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Author Topic: Coldest Windchill  (Read 2054 times)

Offline EmeraldShiner

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Coldest Windchill
« on: Feb 03, 2023, 03:24 PM »
OK, so at the risk of revealing my  "Boomer" age I can't help but laugh at the news reports of the coldest windchill ever experienced by weather forecasters and local news reporters.  May be it's true for them because they are so much younger than me.  Seriously though in my lifetime have seen much colder Temps and windchill.  Worst and coldest was while ice fishing Chamberlain Lake in the Allegash in late January 1980, standing temperature of -32 degrees Fahrenheit with 35-40 mph winds and windchill well below -70 degrees Fahrenheit.   Coldest Temps ever experienced in my life.  How about some of you old timers sharing some of your experiences with serious cold?

Offline gamefisher

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Re: Coldest Windchill
« Reply #1 on: Feb 03, 2023, 03:29 PM »
OK, so at the risk of revealing my  "Boomer" age I can't help but laugh at the news reports of the coldest windchill ever experienced by weather forecasters and local news reporters.  May be it's true for them because they are so much younger than me.  Seriously though in my lifetime have seen much colder Temps and windchill.  Worst and coldest was while ice fishing Chamberlain Lake in the Allegash in late January 1980, standing temperature of -32 degrees Fahrenheit with 35-40 mph winds and windchill well below -70 degrees Fahrenheit.   Coldest Temps ever experienced in my life.  How about some of you old timers sharing some of your experiences with serious cold?

Early 80's,  -26 with 25 mph winds,  east musquash.  Had to put our beer on the skimmers and warm it over the fire,  good times. 😜🍺

Offline sab

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Offline Splattypus

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Re: Coldest Windchill
« Reply #3 on: Feb 03, 2023, 04:15 PM »
In the 5 years I've been in MN, I think coldest we got was - 25 with like 25mph winds, about - 50f windchill. It was insane and I never want to experience it again
A bad day of fishing is still better than a good day at work.

Offline Jack978

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Re: Coldest Windchill
« Reply #4 on: Feb 03, 2023, 04:26 PM »
The coldest I've ever been was Cold Weather Environment Survival Training in Redington Maine.  I don't know exactly how cold it was, but the snow was drifted 5 feet deep.  We spent a week outside and it felt more like a month.  If you got off the trail you took a chance on stepping on a buried pine tree and sinking into the soft snow because the tree created a void, and it wouldn't support weight.  There wasn't a thermometer, but the cold was constant and sustained.  Another time I spent the month of February outdoors in Germany courtesy of Uncle Sam.   It was frozen/wet/foggy/snowy and then would start the cycle again.  You know it's bad when they give you a leather mask lined with felt to prevent frostbite. 

Offline 9huskies

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Re: Coldest Windchill
« Reply #5 on: Feb 03, 2023, 04:36 PM »
I've never been ice fishing when the temperature was below 10° but I've been in colder temps than that. The coldest was -48° in Big Sky, Montana. I was working as a ski lift operator and we had to keep the lifts turning so the gear and hydraulic oils would stay fluid. I didn't venture out of the shack any more than necessary which was a couple times per hour for a few minutes. The heater in the shack could almost get the inside above freezing. I remember my water bottle turning into slush.

Offline SilverSides

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Re: Coldest Windchill
« Reply #6 on: Feb 03, 2023, 04:57 PM »
Northern Ontario in 2000 on a Caribou hunt. Was -36 when we arrived at camp the first morning. Got all licensed up and headed out on our hunt like a Maine moose hunt, riding the roads. Got to the first dam and looked out onto the lake with snow dust blowing horizontal to the ground and Caribou started to appear crossing the lake. Tough *****s!

Offline Wago14

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Re: Coldest Windchill
« Reply #7 on: Feb 03, 2023, 05:10 PM »
We talking Maine or in general?

I surveyed in Alaska for awhile and the helicopter would fly in anything over -40. We had a few days of -55 with a 20-25 mph wind that we didn't work. I did notice a big difference in being in the interior and the cold being much more dry. I would compare 0 there to feeling like 32 here.

I have fished in -27 here without wind and -15 with gusts to 50 MPH for a few days on Moosehead a few years back.

I am going to start referring to everyone getting all asses up about cold weather the "Charmin effect" because of all of the mild weather we have been having. It is like everyone has forgot where we live.

If you are prepared, you can fish in most anything. As long as you are honest with yourself about your capabilities.

Offline stripernut

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Re: Coldest Windchill
« Reply #8 on: Feb 03, 2023, 05:22 PM »
Years ago I was ice-fished with a steady 50-below wind chill and no shelter... Pull a fish out and the outside of it would freeze in like 3 seconds... I was dressed well and younger so not so bad. The coldest I was ever out in, was a Christmas, in I think the late 70's I rode a bike to work with a steady wind-chill of 80 below, I was dressed OK, but I did not have any goggles, and the water on my eyes kept freezing and I would close my eyes and they would freeze shut... Glad I got a ride home that night...

