I'm not sure that we are seeing more hurricanes.

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/pastdec.shtml

 

Also, and I'm sure I'd be accused of cherry picking, 2013 yielded a very low number of tornadoes.

 

A Facebook friend posted this gem.....

 

Tomorrow is the 17th day of winter break. 17 days. That reminds me of Bill Paxton in Aliens... "Seventeen days? Hey man, I don't wanna rain on your parade, but we're not gonna last seventeen hours!"

 

A Facebook friend posted this gem.....

 

Tomorrow is the 17th day of winter break. 17 days. That reminds me of Bill Paxton in Aliens... "Seventeen days? Hey man, I don't wanna rain on your parade, but we're not gonna last seventeen hours!"

 

Believe me, it's getting rough for those of us with kids. Really rough. really really rough.

It's interesting how truly arbitrary and useless Fahrenheit is.

 

It's currently -7 Fahrenheit here in Columbus. This sounds cold, but how cold? The problem is, once you swing past 0, your brain intuitively wants to re-reference things to 0. So -7 sounds like 7 degrees below some important reference point. The problem is, that reference point is totally random.

 

Celsius tells the story so much better. A nice sunny warm day would be about 22 Celsiuis. It's currently -22 Celsius. It's so cold that we have swung entirely to the opposite side of freezing from a nice, warm, sunny day. That's f*cking cold.

 

 

I walked home from work bundled up so tightly that the only exposed part of my body was my left eye.  And let my tell you, after 10 minutes out there, my left eyeball hurt!

And my 100 YO house was 60 downstairs when I woke up....restoked the fire and we're now up to a balmy 64 at the thermostat. I am good to around 0 holding 68 degrees but a windy -12 was too much. Thank god I have this wood burner.

 

Boiler system is getting revamped as soon as the weather breaks.

Waiting at bus stations must be deadly!

This cold sucked for everyone. My poor dog wouldn't go pee because here paws were freezing after being out there for 90 seconds. Solution? Homemade dog booties made out of sandwich bags and masking tape...

my dog runs right out & would mess around forever.  I make him come back in after 5 mins.

 

Our office emailed everyone last night & told them to stay home today.  Too dangerous. 

So last night at about 9 p.m. it dropped to -11 degrees outside. I've lived in my mid-rise condo building in Lakewood for 17 years and it was never this cold here in the entire time I've lived here.

 

The building began making cracking noises I've never heard before as the structure shrinks as it gets colder. One cracking noise was so loud I had to check to make sure their wasn't an actual crack in my balcony or sliding glass door!

 

This also can be caused by.... frost quakes! Yep, you read that right......

 

Betsy Kling - WKYC ‏@BetsyKling 13h

Frost quakes will be possible tonight. These will come from the ground (are insanely loud) and will shake the house. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryoseism

I also heard several loud pops in my house from the cold.

 

I went out last night around 10pm just to say I felt it.  Now I can tell my grandkids what -37 windchill feels like.

 

My dog was alternating legs to stand on trying to take a poop this morning.  I wish I could've got it on video.... might've been my one chance for something going viral.

 

Car batter was dead and front tire flat this morning.  Lovely.  Had to take the wife's car to work.

 

Best of all (sarcasm), our power keeps dripping and going out for a few seconds at a time.

Frozen pipe to my kitchen sink here.  i have a space heater in the crawl space below but nothing yet. 

 

My dog just spent 30 minutes in the back yard before I could convince her to come back in - but she's a mountain dog, so I guess she's bred for the cold.

All Aboard Ohio ‏@AllAboardOhio 19m

On #rail systems like @GCRTA in #Cleveland, overhead wires can tighten in the cold. But who expected this disruption?

 

I've been in Florida, so I missed the previous cold snaps.  I was suppose to fly to Vegas, but it's a mess at the airport.

 

I have to say, you know its cold when 3 year olds don't want to play in the park.  My nephews girlfriend brought her dog over for the kids to play with.

 

 

Its so cold out, they took the dog to the park, let him pee and ran back to the apartment.  He wont even go out on the Terrace.

