Yeah, it’s sorta feeling this way, isn’t it?
How hard are you being hit by this latest sign of “global warming”? Here in the NorthWET I know we don’t get it as bad as you guys do in those middle states or the Northeast. But shazam, it’s below 12 degrees here this morning. That’s at least five degrees colder than I’ve ever seen it in this part of the coastal NW. And we’re not even into the really frigid months yet!
Yesterday we also had a tiny, localized, and almost completely unpredicted snowstorm (only about 100 miles wide, I gather), followed by bitter, bitter winds. Given our winter humidity (which is just like our summer humidity, only crunchier), this weather is more painful than many of my Minnesota memories.
This is when I wish I didn’t have dogs. I’m dreading walkies …
Video = OUCH! I’m thinking of a few times I’ve taken spills – and twice my car skidded badly on ice.
Carry a walking stick when you take the dogs out.
Watching a Greyhound bus do 360s down the interstate is a majestic sight. Riding in it-notsomuch.
3Ā°F here in Waukegan, IL this morning with a high of only 18 today. The rest of the week will not be much better.
It was 73 here on Friday. It’s 41 on Saturday. My closet can’t keep up.
So I can’t complain. Yet.
I love winter and crave a blizzard or two. But I’d settle for Swinter.
Winter just about anywhere reminds me why I don’t live in Minnesota.
A couple of nights ago it was 67 degrees at 10 P.M., then plummeted to 65 degrees at midnight. We’re dealing with it.
Studded snow tires and some Yaks-Trax shoe/boot cleats, combined with equal parts prudence and common sense, and person should be able to do just fine. Just saying.
So far the coldest was -11 at 4AM Wednesday. Only got down to -9 this morning, and is now a balmy 12 degrees. I went out a little earlier because I just had to have something from the grocery store and it’s not something that can be stocked much ahead. Raggenfratzen… and the car almost wouldn’t start at 8 degrees. I never needed a block heater before, but the poor car is getting older. Finally got there and returned immediately – very glad to be back inside where it is a toasty 59 degrees… just the way I like it.
After spending most of my life in the Mojave desert of So. Calif., I can only say how astonished I am that I not only tolerate the cold, but even enjoy it at times. I just remember the long days driving in 110 to 120 degree heat… and never had A/C.
I do feel badly for all the folks who do have to drive in it, or work outside in the cold and wind. That must be pure hell.
Just do what my brother did with his dogs, have a fenced in backyard for them to do their business while you stay nice and toasty inside, with a nice cup of hot chocolate.
Remember, the bisons live outdoors during the winter.
As long as I’m layered up, the cold don’t bother me too much, its the wet that getcha.
Sounds good, Mama. We haven’t been below zero yet, I don’t think. I walked several tough miles today and it was GREAT.
I sympathize, Shel. If I had to deal with that, I might worry that I left Earth.
Jim B. — That would work for Robbie, who thinks “exercise” means getting off the couch. But Ava? If she doesn’t get several miles of walking and running every day, she transforms into SuperCrazyDog.
Shel — I hate you.
MamaLiberty — LOL, I wasn’t sure whether “raggenfratzen” was your version of a cuss word or the item you were going to pick up at the store. (Some obscure German pastry, as I imagine it. š )
I think we’re out the other side now, after 3 nights in a row of -23. This morning was just -9 and today has gotten all the way up to 25. I shoveled a path thru the snow in the fenced back yard for the dogs. When I remind them over and over that it’s FREEZEY FEET COLD, they tend not to linger over their business. I’m sure glad for all the firewood we’ve been burning!
Joel — Yeah, I hear ya. Minnesota, Montana, Wyoming … shiver. But I do recall that many Minnesotans considered winter to be “the best time of year!” (or at least so they kept saying, in their cheerily dauntless Scandinavian way) and really, given the muck of a midwestern spring and the killer insects of a Minnesota summer, winter actually may have been a better choice.
LarryA — Yeah, you don’t want to be ON that bus — or in the path of it.
When I lived in Minnesota, I once slid down a country hill on ice and ended up upside down in a snowbank — while driving a convertible. The top was up, of course. But there I was, hanging upside-down by my seat belt with nothing but some fabric and light metal between me and being crushed. Fortunately, that snowbank was fresh, deep, and fluffy. The body shop guy said later that the car had actually gone tail-over-nose — a vertical flip — into the bank. Me, I was a little too spin-dizzy at the time to know all the details of what I’d done.
I crawled out, made a phone call for help at the nearest farmhouse — and was at a client’s banquet two hours later.
Karen — Congratulations on your tropical weather! Urm, what language do you use to convey to your dogs that freezey feet cold is TOO DARNED &^%$#@ING COLD for you to be standing outside indulge their dawdling and sniffing?
“I love winter and crave a blizzard or two. But Iād settle for Swinter.”
