Arctic dipping south

[skhill]

Woke up this morning to find the pipes had frozen. Went down to the crawl space to turn water off, and the valve is frozen. Waiting from a call-back from the plumber. If we can shut off water to the house, I'll be fine waiting until the pipes thaw on their own to see if anything breaks... Very glad I keep a jug of water by the pets' water bowl, at least I could make some coffee and brush my teeth.

It's very very cold in the house, upper 30s. Yes the furnace is on but it can't keep up with this. So I decided to go over to the gym for a shower, then take my dog down to my church to warm up (the cats seem to be doing fine, but the dog wasn't). But when I went to start the car it wouldn't... Got a ride to church and we spent 4 hrs there, got a ride back home to find that the outlet that one of the space heaters (and the fridge) was on has died. Just glad there's no fire. What a day!

[OakLeaf]

Be safe, everyone. Hope no one has any busted pipes!

Catrin, don't start your car unless you intend to drive it. Running it for less time than it takes to fully warm up will cause moisture to accumulate in the exhaust system, and it will deplete the battery so there'll be less charge available when you need it.

[ny biker]

It's not as bad in the DC area as it is in the midwest, but we are experiencing record temps for our area and my heat pump is not dealing well with it. Around 10:00 last night it started turning the auxiliary heater on and off repeatedly. The thermostat is programmed for 71 in the evening, 68 overnight and during the day, and 70 in the morning when I'm getting ready for work. I reset it to 65 across the board, and that helped, but it still went straight to stage 2 + aux heat every time it clicked on. This morning I called the HVAC guys to ask if I should be worried, and they said it was normal behavior for this kind of weather.

It went down to about 5 last night in my yard (air temp, not wind chill). I already have insulated thermal drapes or shades on all the windows and a clear vinyl shower curtain covering the balcony door. Last night I tacked a fleece blanket across the balcony door for added insulation. This morning when I woke up I turned on the small space heater that I keep for emergencies and that helped a lot in the main room where the thermostat is.

And then the electricity went out!! Apparently it was "a widespread outage due to a circuit breaker." I was worried about the pipes freezing if the heat was off for too long. Happily, they had it fixed in about an hour.

I am very glad that this little adventure will not last much longer!! And in the meantime, I'm making good use of my wool base layers.

[Catrin]

It is an entire 5 degrees above zero this afternoon - yayyyyyyyy! I do still have multiple upper body layers, but just my jeans for my legs. Am nervous about getting to work tomorrow morning, everything is ribbons of ice, very rough ice, and I figure that as the temps rise tomorrow things will get even more slippery. Frankly I don't want to go out tomorrow either, but I do need to get to the office and my boss wouldn't understand. At this point I am thinking that perhaps an earlier start so I can leave before the evening rush hour would be the best approach. Assuming my car starts in the morning...

[tulip]

It was 8F this morning when I walked the dog, with a windchill of -7F. But a dog's gotta walk. Thankfully I had that balacava from my cold bike commuting days, along with a hat, my bike tights, goretex pants, Nova Scotia fisherman's sweater, Ibex, and my winter jacket. Oh and lobster gloves. My electric heat pump is having a hard time keeping up, like nybiker's. I usually have it at 68 when I'm working here during the day, and 63 at night but I've switched it to 65 in the day and 60 at night and just bundled up. It's not so bad, actually. Pots of peppermint tea really help. I do have a wood stove and I used it on Sunday before it got too cold, but I'm saving the wood for an electrical outage. I don't have too much wood left since I didn't get an order in. So far, the power has stayed on and the pipes haven't frozen. My dog does curl up in surprisingly small ball for a 45-lb beast, though, so you know it's cold.

It got up to 19F today, which felt pretty normal. Funny how quickly we adapt (lots of layers helps).

[Catrin]

Be safe, everyone. Hope no one has any busted pipes!

Catrin, don't start your car unless you intend to drive it. Running it for less time than it takes to fully warm up will cause moisture to accumulate in the exhaust system, and it will deplete the battery so there'll be less charge available when you need it.

Thanks Oakleaf, I didn't see this until just now. I did resist the urge to go out and start it these last two days, and it should be in the mid-teens when I finally go out to start it in the morning. As all of the roads are now a thick layer of rough ice/snow pack I am a bit conflicted in if I WANT it to start...but I have come up with an alternate route to work with as few hills as I can come up with. Schools are still out tomorrow so at least I won't be competing with school traffic. This morning it was -13 at 8, it is now 8 above. Tomorrow it is supposed to hit 24, 32 Thursday, and then 40's and RAIN this weekend. Floods are in our future I think. No power problems came, thankfully. Now if I can just avoid sliding into a ditch or someone else the next two days I will be a happy woman

[Crankin]

We are now having a small taste of your weather. It was a high of 15 today, which doesn't bother me, but by the time I left my last client at 6 PM, the wind was howling and it was 8 degrees. It felt awful. It should be a little warmer tomorrow, but the wind will still be around. Will be warming up big time over the weekend, and am hoping for an outdoor ride on Sunday.

[emily_in_nc]

Wow, everyone who is dealing with the worst of this arctic blast has my soundest sympathies! We got the heck outta dodge (aka Kansas City) and are in Corpus Christi, TX right now, where we've had some very cold wind (windchills in the low 20s) but nothing below freezing -- the coldest temp was 33. It still feels bitter cold to to this former Belizean expat!