Offline Splattypus

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Re: Coldest Windchill
« Reply #9 on: Feb 03, 2023, 05:46 PM »
Striper nut, you're  insane. How do the holes not just instantly freeze? And when your eyes are freezing crap, that's nature's way of telling you you done f'ed up!
A bad day of fishing is still better than a good day at work.

Offline GNFISHIN

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Re: Coldest Windchill
« Reply #10 on: Feb 03, 2023, 09:20 PM »
A used to make snow on Sugarloaf. We worked 12 hour shifts all night long.  We were climbing all around that mountain, dealing with high pressure air and water in sub zero temps. I was on the top of Sugarloaf in hundred +mile per hour winds probably near zero temperature. You could lean into the wind at about a 45° angle. That’s probably the coldest for me.
It's fishing, not catching....

Offline Nessmuck

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Re: Coldest Windchill
« Reply #11 on: Feb 03, 2023, 09:59 PM »
When I was a kid....I knew it was cold out...when my mom told me “ You might want to wear a hat today “.

Offline Nessmuck

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Re: Coldest Windchill
« Reply #12 on: Feb 03, 2023, 10:05 PM »
I ice fished lake Francis in Pittsburg NH ...in the early 90’s.  I knew it was cold when I passed 2 logging trucks stopped on the side of the road.

Got to the bait shop..and the Thermometer on the porch read -45.  But there wasn’t a stitch of wind.

So we set up the tent....and caught some Browns...Drank some Gold Slauger ...and puked my guts out.

Good times

Offline TheCrittaC

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Re: Coldest Windchill
« Reply #13 on: Feb 03, 2023, 10:11 PM »
Coldest I've fished was opening day in Maine in... 2018? The truck said - 28 when we got there and as soon as you stepped outside, the mucus on the inside of your nostrils froze. There wasn't any wind and we layered up so it wasn't too bad. We probably wouldn't have gone if the winds were as bad as they are now.

Offline stripernut

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Re: Coldest Windchill
« Reply #14 on: Feb 04, 2023, 05:13 AM »
Quote
Striper nut, you're  insane. How do the holes not just instantly freeze? And when your eyes are freezing crap, that's nature's way of telling you you done f'ed up!

Funny you should mention that the first spot I tried that day was a big pool on the Millers River that I had pulled some big holdover trout out of in early spring. So the ice was safe and I cut a couple of holes (6"-7" ) and start scooping out the shavings, and I kept scooping and scooping... I was never able to clear any of the holes in that pool as the river was freezing about 50 yds upstream where there was open water and it was a river of slush flowing under my feet! I was just going to jig that spot and never could get a jig through the slush to any open water that I assume was under there some were...
The next spot I fished that day was below a dam and I did need to stay on top of the holes, but as I was not in a shelter it was easy enough. The first fish I got was a nice yellow perch that froze (the outside of it) in front of my eyes like it was a cartoon when I pulled it out of the water. The next fish was a nice smally (my first thru the ice) and I pulled it out and put it inside my coat as I unhooked it, then released it... Later I broke off a big fish on a tip-up, another first (most likely a pike). It was an interesting day of fishing and one that I would most likely not do again (without a shelter of some type). The ice on my eyes was because I had to ride a bike to work, you got to do what you got to do and I was fine otherwise...

Offline Tukeiam

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Re: Coldest Windchill
« Reply #15 on: Feb 04, 2023, 05:56 AM »
I don’t remember if it was January of 1980 but it was in that time frame that I was also in the Allagash area on Ross lake. It was -35deg as I remember. We were there fishing out of camps. We had to put a stovepipe with a propane weed burner in it under our trucks to warm up the engines for them to start to go home. Mighty cold but we fished several days straight.
Tuke!

Offline Wago14

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Re: Coldest Windchill
« Reply #16 on: Feb 04, 2023, 07:24 AM »
Funny you should mention that the first spot I tried that day was a big pool on the Millers River that I had pulled some big holdover trout out of in early spring. So the ice was safe and I cut a couple of holes (6"-7" ) and start scooping out the shavings, and I kept scooping and scooping... I was never able to clear any of the holes in that pool as the river was freezing about 50 yds upstream where there was open water and it was a river of slush flowing under my feet! I was just going to jig that spot and never could get a jig through the slush to any open water that I assume was under there some were...
The next spot I fished that day was below a dam and I did need to stay on top of the holes, but as I was not in a shelter it was easy enough. The first fish I got was a nice yellow perch that froze (the outside of it) in front of my eyes like it was a cartoon when I pulled it out of the water. The next fish was a nice smally (my first thru the ice) and I pulled it out and put it inside my coat as I unhooked it, then released it... Later I broke off a big fish on a tip-up, another first (most likely a pike). It was an interesting day of fishing and one that I would most likely not do again (without a shelter of some type). The ice on my eyes was because I had to ride a bike to work, you got to do what you got to do and I was fine otherwise...
[/quote

And to this day, they say Striper was never quite the same.   ;D ;) :tipup:

Offline woodchip

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Re: Coldest Windchill
« Reply #17 on: Feb 04, 2023, 08:27 AM »
Years ago on Chesuncook lake -45 degs i packed up and went home,

Offline saltyshores

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Re: Coldest Windchill
« Reply #18 on: Feb 04, 2023, 09:05 AM »
One year West Grand was just starting to freeze on the lower 200 yds. The air temp was 5 F with a strong NW wind, and it was supercooling the water into 1" frazil ice crystals, which were coating the GLS Hatchery's 24" intake screen at a depth of 18 ft, almost totally cutting off the flow to the thousands of juvenile salmon, risking loosing all those fish.

