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.

[ny biker]

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.

I have a wool 3/4 length coat from LL Bean and a long down coat that I got for a steal at Macy's a few years back. I wore the wool coat to Christmas Eve midnight mass last month, when we had a very cold wind coming off the Long Island Sound, and that wind went through me like I wasn't even wearing a coat. Although the wool coat is very good for general winter wear, I find that the down coat is better for really cold conditions, and not just because it's longer.

[Catrin]

I've a long London Fog wool coat that I got from Macy's at half\price a few years back (and it was still expensive). I LOVE it.

In really cold conditions, like lately, I've several layers on underneath it as I've a 3+ block walk from the parking garage to my office building. Because of the tall buildings and wind dynamics of our downtown area, it is ALWAYS much windier downtown than elsewhere, especially around my building. So, for example, in this current weather pattern I will generally have my MidZero tights beneath my jeans (if no meetings), or slacks. If cold enough I will also have a LS smartwool base layer underneath my sweater. Wool socks, and either my riding boots or my warmer Uggs (not classic style), gloves, shearling ear muffs with a stocking cap over those. Muffler around neck and mouth as I've cold-air induced asthma. This works for me, the only thing that gets cold is the exposed skin on my face, and my fingers if I mis-judged and grabbed the wrong gloves.

Sometimes my office is warm enough to remove my thermal bike under-layers, generally not. At least my thermal bike wear is getting used, even if not for the bike! I've considered mixing my Amfib tights with a long skirt + boots and warm socks but unsure I want to attempt a skirt of any kind in the current conditions.

[Kathi]

We woke up to 10" of snow this morning. Schools are closed but it's the first time in 3 years. East bound I-70 is closed over Vail Pass as is Loveland Pass. Predictions are for heavy snow all day today until 5 am tomorrow. The radio announcer is giving snow depth reports for the ski areas and he's saying this is the "good news". 1-2 feet is expected by tomorrow.

Yes, we're used to it here and CDOT does an awesome job of keeping the roads clear. However, there's only so much they can do with the blowing, drifting snow on these passes. Usually, the passes are closed due to accidents and all truckers are required to use chains and are fined if they don't have them. The problem is when the passes are closed there is no alternative around them so motorists are stuck on the highway or in the few small towns.

Since winters have become so mild most Americans have forgotten what winter is like. I heard somewhere that in the past it's common to have winter's like this about every 10 years. That hasn't happened for awhile though. I lived in Cincinnati in the late 70's when the Ohio river froze and people could walk across it into Ky. I was a teacher and schools were closed for 2 weeks. I don't remember how much snow we had but a couple of Mormon kids from Utah helped me dig the car out. The main street near our house was frozen solid and I walked down the middle of it (actually slide down). I remember driving back from Michigan to Cincinnati at Christmas through snowstorms in Indiana. The worst was the ice storms, pretty but dangerous. We always had our snow days until the 90's. Then it got so we were lucky if we got 1 day off.

Enough for now, I'm going skiing. It's a powder day!

[ny biker]

We're coming out of the deep freeze here in the DC area. Last night was another very cold night, but today temps are expected to go above freezing and the next few days after today should reach the mid-high 40s at least. I think next week we'll be below average again but not below 20 at night. This morning I reprogrammed the thermostat back to the normal settings.

I'm hoping to go for a bike ride on Saturday. I'm a bit worried about all the salt on the roads -- some roads are so white right now that you can't see the lines on them. I'm wondering if it might make sense to put the fenders on my bike until after we get enough rain to clear away the salt.

[Catrin]

It is getting above freezing today, Yayyyyyyyy! Rain on Saturday!!!!

Possible HUGE winter storm next week, I've heard possibly 20-30 inches of snow. Local stations are actually not speculating on storm amount or track, they say it is "too early for a responsible forecast". That tells me there is a real possibility for a quite severe storm....hopefully not. I've never heard them say that before. The polar vortex is drunk and needs to go back home!

[ny biker]

It is getting above freezing today, Yayyyyyyyy! Rain on Saturday!!!!

Possible HUGE winter storm next week, I've heard possibly 20-30 inches of snow. Local stations are actually not speculating on storm amount or track, they say it is "too early for a responsible forecast". That tells me there is a real possibility for a quite severe storm....hopefully not. I've never heard them say that before. The polar vortex is drunk and needs to go back home!

Is this forecast for Feb 7-8? I'm reading that some are forecasting a blizzard for us on Feb 8, even though it's way too far off to be able to forecast anything accurately at this point.

In the northeast we often do see snow in mid-February, sometimes significant, sometimes not. But there's no point in worrying about that now.

[Kathi]

We skied in 22" of snow today. Still coming down, another foot predicted. Not many people were discouraged with the weather the parking lot was full.

[Crankin]

Thankfully, there is a prediction of "several inches" of fresh powder for the northern mountains in VT this weekend, which means there will be some snow for my trip on Feb. 12.
I haven't seen any predictions of a monster storm headed this way. I wouldn't mind it, though, especially since I won't be starting my new job full on until I get back from vacation.