Kent, your taste in music is a lot like Joel’s. Which is to say, abysmal. Of course, you have the excuse of being the father of a little girl. So you’re forgiven. Joel? He has no such excuse.
WL — Actually, you can complain all you darned well please. And since you live (relatively) closer to Shel than most of us do, you can also go over to Florida and give him a sharp poke.
Mac — And didn’t you used to live in the Philippines? Bet you’re missing the islands today …
OTOH, when I lived in Minnesota, I used to look forward to going on business trips to Chicago in December. So balmy by comparison. Ugh.
We had a frost warning here a couple days ago. I covered the ‘maters with some old sheets, so far so good. Hopefully by this time next year I’ll be posting about the brisk Wyoming winter….
Yes, “raggenfratzen” is my favorite swear word. If I’m tempted to say something worse, I can STILL feel my grandmother’s thimble tapping my head smartly. She couldn’t see much, but she could hear a mouse piss on cotton. š OOPS, THUMP.
I don’t know, between Wyoming winters and western Oregon winters, it’s a toss-up. At least you get the sun in Wyoming, and it’s dry cold. Actually it’s been pretty dry and cold here in western Oregon for a while. Those guys on the coast were complaining because it got down to freezing temps!
I think the part of that clip showing the cars and bus going down the hill sideways are Portland shots. The ice can get very slick there. I used to walk to work on such days, watching people outside their cars, between them, just trying to keep them from sliding into each other due to the little slope from the crown of the road. It was pretty amusing. Definitely weather calling for a beater car…
For Ava, just one word, Treadmill, set to 35MPH for an hour will tire anyone out. ; )
I didn’t make it to the end of Swinter. Chased it away with some Simon and Garfunkel. If that’s too upbeat for you, try Lithium, by Evanescense, which is a pretty cold video. Or, maybe some Vivaldi is more to your taste?
Those people who think winter is the best time of the year are the same sort who’d head down to the beach in November, strip naked, sit in a sauna for a while, and then sprint into the surf. Which actually sounds fun to me, but it doesn’t mean I like the effin cold weather like this.
Here in CO, the main thing annoying about it is how long it’s hanging on. Usually, we get a day or two of this, and then it warms up. So, not only are we getting record-setting or tying cold, but it’s lingering. The folks at Grease Monkey gave me an advisory on my car battery, but so far, no trouble there either. I’ve worn my parka only once. I think I’m getting more tolerant of cold, which I think is odd.
However, it’s still not as bad as the ice storms I remember in Portland back in … 1980? I haven’t seen anything like that here. Ice buildup, yes, but not like that.
Holy crap. Just checked the weather and OMG. We’re expecting conditions tonight that will make this morning’s 12-degree, pipe-busting freeze look tropical. I quote: “Widespread single digit temperatures are expected with some locations dipping below 0. … This will be the coldest night since 1972.” Single digits. Below zero. I know that’s normal winter weather for some of you. But this is just unheard-of here.
If it’s this bad here on the mild coast, I feel for some of you who are getting a lot worse.
And yes, as I think a couple of you mentioned, it’s just going on and on with no sign of getting better. I hear rumors we’re supposed to be getting our second snow of the year by Tuesday. That, too, is major unusualness.
Minnesota. Pffft.
I’m farther north…north of Winnipeg, MB<—where I used to be, until I made the grand escape to farm land.
We are, as I type this, at -28*C, with a whopping -41*C windchill…the only redeeming quality is that the wind is only blowing at a slow 21 km/hr.
The horses are happy for the shelter with deep straw, barn cats are thrilled with old comforters in insulated cardboard boxes, and gosh, the Northern Lights look pretty. š
I’m reminded of my 2nd winter in WI — ’75-76. Coldest winter in 50 years, and I wasn’t ready for it. Of course, all I needed was an upgrade in outerwear, because I lived in a dormitory, and had no maintenance worries on my head. One football game, played close to the shore of Lake Michigan, was pretty brutal, and I wasn’t even in it, due to an injury. I think standing on the sidelines might’ve been worse than being out there on the field, which was frozen solid. That was the coldest weather I’d encountered in my life to that point.
I feel for you, Claire. That part of the country, as you say, just ain’t supposed to do that. And it sounds as if your crawl space is letting in too much air. Well, you mentioned an uninsulated room too. I remember something about an old heating unit — that was the hole in the floor? So keeping that thing going maybe was what was relied on to keep the pipes from freezing, radiating under the house.
To an extent, we humans acclimate to the temperatures. The first significant (relatively) cold weather of the fall feels colder than the later even colder temperatures. Once I’m used to winter, I’ll go outside in a t-shirt in 50 degree weather, and feel pretty comfortable, as long as it isn’t too windy. But it’s been an unusal year for weather, and I’m wondering how many of those days we’ll have. I’m certainly glad that heat is included in my rent. But anyways, the folks up there in places such as International Falls, and further North, get used to it, so it doesn’t seem so bad after a while, as it seems WolfSong is attesting.
