4 Pro -40 Anyone?

[akdrone]

OK...not really -40F for the picture of the mountain.... Here's the "rest of the story" as Paul Harvey used to say... I was heading down south toward Denali Nat'l Park (which I didn't make it to) when I saw this pre-sunrise mountainscape in the distance. It was 9AM, well before sunrise. I got my Mav4 Pro out, turned on my blinky, and stepped out of the car to set it down on the ground of the icy turnout I had stopped at. I was wearing a light coat but no gloves or hat on and it was fairly chilly. I did note that. My drone wasn't up long. I did have to spend a bit of time playing with the Pro settings to get the exposure I wanted and then I simply shot a series of AEB and caught this.
My hands did get a bit cold picking up the drone - I noted that and the wind going through my coat didn't escape me. Opening the car door, grabbing the handle I grimmaced and thought to myself, "I think winter is here". A few miles down the road I looked at the temp indicator on my review mirror and it read -40F. The thing is, that temp indicator is normally accurate but it stops at -40F. At -50F it reads -40F. -60? yeah...still reading -40F so I'm not sure what temp it really was but it was no warmer than -40. The thing is, when I read the temp I was a bit lower than when the image was taken. I had traveled down the hillside a little bit and we often have an inversion so I don't think it was -40F when that image was shot. Probably no colder than -35F.
It was nasty windy and you can see the blurry clouds and snow drift above the horizon because the exposure was ⅓ of sec. In 1969 when I began shooting with an SLR I couldn't imagine being able to toss my camera up in the air and get a clean exposure at ⅓ of a sec. Incredible. It is two 5AEB exposures, each developed with Aurora HDR as a LR plugin and stitched in Lightroom.
The mtn on the left, btw, is Mt. Hess and on the right is Debbie (Mt Deborah).
Oh yeah...fwiw...-40F is also -40C

 

[mavic3usa]

Having lived in Minnesota last century when the Earth had real winters, I knew cold...but not that kind of cold. When it got to 30 below, there was no wind.

 

[akdrone]

Having lived in Minnesota last century when the Earth had real winters, I knew cold...but not that kind of cold. When it got to 30 below, there was no wind.

That is generally the case here too. I hadn't thought about that but I have told many people that when it's -40F it's never windy so thanks for bringing that up. Quite the oddity.

 

[HoozierDroneDaddy]

Nice photo!
I have flown in -20F several times. Glad I live here in Indiana. Would not want norms that low.

 

[PINEBARON]

As much as I hate the cold, I can often be seen in a t-shirt at 32F here in WA. At 25F or below, a warm jacket for sure. in NJ I often flew my RC planes down to the teens; here in damp WA it feels a lot colder due to very damp winters. 0F or below, forget it, I'd rather just admire you brave souls and wish you luck. We are planning a move to NV next year, had enough living in the cold, grandkids are growing up (daughter lives in BC Canada) and time to move to a warmer climate in NV, our son lives in Vegas. I can be flying my RC planes all year round without worrying about my 'old' balls freezing.

 

[akdrone]

As much as I hate the cold, I can often be seen in a t-shirt at 32F here in WA. At 25F or below, a warm jacket for sure. in NJ I often flew my RC planes down to the teens; here in damp WA it feels a lot colder due to very damp winters. 0F or below, forget it, I'd rather just admire you brave souls and wish you luck. We are planning a move to NV next year, had enough living in the cold, grandkids are growing up (daughter lives in BC Canada) and time to move to a warmer climate in NV, our son lives in Vegas. I can be flying my RC planes all year round without worrying about my 'old' balls freezing.

yer tougher than me! :

 

[PINEBARON]

yer tougher than me! :

Perhaps! btw I'm only two years your junior

 

[PHZ]

You are one brave pilot! Also a skilled photographer. Although I am used to some cold temps, not that cold!.

 

[DISC]

Nice image and good story - thx for sharing. The -40 equivalence was interesting as I’ve never thought that low before!! Does make me appreciate our temperate, but rather wet, climate on this side of the pond…..

 

[Prop Wash]

Beautiful shot! MTs Hess and Deborah are lookin' good!
Was in AK in the late 90s after Thanksgiving. Only time I've experienced -40. Being from the lower 48, I'm good if I don't again.

 

[GFields]

Awesome photo, but too cold for me brrrrrrrr LOL

 

[akdrone]

If -40F sounds chilly, we've had -70F at our home but thanks to global warming that never happens anymore, so please, continue burning fossil fuel as much as possible and consider raising cows .

 

[mavic3usa]

If -40F sounds chilly, we've had -70F at our home but thanks to global warming that never happens anymore, so please, continue burning fossil fuel as much as possible and consider raising cows .

Yep. I remember blizzards weekly living in MN winter by the time I left there, you were lucky to get more than an average snowfall and you could no longer drive your car out on the lake.