THIS was Lake Michigan in Chicago IL during the recent Polar Vortex cold snap. It was -45 degrees (-48 Fahrenheit) still air, NOT wind chill. I’d be wearing my snuggies, to be sure. The guys would need a fur jockstrap and a full set of longjohns on top of that! I’ve been in Chicago in the winter, it’s brutal as all hell, but this year it was extra special, as the above photo indicates.
BRRR!!
BMD
Recently, it was -42 (-43.6 Fahrenheit) in Krasnoyarsk. That would shut most world cities down. It didn’t stop those Sibiryaki! No, siree, they were right out there in the cold, doing what they had to do. You can see why the -20 (-4 Fahrenheit) outside Moscow in 1941 didn’t faze the Siberian troops… hell, they were used to a lot worse! They scared the shit out of the Germans by pouring buckets of water over their heads and jumping in ice pools. Russia is what it always was… Russians are what they always were… the hubristical Anglo toddlers had best take notice.
Those who march on Russia with a sword in hand, by that sword shall they die!
That hasn’t changed one bit, either…
BMD
Border marker at Severnaya Bay on Alexandra Land in the Frants Iosif Land Archipelago
On Thursday, the Sun rose over the horizon on Frants Iosif Land, the northernmost Arctic archipelago in Russia and Eurasia, signalling an end to the four-month-long pitch-dark polar night. Aleksei Barakov, a deputy director of the Russian Arctic National Park, told us:
The Sun rose over Alexandra Land Island where the Omega permanent field base is located.
The polar night began on Frants Iosif Land, an archipelago lying only 1,100 kilometres (684 miles) away from the North Pole, on 18 October. Vadim Zakharyin, the chief of the national park’s expedition centre, noted:
The night is very cold, windy, and dark there. The Northern Lights rarely occur on the archipelago because the cloud cover is rather thick and low. The temperatures usually hover at around -30 degrees (-22 Fahrenheit), with high humidity that’s difficult to bear. Besides that, winds reach hurricane-like speeds of 36 metres per second (80.5 miles per hour). You have to be especially careful in that darkness because you can run into polar bears there.
On Thursday, the weather on Alexandra Island was frigid and calm. Two park staff-members are always present at the Omega field base of the Russian Arctic National Park. Only two of the 192 islands making up Frants Iosif Land are habitable during the winter. Alexandra Land, the westernmost island of the archipelago, is home to the Nagurskoye border outpost and a Northern Fleet base, in addition to the national park’s field base. A weather monitoring station, also known as “the observatory”, is on Kheysa Island in the very centre of the archipelago. A source at the Northern Department for Meteorology and Environment Monitoring said:
Currently, there are six workers at the Ernst Krenkel Observatory.
22 February 2018
TASS
It’s colder than a witch’s tit this weekend. However (as Chukcha the Wise would say)… it’s supposed to rebound and warm up significantly this coming week. That sounds nice… but until Monday rolls around, I advise that you should wear your snuggies, heavy boots, a toque, gloves, and a scarf. You should also keep your loved ones close at hand, toss another log on the fire, eat a bowl of piping-hot stew, and bring out a bottle of something good.
It’s WINTER…
BMD
Voices from Russia 
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