Getting here earlier this week was an adventure in itself. Have you ever ridden a big jet through a "pull up and go around" overshoot? It's pretty wild to go from an idling descent to a full-power climb. We did two of those, and went to the alternate airport twice to refuel, before giving up and heading back south for a night in a hotel and another try the next morning. I don't want to ask how many tonnes of jet fuel we burned that day. I've been told that a 747 in a go around will use a full tonne of fuel just to overshoot and get back up to a safe altitude; the 737 I was in used a bit less but I'm sure it was still a metaphorical ton...

When we finally landed the next day, it was in a 90-degree crosswind that made the windsock stand straight horizontally - winds greater than 15kts. I think they need a windsock that can measure higher winds than that, at that airport. The wheels touched one at a time, and the plane made a very distinct roll to the left after the right main wheel was on the ground to get the left main wheel planted.

I had a chance to talk to the pilots last month, and they said that even though they hit the same four airports all the time (plus two alternate airports occasionally, when weather requires it), it's not boring because the weather up north makes every trip different and challenging.

I don't think the winds have really let up since I got here. They shake small buildings, howl in the windows, and tear doors out of your hand - or slam them on you, and woe to any limb in the way.

Two big storms went through over the last three days - or three over four days, if you count the day I was trying to get here; it's October now, and the beginning of arctic winter. Parkas are in the dress code, and I think my gigantic, down-filled, wind-proofed, fur-lined, knee-length coat was worth every penny.

I'm told that once arctic winter is in full swing, the storms aren't so bad. I guess it's the transition between warm and cold (or rather, cold and really damn cold; it's all relative) that causes all of the violent weather. It makes for interesting weather charts though, something I've been learning to read for my flying lessons. The last two storms (I didn't check the first one) were due to "extratropical cyclones" (cyclones that aren't in the tropics, what a unique name) cruising past: a ripple in an otherwise stationary front that curls around and whips up some strong wind and foul weather, breaks off and lets the stationary front go back to normal, then cruises away eastward with its weather to harass other parts of the country, the whole thing rotating counter-clockwise.

The guy sitting next to me on the plane the day of the multiple failed attempts thought it was very funny that I spent the majority of the flight in bad weather reading a book titled "Aviation Weather". One of the things I was reading about was the cyclones I mentioned above.