How I can tell cold weather has arrived in the northern hemisphere
 

If I were locked in a windowless, hermetically sealed room (more than usual, I mean) with only access to the web stats for www.MetroMPG.com, I could easily tell when the weather starts to get cold:

http://ecomodder.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1260204546

See that recent spike in traffic?

It's people going to the posts I made on the cold weather topics of information about different types of block heaters, the mini-test I did about how long to plug one in, and why winter mileage sucks.

Happens every year like clockwork.

People... so predictable.

...Weather... so UN-predictable.

Kind of like how I can tell when winter is here in MN from my gaslog;
http://ecomodder.com/forum/fe-graphs/graph14.gif
I don't even need the dates on there and I can tell. I've had my car for three years now. Can you tell when winter hits? ;)

It sucks man!

Good illustration.

Traffic continues to go nuts - 1200 hits yesterday, mostly to the block heater pages. ~500 is my rolling daily average on the site.

Man, I forget how brutal winter is.
We had a bout with it last week (bad for me, for the rest of you guys Mild).
32F low, but 33~34 all day with heavy rain.
B80 didn't want to start, but finally did.
Coolant temp could't stay over 135 (cold radiator hoses).
Poor visibility due to fogged windows (no heat).
Topped off with Petro Diesel in attempt to keep the fuel liquid , 39 MPG (ouch!)
I really feel for you Northern guys, winter sucks.

And it appears it is getting colder each year. Even so, you are able to pull off a handful of better tanks when temps allow it.

The yearly block heater quest reminds me of my own.

the invertor and 300w version, self sustaining by the car. It attacks the cars system however. I still don't understand...

maybe its because water is a conductor. Brilliant observation...

cardboard and insulators. Back to the cheaper way out.

It's amazing that of the ~1200 a day that are visiting your site, the number that will pursue the information they see there is probably (per day average) less than 1%. A week later, of the other 99%, probably 30% will show the site to their friends, who will then check it out again when they get home, so they can get a better idea of the site without getting fired in the process. (After all, a block heater is nice, but you can't afford it without income, right?)

Eventually, everyone that cares to will have seen your site, but many of them, by this time, will have forgotten it. Next year, they'll see it in their bookmarks while searching for block heater installations, and the saga continues.

Does your site count unique hits? There would be an interesting comparison.

EDIT: Nevermind, didn't see it on the chart, but I do now.