Today the wind shifted from the north to the south, over the water, so our after-dinner walk felt downright balmy at 53 degrees. We are supposed to hit 60s and gradually warming to 70s over the next few days, and I am thanking the weather gods for that.

Everyone please stay safe, bundle up, and don't risk driving (not to mention cycling) if the roads are bad!

[skhill]

My pipes thawed out sound, so I have running water again! Woohoo! But the check engine light came on when I finally dared to try to start the car this morning, so I drove straight to my usual garage. So thankful for a bike backup while the car's in the shop-- and thankful for warmer weather too. It's amazing how warm 30F can feel!

[Catrin]

Emily, it sounds wonderful, I am quite jealous!!! One thing is sure, there is no danger that I will after look for/accept a job any further north than where I currently live!

Yesterday I returned to the office, it took more than double my usual commute time to arrive, but I DID arrive I was so concerned about my car not starting after sitting in those temps for several days, but it actually started faster than normal, or at least it seemed that way. It was about 6 above when I started it, no flat tires, nothing As far as driving in these conditions are concerned, the Kia Soul appears to do far better than many of the larger vehicles I've observed. The only real problem I've had are there where are large amounts of patchy packed snow/ice. It isn't a very wide vehicle, so somethings I've one wheel on pavement and the other side is on this really rough ice/snow pack stuff and in that situation controlling the vehicle is quite difficult. Indeed, I would say, impossible, I've been fortunate that I've not been bounced into another vehicle. Going slow helps, but really, any illusion of control is just that, an illusion.

Today we finally reach 32, or so they say. More snow later today (about an inch), wintery mix tomorrow morning, an inch+ of RAIN starting tomorrow afternoon into Saturday on of the 17+ inches of snow on the ground that will be melting. The high Sunday is said to be 46, we will see. Flooding conditions, for sure!

I saw a cyclist this morning on her bike, in a normal coat, no helmet, no gloves. Her tires weren't very wide, and she was on a snow/ice covered path. I hope she was able to stay upright...

[smilingcat]

few days late but for what its worth.

I've lived in places that gets lots of snow, sleet... My parents owned a two stage snow blower just for their driveway because snow could get pretty deep.

When the temperature is in the single digit, ice is pretty solid and hard without any film of water. Your car tire will not slip much. It's like driving on wet pavement. But if the temperature is anywhere near freezing like 28F to 34F or so, there will be a film of liquid water on the ice and that makes the ice very slippery. And your car not to stop at stop sign or start. And your car to slide sideways to the curve because of the crown in the road.

So be more alert when its near the freezing point 32F. You still need to be careful if the temp is in the single digit but at least you don't need to be petrified.
Oh another thing. If the temp is in the single digit when you get in your car, your tire will be frozen with flat spot where it was in contact with the ground. So drive slowly till the tire thaws out and makes it round again. till then the car will not handle as nice or safely. Going down the road thunk-think-thunk really doesn't harm the tire but it can be irritating if you feel it.

be safe, be warm and keep blankets in the car so you can stay warm if something goes wrong. And if you do get stuck, don't leave your engine on to keep warm. You could get a build up of carbon monoxide in your car. This is especially true if your you and your car literally gets buried in snow.

[Catrin]

Smilingcat - thanks for all of the good advice, I will keep it in mind for the next time. Hopefully THAT won't be for another 20 years!

As it turns out, my decision when I moved in October to spend an additional $30/month for a carport was worth far more than the tighter budget this created. It has sides as well as a top, so hardly a flake of snow hit my car during that terrible storm that didn't get blown - and quite little of that. I noted that my 2011 Kia Soul did VERY WELL once it was legal to drive again and I had to go back to the office. It didn't slip/slide near as much as most of the cars around me and was quite stable.

The worst drive of the week was on Thursday's home commute. I was shocked at how BAD conditions were, and it had been warmer that day with some melting, etc. Thinking back on that in light of your post explains what was going on. The main problem for me, however, was the massive thick patches of packed snow/ice that were too wide for my car to straddle, but just enough patches of clear pavement that my little car was being thrown here and there. I really didn't feel like I was in true control of my vehicle and just proceeded cautiously and eventually reached a part of town where the roads were much better and finally made it home.

I don't have even one extra blanket...guess what I am going to be shopping for this spring when stores have sales to get rid of winter merchandise! I don't know when those things got so bloody expensive...

BTW, after my Kia sat in sub-zero temps (our lowest was -17), when I finally started my car to go to work she fired right up. Not even a 2 second lag! I am even more sold by my lovely little alien green car!

[Crankin]

Bumping this up.
We have a long stretch of Arctic temperatures ahead. The big snowstorm that dumped a lot of snow on the mid Atlantic and quite a bit just 20 miles south of here, just gave us about an inch.
We never get more than 2-3 days of daytime temperatures in the teens/single digits and except for Saturday, I see these temperatures for at least a week. And no snow for x country skiing, unless I go to Cape Cod!
I'm embarrassed I asked my driveway neighbor to snow blow for me, since DH is away, because there's so little snow.

[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.