Arctic dipping south

[ny biker]

I hate this. There's a reason I don't live in Chicago anymore. I have to go outside in the sub-zero windchills to clear off my car. We don't have reserved parking at this condo association so if I shovel out the space where I'm parked, someone will take it and I'll have to shovel out another one when I get home (in the sub-zero wind chills). And then do the same thing tomorrow and the next day. It won't be warm enough to melt anything until maybe sometime next week. Anything that does melt will just freeze again. I can't go anywhere because of ice on the roads. My heat pump can't keep up with these temperatures so I have to turn the thermostat way down in order to keep the auxiliary heater from running non-stop.

We got somewhere between 5-6 inches of snow here.

I hate this.

Thank you for letting me rant.

p.s. I'm wearing cycling clothes to go out and shovel snow. Two long sleeved wool base layer shirts, my AmFib tights, Ibex wool knickers and DeFeet wool Kneekers over the tights. Smartwool balaclava and glove liners. Defeet wooleator socks. Plus a thick pair of wool socks that I bought for my one and only experiment with skiing, a thick wool roll-neck sweater that I got from J Crew back in the '90s, shearling lined boots, a wool hat, ski mittens and a long down coat. Normally I don't wear many layers when I shovel snow because I know I will warm up while I work. But with a wind chill below zero, I have no idea how many layers I'll need so I'm starting heavy.

[skhill]

BRRRRRR it's back. -5F this morning, but thankfully no wind. Makes a huge difference. However, my car won't run in these temps and there's too much ice on the streets for the bike, so it's a foot commute today. At least my pipes haven't frozen (yet).

Only about 3 inches of snow but that's enough! And there's a good chance we won't get over 32F in the next week. I hate this.

[ny biker]

My space heater just blew the circuit breaker. I have the thermostat for the heat pump set to 66 in order to keep it from running aux heat non-stop, and now I can't run the space heater. It's down to 63 on the other side of the room from the thermostat. My home simply was not made for this kind of cold.

I already had insulated window coverings on all the windows and a clear vinyl shower curtain over the balcony door. Last night I tacked a fleece blanket over the balcony door, and this morning I hung a fleece throw across the doorway to the kitchen, which is usually cold in winter.

I cleared the snow off the car and shoveled around it enough to get it out of the parking space. There is ice on the windshield and back windows. I will deal with that later -- my fingertips were hurting from the cold and I was only outside for about 20 minutes.

[Crankin]

I wore full nordic ski gear to push the snow away, at 8 degrees. Didn't heat up enough, like real shoveling!
I think I am developing Raynaud's in my fingers. I noticed this on my last cold ride of the year. Today, I had on my monster x country ski mittens, wool liners, and a chemical heater. My index and middle fingers were hurting like hell because it wasn't hard enough work to heat me up. This usually goes away after a few minutes and it's getting worse. NOOOOOOOO!
The rest of me was fine. I even wore my Terry fleece balaclava that I've only used once for riding and it lasted about 10 minutes before I got too hot.

[katluvr]

I am so sorry for anyone putting up with this winter, snow and arctic temps. I am pretty whiny with my cold FL temps. Not used to running heaters (no real functioning heat in this FL home) and wearing so many clothes. But it could be worse....most of you up north are having it. Sending warm thoughts!

[tulip]

I'm keeping my heat pump at 64F and its having trouble keeping up. I'm bundled up inside, with a hat and two sweaters. It's not so bad, and when I get too cold, I drop down for some pushups. I decided to keep my meager supply of firewood for an emergency, so I haven't been running my wood stove. We only got a couple of inches of snow, but it was on top of a layer of ice and it's been in the low 20s all day so nothing has melted. I would like to have my studded tires so I could go for a bike ride.

[Helene2013]

It's really cold in Montreal too. Heatpump is no longer working under this cold as it is the electrical system that kicks in. I just finished my workout in the basement and I'm so hot! After shower I will be getting chillier from cooling down and I'll do a nice fire (wood) and we'll all be toasty and warm. ahhhhhhh I love winter. I'm a winter person. But not this freezing cold dipping we've seen for a good month now, except for a little relief of a few days.