Polar vortex hits San Pedro Belize

I have not checked the temperature yet but sitting here with cold hands and feet while wearing socks, it feels crazy cold today. There is a strong wind that has been howling off and on all morning. In addition to a hoodie and long pants, I have a bandana on and an airline blanket while working at my desk.

I also pulled out our comforter for later, and we switched our evening plans and invited Matt to watch basketball at our house instead of going to Lola’s and watching it on their League Pass. I am far too cold to leave the house today and Paul just wanted to come home after work and relax. Before long in our back and forth in FB messenger about tonight, Matt and I got talking about the weather. He linked me to what he was reading –  U.S. Midwest, Northeast hit by bitter cold temperatures and What is a polar vortex? Both good articles. The second one has easy to understand graphics and a short write up about the cold snap that is gripping North America as cold Arctic air moves south.  He is probably right in his assumption about it causing our frosty weather, it sure feels like a polar vortex has hit San Pedro Belize.

I was looking it up further and the article I found had lots of information about how the polar vortex is affecting air travel. Like this one  Polar vortex moves east, blasting Arctic air, threatening frostbite from CBS News. More than 1,000 flights were canceled on Sunday at airports throughout the Midwest. More than 400 flights were cancelled at Chicago’s airports on Monday. CBS Chicago station WBBM reports a temperature of 16 below zero was recorded on Monday, a full 11 degrees off the record set on Jan. 10, 1985.

It was also in the news that the new FAA rules mandating pilots rest between flights took effect Saturday causing increased flight delays and cancellations. According to the new regulations, Pilots must now have a minimum of 10 hours to rest between each shift, and eight of those hours must be uninterrupted sleep. Before, pilots could spend that time showering, eating or commuting between the airport and hotel. Source: Aljazeera America. While looking that up, I found a very useful USA Government page about your options when it comes to airline procedures for delayed, cancelled, or overbooked flights. 

I also caught another good weather related article today about Farmers being impacted as a result of unfavorable weather conditions in Belize from one of our local news papers, San Pedro Sun. One very small agricultural comparison on the island would be Maria’s husband Jose, he recently told me that they are very low on coconut water production right now because of the weather.

For hours I have been trying to upload my wind video and tacoboy’s first aerial video to YouTube, but the internet has been slow as a snail all morning. While I cannot confirm that is the weather, Coleen far north reported the wind is crazy cold up there too and it keeps knocking their satellite off it’s axis. I will add both videos as soon as I am able to upload them. (note- finally got videos on YouTube, see below).

Got a short Corozal Weather report of overcast and chilly along with a picture from Cathie.

Finally got videos uploaded. This video was taken in our yard to show you just how windy it has been in San Pedro. It has been whistling and howling loudly, and the opening shot shows how much draft is coming in through our closed door.

Tacoboy’s first aerial video Flying over Ambergris Caye and Belize Barrier Reef.