 

Usually the three of them run around the park for for a long time and you have to coax them into going home.  Mrs. Thing No. 2 said, today, they were outside no more then 10 min.

 

I remember it hit -22 in 1993 or 1994.

 

I remember it hit -22 in 1993 or 1994.

 

Was that MLK week? I think I remember having the whole week off of school, but we still had wrestling practice.

I remember it hit -22 in 1993 or 1994.

 

That was Jan. 19, 1994.

 

Here is a list of record low temperatures for the date, set overnight.....

http://www.usatoday.com/story/weather/2014/01/07/weather-polar-vortex-cold/4354945/

 

 

And this is the St. Joseph, Michigan lighthouse....

 

 

I remember it hit -22 in 1993 or 1994.

 

Was that MLK week? I think I remember having the whole week off of school, but we still had wrestling practice.

 

Sound like Maple Heights during the 70s.  Even though snow days were extremely rare (for us), practice usually happened.

Day drank all day due to the weather, and the pubs I went to were all packed. It was a lot of fun despite the sub zero cold and insanely low wind chill

Day drank all day due to the weather, and the pubs I went to were all packed. It was a lot of fun despite the sub zero cold and insanely low wind chill

 

I heard we were really busy yesterday from about 1pm on.

And my 100 YO house was 60 downstairs when I woke up....restoked the fire and we're now up to a balmy 64 at the thermostat. I am good to around 0 holding 68 degrees but a windy -12 was too much. Thank god I have this wood burner.

 

Boiler system is getting revamped as soon as the weather breaks.

 

A little late to the party.  This is my first winter living in my project house, (110 years old, 60 year old +/- forced air gas furnace) so I didn't know what to expect.  I keep the thermostat at 62, and it was able to keep up without a problem.  I'm afraid to see my next gas bill, though.  It would put out heat for about 50 minutes, turn off for 10, and then run for another 50.

 

Waiting at bus stations must be deadly!

 

It wasn't fun here.  Because there are no actual bus stops in Youngstown, (the bus will stop at any corner) there are no shelters to stand in.  On my way to work this morning, I had to put my hands over my face a couple times, because I was worried about frostbite on my cheeks and nose. (probably looked like I was shocked, or doing a facepalm)

 

A little late to the party.  This is my first winter living in my project house, (110 years old, 60 year old +/- forced air gas furnace) so I didn't know what to expect.  I keep the thermostat at 62, and it was able to keep up without a problem.  I'm afraid to see my next gas bill, though.  It would put out heat for about 50 minutes, turn off for 10, and then run for another 50.

 

 

62!? That seems unhealthy to me...

A little late to the party.  This is my first winter living in my project house, (110 years old, 60 year old +/- forced air gas furnace) so I didn't know what to expect.  I keep the thermostat at 62, and it was able to keep up without a problem.  I'm afraid to see my next gas bill, though.  It would put out heat for about 50 minutes, turn off for 10, and then run for another 50.

 

I could be wrong, but I think you are actually wasting energy (and money).  I always thought that you should find a temp and stick with it.  It's easier for your furnace or boiler to maintain the temp than it is to constantly have to fight its way back up to it.

^You're correct. Set the temp on what you want (goes for heating & cooling) and just let it be. 

^I don't know about the 10 minute breaks, but it is definitely not cheaper or energy efficient to keep a steady temp all day long if you can otherwise cut it back overnight or during the day when no-one is in the house.

Um, pretty sure he was saying the furnace was taking 10 minute breaks, not that he was turning it off for breaks.

^Yeah, I think you're right.  Which makes sense.  All furnaces cycle on and off to heat a place.  Most output heat at a constant rate when on, so their cycling is the only method they have for regulating temperature.

62 just means you need a blanket if you're going to be lazing about in your underwear. My apartment stays at about 62 in the winter. 65 if the sun is out, and 58ish over night.

 

We had to turn the furnace on for the first time ever, because condensation built up on our balcony slider and froze. Hopefully I can just be diligent about cleaning it off, and never have to turn it on again. I would hope that my landlord replaces the slider like they did for our windows, but that's probably just silly.

