h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Fog...

Fog, fog, fog, fog and more fog.

It's supposed to be clearing today. We've been stuck in fog since last Thursday. Thick nasty constant fog clearing only for brief rain or thunderstorms.

We rarely get fog that lasts all day, so this has been quite annoying. 86 ships are apparently waiting for it to clear before navigating the Houston Ship Channel (one of the narrowest in the world).

We've had a few foggy mornings here over the past week or two, but no all-day fog like that. In fact it was quite foggy this morning at about 7.30, but the sun has just come out.

Fog is brutal when you ride a motorcycle.
You need to go at least 45 to get the wind to clear your visor. But then you're going to fast for the visibility. You don't want to wipe your visor with your glove because any road grime on it will scratch it up making it useless. Of course everyone else is still going 55 or more half of them with no lights.

Just another reason for me not to get a Texas driving licence.

My boss was in Galveston over the weekend and was out on the water trying to fish. Said he couldn't see 10 feet. Makes me wonder why he's the boss with that sort of judgement.

Sounds like perfect boss logic and judgement to me

It was supposed to be a nice weekend, but a front stalled right over the coast.

The whole of south Central Texas, leastways every county in the local TV area, is under a dense fog warning.

Er, there's a clear blue sky outside and the sun is shining brightly

Didn't even have to put the heat on this morning before I got in the shower. This is the sort of Texas winter weather I like Not gonna last another day though as we get some freezing nights before the weekend.

It was right at 32°F/0C (hey, I didn't have to look up the conversion. ) on my ride in to work this morning. I confirmed my suspicions that I REALLY need to order these gloves: http://www.duluthtrading.com/store/duluth-ingenuity/dtpro-gloves-and-gear/dtpro-gloves/75014.aspx?feature=product_1#

I would have done already, but their website is crap. They make a gauntlet style that I want. I found it the other day, but can't find them now. And even if I could, their size selection doohickey on the website is narfed and only offers size L. Notice on that page for the gloves that they only offer SM.

Anyhoo... I've got my catalogue and their phone number so I'll do it the old fashioned way. (This is so 20th century. )

"Soft thumb patch for wiping sweat off your brow"... on winterproof gloves Oh the irony

Do you have the wherewithal on your bike for electrically heated riding gloves? I had a friend in the UK who swore by them during the winter.

Not really. I could install a cigarette lighter and I was planning to do so before I got the new GPS that wires directly in. I'm a bit jealous of my buddy's BMW with heated grips. He also has these weird glove like things that stay on the handle bars. He just slips his hands into them. He swears by them but I could never use them. I keep thinking about "what if?". What if I had my hand out to change a page on the GPS, or adjust my visor or glasses and an idiot on a cell phone changed lanes right in front of me doing half the speed limit. There's no way you could "react" and put your hand back on the grip.

I spent six months living on the south coast of England - not really known as the coldest part of the country but there was a cold snap that winter. I had a pair of rabbit fur-lined gloves that were great under normal circumstances, but not so good if you're travelling at cycling speed and the cold air is whipping across your hands like a 20mph wind chill. I think it was about a 30-40 minute ride. My hands would start off toasty warm but begin to get cold after about five minutes of riding and be almost numb after ten minutes, and it wasn't until I was almost at my destination before the heat generated by the exercise of cycling worked its way to my fingers and started them tingling. I've often wondered what it's like riding a motorbike in those circumstances without the benefit of generated body heat.

I was feeling the very beginnings of frostbite in the tips of my fingers within 15 minutes. I don't think it was actually cold enough for real frostbite, but it was painful. That was at 50 mph. I was very happy for a short trip. If it had been this cold when I rode to New Orleans, I don't think I could have made it past Beaumont. Heck, I don't think I could have made it past Baytown (20 miles or so).

Their website size doohickey wasn't broke... they were out of every size but SM and M.

I went ahead and back ordered those gauntlets, but I won't get them before the end of the month.

Did I mention, ?

The minimum temperature in Austin last night was 24F/-4.4C which held for roughly four hours from 4.30am to about 8.30am. We'd already matched that by 11pm this evening so we're looking at a rather chilly night Quite warm though compared to the -19/-28 they had in Fargo last night.

We made it down to the chilly depths of 17F/-8.3C early this morning, and then it warmed up to a not unpleasant 42/5.5 in the sunshine and complete calm. Although I know the physiological and meteorological reasons why this happens, it still never fails to amaze me that even when the air temperature is close to zero you can still feel relatively warm as long as there's plenty of sunshine and absolutely no wind.

It looks like we're over the worst of it, thank Bob. The forecast for last night was in the low 20s F, but the actual minimum was 27/-2.7 which, after the past few days feels quite warm It's already above freezing, heading for a pleasant, sunny 55/12.8.

My two days off, Tuesday and Wednesday, don't look too bad - around 60F and partly sunny, then we get a front on Thursday that's going to give us a soaking.

And it did too! About 2.1" in 36 hours. Not bad.

Well that's Texas winter for you. Several degrees below zero one week, and the following week it's mid 60s F/upper teens C at 7am Gonna be in the mid 70s/lower 20s for the next three or four days Now *this* is what I came to Texas for. Summer in January