Arctic dipping south

[SheFly]

We're in Maine right now. This morning, the air temp was 2.5 F, with a wind chill reading of -67 . So we went and raced bikes (I'll post about that adventure in a separate thread).

SheFly

[skhill]

Saturday afternoon I was down to a tshirt (with hat and mittens) when shoveling snow, it was so warm! 32F or so, with 5" of snow to clear. Sunday was a heat wave, up to 48F, but not enough to melt all the snow. Still, it was wonderful to walk the dog wearing unlined jeans with no long-johns, and a hoodie instead of a coat.

It's all changing today, 25F when I woke up and dropping today. We might hit -10 tonight; there's a concerted effort going on to make sure all our homeless and heatless are in safe places by sundown. Several churches in my urban neighborhood are planning on opening overnight as refuges. We're totally not used to winter like this; in recent years we've tended to get down to 0ish just once or twice a season.

And yesterday at church us middle-aged folks had fun scaring kids with our tales of the schools having to make up snow days on Saturdays in April and May back in 1978. They suddenly were a lot more eager for schools to open up again!

[Grits]

Today the high in central NC is supposed to hit high 50s, and then tomorrow back to below freezing with a chance of ice/snow. There have been so many huge swings of temperature in a short amount of time lately. I'm going to take advantage of today, though, and squeeze in a bike ride. The first since a New Year's Day Resolution Ride.

[Kathi]

It's currently -5 here in the mountains, Silverthorne, Co. We had about 8" of snow yesterday. Total snow for the year about 200". Schools are open, no raid on the grocery stores. High todays in the 20's. Winter storm watch for Wed. and Thurs. with accumulations of 20-30". If it materializes the mountain passes will be closed, maybe schools will close but we'll still be able to make it to the ski resorts. Life goes on here and we smile when we hear about the rest of the country moaning about normal for us, winter weather.

[ny biker]

My neighbor has Colorado tags on her car. She appeared to be unfazed by our snow last week. But I don't know how long she's lived in the DC area, so it's possible that she doesn't know that a fraction of an inch of snow can completely stop all traffic in all directions for hours and hours hours. I mean this literally. It's the main reason I stayed home last week. If I still worked a few miles from home instead of having to drive 20 miles on the interstate to get to and from my office, I would have gone into work last week despite the snow.

Meanwhile, one of the local meteorologists I follow on facebook says that after this current arctic plunge, we can expect at least a week or two of decent weather, temperature-wise. However he thinks we will have more arctic plunges in February and March. Unfortunately I find his forecasts to be pretty accurate, so I fear he may be right. Hopefully as the sun gets stronger, the plunges will be less severe.

I hope the folks in the southeast get through the coming ice and snow okay.

p.s. 50 days until the start of astronomical spring (March 20). Only 31 days until the start of meteorological spring (March 1). I personally like to celebrate the start of meteorological spring because it happens first.

[Catrin]

It all comes down to what we are accustomed to, and what we have the equipment for, and clothing for! In places like CO, the UP, and Canada, they are accustomed to these conditions and know how to deal with them so it doesn't cause everything to come to a screeching halt. I remember a couple years back when temps in a certain part of Russian reached as high as 80 and people were dropping like flies. I know some people who were totally perplexed by this, but that part of Russia never gets that warm - but of course the winter temps are far below what most of North America will ever reach outside of the NE Territories. I know in some parts of the SE, many probably don't have the right clothing for this weather and when pipes start freezing, chances are it won't be an isolated occurrence.

Indianapolis holds the #15 spot on the Weather Channel's current list of the top 20 coldest cities in the country My office is closed until mid-morning tomorrow.

[Crankin]

I am getting used to low morning temps (was 11 when I left). Today, I wore my thin, silk long underwear under my legging jeans. After seeing my first client at a school that was unbearably hot, I went to my office, where the temperature was normal. Then, we had a bomb threat (), so I came home. By this time, my legs were sweating! Off came the long underwear. It's 19 now, sunny, and the wind is dying.
Of course, I am used to x country skiing and snow shoeing in this, and have lots of sports type clothing for below zero outdoor pursuits. Most people don't. I see people layered up in cotton sweatshirts, a baseball cap, and no gloves. Duh, no wonder they are cold. Last year, I bought a down 3/4 length coat and that has done the trick on days below 20. My azz was always cold, even in my wool dress coat.
Looks like next week and beyond is normal. We might even get some good snow Saturday.