I was working for Maine Fish and Wildlife, and was on the SCUBA team and got a call to go to West Grand and examine the pipe and try to clear it so the flow was restored. The hatchery launched a 14' boat with 2 guys and me and anchored over the intake . I geared up and dove in. I could immediately see that the intake was covered with ice crystals. I started scraping it with a hoe, but as I breathed, the SCUBA regulator froze open, rapidly blowing air bubbles across my face, so I could not get any air, so I immediately surfaced and grabbed the gunwale of the boat and the men hauled me in as my wet face and wetsuit immediately froze over  -- the men laughed and I was glad to be safe.

The story has a happy ending, as the paper company sent up a large firetruck which pumped water out of Grand Lake Stream and discharged it into the hatchery raceways, keeping the fish alive until the lake  skimmed over that night, pulling slightly warmer water into  the hatchery

Offline Coach

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Re: Coldest Windchill
« Reply #19 on: Feb 04, 2023, 09:09 AM »
I have also seen my share of Cold Temps over my years and as recently as just a few years back, when it was -22 on the drive to the lake and the wind blowing a gale. We could not wait for the Sun to come up to get some warmth




Offline Hardwater2

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Re: Coldest Windchill
« Reply #20 on: Feb 04, 2023, 09:27 AM »
On the ice this morning…


Offline GNFISHIN

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Re: Coldest Windchill
« Reply #21 on: Feb 04, 2023, 09:43 PM »
On the ice this morning…


yea buddy, had-18 this morning. Blowing hard. Probably the coldest I’ve ever finished in.
It's fishing, not catching....

Offline mzhoward

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Re: Coldest Windchill
« Reply #22 on: Feb 05, 2023, 04:33 AM »
Quote
Coldest I've fished was opening day in Maine in... 2018? The truck said - 28 when we got there and as soon as you stepped outside, the mucus on the inside of your nostrils froze. There wasn't any wind and we layered up so it wasn't too bad. We probably wouldn't have gone if the winds were as bad as they are now.

I worked night shift at the mill on the last three nights of 2017. We recorded -20, -25, and -20 in Fairfield.  It was so cold the wood chips wouldn’t stick to the conveyors without anti freeze.

Fishing for me would be cusk fishing back in 2004 (sorry I’m no boomer) it was -20 with ~10 mph winds in Lilly bay on Moosehead.  My father said, “when you get my age and your hands hurt, at least you’ll know why.”

Oh, I he wisdom of a father…

Offline woodchip

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Re: Coldest Windchill
« Reply #23 on: Feb 05, 2023, 10:28 AM »
I was fishing Moosehead out off Rockwood back in early sixties .it was cold and a party from Mass. were fishing a few hundred yards from us they had the first Snowmobile id ever seen they used it to chase flags when the guy on it fell off the throttle was stuck it was a   single cylinder skidoo. the machine went west almost out of site going up a steep shore line of ice. it got almost to top and did a 360 turn came right back at us high speed went toward Greenville out of site, an hour two Game wardens came from Greenville way on an old snowmachine stopped talked with party that had mach. they took one guy on mach and went back towards greenville an hour later they came back with guy driving machine it had run out of gas. a month later i found a skidoo single cylinder and bought it and still have it , stored in my barn it need an up grade.???

Offline MarkNFish

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Re: Coldest Windchill
« Reply #24 on: Feb 06, 2023, 07:36 AM »
A few years ago my son and I headed to a lake west of Ashland.  It was -35 when we were unloading the sleds for a 6-8 mile ride in.  The difference was that there was zero wind.  If there had been, I would have aborted the mission.

Funny thing was a warden checked us a couple of hours later.  He was surprised to see anybody out.  This was during the "North Woods Law" time frame, so I asked him where the camera crew was @)

Offline eiderz

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Re: Coldest Windchill
« Reply #25 on: Feb 06, 2023, 07:54 AM »
Guess we're done with coldest windchill for the moment. Gonna break freezing today in much of the state. :-\

Offline Scalloper

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Re: Coldest Windchill
« Reply #26 on: Feb 06, 2023, 11:57 AM »
Friday night to Saturday afternoon was the coldest I can remember in awhile, probably the 80s. -16 here for 12 hrs+ and a sustained 40+ mph wind. A large Novi boat I have fished around for 20+ years iced up so badly on its mooring in Jonesport she went down about 11am. Very sad to watch.  :unsure:
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Offline jacksmelt71

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Re: Coldest Windchill
« Reply #27 on: Feb 07, 2023, 05:41 AM »
winter of 08' was state record -50. dont know what windchill was. -75 below windchill was the worst ive heard the weather men say up here. was in high school then. they closed school as the buses wouldnt start.

 



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