Roger Halstead writes:

OTOH with those temperatures we either have severe clear, or blowing
snow. It's rather uncommon to see clouds near the ground when it's
that cold here in the flat lands.

Maybe it's just not cold enough. Once you get past -30 degC or so,
you can get a dense freezing mist (like smoke) rising off any open
water, like a lake or wide river -- the parts that are frozen over
start to make a creepy, moaning sound.

I agree that truly cold temperatures ( -20 degC) tend to mean VMC, at
least where I live -- it's one of the fantastic things about winter
flying (clear skies, excellent visibility, good climb performance,
minimal turbulence, high ground visibility at night, and early sunsets
that make it easy to stay night-current). The downsides are having to
plug in the engine heater overnight and dealing with the @#$%#@ wing
covers.


All the best,


David