It is cold today.  In central Alberta, at Elk Island National Park, the source of the “local” official temperature values that are being shown for the communities of Andrew, Lamont, Chipman, Mundare and Bruderheim, the temperature reading at 9 a.m. was -39°C.  At the same time, 14km away from Elk Island Park, our thermometer in our backyard in Bruderheim showed -28.5°C.

The winds were slight, about 1-2 kmh.

It will stay cold for some time. It will also most likely snow a bit within the next few days.

There will not be much wind, which is a bad thing for those who have [1] the illusion that wind power is a good thing and that it will be available when they need it most.

[2]
(Click on image to see source.  That web page is being updated every two minutes.)

That means that, although of the total Alberta generating capacity a full 5.8% is supposed to be derived from wind turbines, at 11:20 am only 0.022%  or 2.2 hundredth of one percent were being generated from wind power.

The reality of wind power is that a lot of power stations right now are working all-out to produce the increased power required due to the extremely cold weather and are being fueled by natural gas at peak prices, probably at a cost of about $0.07kWh, which means that the cost to consumers will be in the order of about $0.20 to $0.70kWh right now.  Yes, regardless of what rate you pay for what you use right now, the cost of a kWh is around $0.20 to $0.70 right at this moment, and that cost needs to be paid.

So how cold is it in all honesty where you live?  You still have to look up the thermometer in your back yard to get the correct answer for that.  Our thermometer says it is -28.5°C right now (at 9 a.m.) in Bruderheim, not -38°C, and that is a reading that is taken at some distance from the walls of our house, as those readings would be a bit “warmer” yet. as they would reflect more heat radiated by the house.

Many people watch the news to catch up on the weather forecast, or they check the Weather Channel on TV.  Few people take advantage of another feature that is available on the Internet, which feature will tell you everything you wish to know about the weather, without having to have it read to you by someone whose job it is to read it to you so that they can use that as a means to show you a bunch of commercials.

If you are happy with knowing the forecast trend (and historical weather trends many years into the past) at a level of accuracy that the pilots using the Edmonton Municipal Airport rely on, then here is a link to weather information at a glance, without commercials, a link you want to bookmark:

[3] http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=weather+forecast+Edmonton

The source of the information upon which the information at that link is based is the Edmonton Municipal Airport.

And by the way, is it getting warmer, as Al Gore and David Suzuki are threatening?  Not on your life:

[4]

In the mean-time, the makers of wind turbines, such as General Electric, Siemens and anyone else who is reaping copious profits from the climate craze are laughing all the way to the bank — and we pay.