With our weather forecast for the next ten days looking like this (clickit to biggit) . . .
I think I need to move to a cooler clime! This report from Arkansas sounds just right for a break.
While some toil away in the heat of the summer sun, others are zipping up their winter coats for their work day.
Inside an old Johnson limestone mine sits Americold Logistics, a cold storage facility. The facility previously operated as Zero Mountain, which had turned the mine into a cold storage facility with ammonia refrigeration.
Tony Parrish has worked inside the 292,000-square-foot-cold cavern for 28 years. He said the cave was great for a cold storage facility because "inside the cave, it's 65 degrees year-round, whether it's 100 degrees outside or 35."
"If you've got glasses, they're going to fog up when you go outside," Parrish said. "If you've got a cold, you're going to keep a cold. If you don't like the warmth, the heat, you're fine, because there's more to do. Just go back from break early."
Brandon Early is a forklift operator who has worked at Americold for two years. He played hockey at the University of Arkansas in 2009 but still says it's as "cold as the Rockies baby."
"You go in and the forklift is black and you come out and the forklift is white, frosty, and steaming," Early said.
Ammonia refrigeration keeps temperatures at subzero levels, which explains the employees' attire of beanies and winter coats. Parrish describes the facility as the "Antarctic of Arkansas," with temperatures dropping as low as -35 degrees Fahrenheit. Parrish said the coldest rooms, their 6 blast cells, must drop to -35° F to take in freshly produced poultry.
. . .
In operations, Parrish said other facilities work just the same in cooling products. However, he said their facility has 10 feet of permafrost frozen into the limestone rocks, meaning if something went wrong it would keep cool longer.
There's more at the link.
If it's going to be 110º Fahrenheit outside next week, ten feet of permafrost sounds like a good change of pace - for a short while, anyway. I wonder if they do short-term rentals there? If I stuck my feet in the permafrost storage, and my head outside, would I feel just the right temperature on average?
Peter
Today we are 83° and 62°, sunny.
ReplyDeleteI ended up choosing Indiana for a variety of reasons.
Four seasons, we are just south of the lake effect snow, so milder winters, plenty of water / rain, lots of farming of various kinds / crops, decent folks, relatively low income, business, and property taxes, blue in the cities, :-(, but lots of space outside of them where the stupid is less likely to happen. Good medical available nearby, and we found a great house, 2200□ mid Century ranch, stone 4 sides, .5 acre, $150k on a cul de sac in a neighborhood of similar homes. Happy, and as safe as we are likely to be with the mess that is coming.
John in Indy
Brother live in lower CA and say's he's a desert rat and won't live anywhere else. Would love your weather.
ReplyDeleteLOL, your body would freak out trying to 'balance' the temps...
ReplyDelete"If it's going to be 110º Fahrenheit outside next week, ten feet of permafrost sounds like a good change of pace - for a short while"
ReplyDeleteThere is (or used to be...don't know if they still do it) a tradition amongst the people (scientists and sailors) stationed at the South Pole research station. They called it the 300 club.
Basically, they wait for a day when the outside temp reaches or exceeds -100 degrees. They sit in the facility sauna for 10 minutes with the temp set at 200 degrees, they they quickly exit the facility, walk around the South Pole wearing nothing but boots, and then back into the building.
Talk about a "change of pace".
They built a new facility after I'd retired and I don't even know if it's staffed by sailors any more or if the people there still do it, but I heard about it from shipmate who'd done it.
I've often contemplated underground living. Pretty much the same temp year round. Humidity can be an issue, along with certain gasses building up. Not to mention limited egress methods. But... 65 year round? Darkness 24/7? Have to figure out how to make a potty walk for the dog, but... You know, there's always winning the lottery...
ReplyDeleteThat 10-day forecast (Weather Underground?) looks remarkably like ours here in Maricopa, just south of Phoenix. And it's been over 100 for the past couple of months; over 110 for most of June.
ReplyDeleteThat's what I was going to post. Did you notice the lows? Wouldn't that be nice, instead of the lows being in 90s here in Glendale?
DeleteHere in the Copper Basin folks around here swelter during the week or so of 85 degree weather we get most summers! We had 36 last night and 70 for a high. We are forecast to have low 40s for lows and upper 60’s and low 70’s the rest of the week. Fresh snow on the higher mountains!
ReplyDeleteIt's all fun and games, until you treat some dumb kid whose idiot shop steward sent him to shovel out the slush in a warehouse-sized freezer room wearing just jeans, cotton socks, and canvas tennis shoes, and he's got severe frostbite in 6 toes in July in SoCal near sea level after half a shift.
ReplyDeleteAir conditioning is fun.
The North Pole, not so much.
There's a natural "wind cave" not far from us with temps in the 40s at the lowest level. We're planning on a visit next week
ReplyDelete