^Wow, how do you maintain that temp even in winter without heat?  Is it a super efficient new building? Heat beading in form adjacent units (left, right, up, down)? Or maybe you live in SF...

Southern facing center unit in a 70s midrise, so the second one. The folks above me keep their slider at least partially open during the day until it falls to the low 20s, or if it's at all windy.

 

Edit: I guess I should also say my roommate and I are computer enthusiasts, so they help keep us warm. Beats the hell out of me what the 60 year old couple upstairs are up to.

Um, pretty sure he was saying the furnace was taking 10 minute breaks, not that he was turning it off for breaks.

 

Yeah, sorry for the confusion.  Keith is right, I was just talking about the furnace's operating cycle.

 

I keep the thermostat at a constant 62, and find that to be comfortable enough.

I used to keep it 64 when gas was $15 a ccf but have gotten lazy as the prices dropped.

 

I'll tell you what, I now know where every draft in my house is after that. That was crazy. I've got hot water heat with baseboards radiators from the 60s to replace the original cast iron radiators, and basically didn't have enough surface area to keep up with the heat loss. Water temp was maxed out but the boiler wasn't running continuously to heat it. Thankfully I put a wood burner insert in the fireplace, that Throws a lot of heat and kept us above 68.

Lunch at Vincenza's, Fifth Street Arcades, Cleveland, escaping the now balmy 15 degrees!

 

Remember, someone always has it worse than you! (OK, bad Photoshopping job -- this was on a Banff website warning against avalanches)....

 

nasa's aqua satellite view of frozen over lake erie on 1/9/14:

 

 

 

 

http://m.earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=82836

 

It's like Lake Erie shrunk past Huron!

Lake level drops a few feet and that is just swamp land.

It's like Lake Erie shrunk past Huron!

 

Or Point Pelee. 

my spouse's blizzardy view today over manhattan seaport

 

i just love this recent shot of moscow!

 

 

Do you agree?

 

The Atlantic ‏@TheAtlantic  1h

Map: How much snow it takes to cancel school in the U.S. http://theatln.tc/1gtXQDO  (via @reddit) pic.twitter.com/RSbNysa47z

 

I can't remember how often school was closed for snow-vs-cold here in Cleveland.  I think it's usually the latter, moreso than the former.  I'd guess the actual number is usually more in the 8" range, though.

 

For Seattle, I think that 1" determination is academic.  They either get no snow, or a foot at once.  I can't imagine trying to drive there in snow and ice.

I think they close more for ice than snow, though this year all the closings my kids have had have been for cold. I can't recall the last snow day that was actually due to snow accumulation.

I would say 3" is pretty accurate for Cincinnati. Northern Kentucky schools definitely close with less snow because of the mostly rural school districts that span entire counties (which is reflected in the map). I would be surprised if 3" was not the same standard in most of Central Ohio as well (Columbus, Dayton, Lima, etc). Obviously it varies, but 3" seems to be the breaking point for Hamilton, Butler, and Warren Counties in SW Ohio.

oh no - phil predicts more winter:

 

http://nypost.com/2014/02/02/punxsutawney-phil-predicts-more-winter-gloom/

Stephen Miller ‏@miller_stephen  24m

"[After a snowstorm] in 1888, workers cleared the sidewalks first." http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/blizzard_of_88 … via @TransportPVD @gcpvd pic.twitter.com/WRkhNV5zdV

 

Why you might not want to always build close to the street in a cold-weather region.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhq0ozdXUXM

^ I dont understand. Sidewalks are always close to the street, even if buildings are built further away.

^^I'd say it's more a matter of the plow going way too fast for the surroundings, not a problem with the design of the street.

 

So are you saying you'd be ok with a plow hauling ass like that down your suburban street...because it has adequate setbacks to allow that sort of thing??

 

The ice is doing a bit better now...

 

And it finally snowed several inches in the Pacific Northwest. If you need a laugh go check out Oregon and Washington's Department of Transportation webcams showing solid white roads that look like bad times to me.