I live 10 miles West of Portland, Oregon. It is supposed to get down to 10 degrees here tonight which will be the coldest temperature since 1972. We have already had several days of record breaking cold over night temps.
I agree with Paul B. that the bus sliding into the pole and some of the sliding car shots are Portland.
Two days ago I bought a Big Buddy propane heater for use as an emergency back up heat source, and some 1# canisters for it.
Yeah Claire, make sure your foundation vents are closed. If you don’t have the “official” covers just wad up some newspaper and use a rock or stick to hold it in position. It really sucks to have pipes freeze.
The valley floors were supposed to get down to 5 degrees this morning, but we are on a hillside so it only got down to 18 degrees. A bit of overcast kept it reasonable too.
When I was a kid in Wisconsin I used to deliver newspapers in temperatures down to -40F (not counting wind chill). But I’m not a kid any more.
You guys are spot on about my crawl space letting in too much air. Unfortunately, that’s because the skirting has been torn off the most exposed side of the house (foundation work) and right now I can’t afford to put it back. The pipes are insulated and there’s thick black plastic sheeting where the skirting used to be. In a “normal” winter, that would have taken care of it.
I’ll probably go get some regular wall-type insulation and bundle the pipes even more than they are now.
Funny, the long-term prediction, made by the local star meteorologist a couple of months ago, was that, in this part of the world at least, we’d have that “normal” winter. That is, with no El Nino and no La Nina, we’d have no extremes of temperature or moisture. A few big storms, perhaps. But in this area that means Pineapple Express from Hawaii. It doesn’t mean polar bears wandering the streets. Ha!
Anyhow, got yesterday’s pipe fixed, thank heaven. Despite all precautions, another one is frozen this morning. Crossing fingers it’s only iced, not split like yesterday’s was.
WolfSong! I think you win the grand prize. That’s 10 pairs of long underwear in your choice of absolutely hideous colors and styles. š
But yeah … I’ve seen the Northern Lights and they are really something …
I believe wrapping pipes can only help so much without changing the ambient temp. Might be important to have a tiny flow in that case too; some people will intentionally let something drip slowly.
I’m sure you know they sell electric wrapping for that stuff. Many just try to keep some small heat source–a safe one–in the crawl, which sometimes does the trick. Farmers use a small electrode that heats up electrically, like a piece of the heater rod from an old oven, for various purposes. Market value about a buck used. I don’t know so you’d have to check for yourself, but that might work safely in a crawl. Or it might be too small.
Sorry if that’s duplicative; I didn’t read all the comments. I hope you stay as warm (and wet!) as you wish.
I’d go with the heat tape wrap myself, if you can get in to wrap the pipes. I’ve heard all my life about the “slow drip” thing being an answer to freezing pipes, but the pipes have frozen every single time I tried it. Not to mention that you can waste an awful lot of water that way. A single drop per minute would use up something like 750 gallons a month, and I’m sure not be anywhere near enough to stop the freezing, even if that’s possible.
I haven’t found any heat tape around here; it’s just not something we usually need. But yes, I wish I had some now and will see about getting some.
I’ve found that running faucets at a tiny but steady stream will keep hot water lines running. But cold … well, the pipe that froze this morning was supposed to be running like that.
MamaLiberty: That method’s not as bad as you fear for water waste, though. Here’s a calculator: http://www.awwa.org/resources-tools/public-affairs/public-information/dripcalculator.aspx
Anyhow, I’m also going to look for a small heater that can be used in the biggest trouble spot. They sell little “milk house” heaters new around here for about $20. But for now I’m going to just keep faucets open a bit and wait and see. Applying heat to pipes that have already frozen has often had some very unpleasant results.
Woohoo! Long underwear, yay! LOL!
Funny thing is, every time I go to whine about the cold, I think to myself…”Yeah, but you chose to live here!”, and then I just tell my brain to shut up.
It’s really not that bad, so long as you dress for it. The tough thing can be to find decent outdoor wear. I had to think outside the box. As in, the big box stores only sell “fashionable” cold weather gear, which pretty much guarentees butt freezing.
I have the ugliest pair of contstruction worker winter overalls ever, but man, are they warm! Nice for when 2 of the equines panic at 2am because they can’t find the 3rd memeber of the herd-who was already in the shelter, but I had to go out, halter and lead rope the 2 fools and lead them aaaaallll the way ’round the pasture to the shelter and *show them* the 3rd was okay. That was my Saturday night entertainment.
Yes, horse brains really are that small. š
My cold weather musings aside, I hope you get your water pipe issue figured. Frozen pipes are just no fun. š
In Colorado (where I enjoyed temps down to -40 every winter in “my” high valley) I had a little heat tape where my water pipe came out of the ground from the well and then went into the house. I never had any frozen pipes. I plugged it in around the first part of October and unplugged it sometime in May.