since we've only had 2 mornings where the wind has been calm , but time will tell.
ReplyDelete