Posted on 01/22/2011 1:59:57 PM PST by NormsRevenge
CHICAGO (AFP) – There is a brutally frigid point on the thermometer -- minus 40 degrees -- where Celsius and Fahrenheit meet, and it was even colder than that in parts of the US Midwest as an Arctic blast struck over the weekend.
Americans were bundling up Saturday as the coldest weather of the season was forecast to sock cities from Chicago to New York and Boston, with temperatures that have already prompted weather service warnings.
The coldest weather in two years slammed Minnesota, where International Falls -- which proudly proclaims itself the "Icebox of the Nation" -- recorded a shocking 46 degrees below zero (-43 Celsius).
The Friday temperature tied the town's coldest reading since it began keeping records in 1897.
By Saturday morning it had risen to a balmy -13 degrees (-25 C), the town's airport reported, but the forecast wind-chill factor was far colder, and the National Weather Service issued a hazard advisory warning of frostbite and "life-threatening hypothermia."
Much of New York state and the US northeast region known as New England will see temperatures barely reach the Fahrenheit teens on Saturday, forecasters at The Weather Channel (TWC) reported.
Friday's -4 degrees (-20 C) in Chicago marked the coldest January 21 in the Windy City in 27 years, broadcaster WGN reported.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
And you probably wouldn't want to. This place has turned into a megalopolis.
Even so, if you know where to look, you can find tranquility nearby. I can drive 10 minutes up Moody Road into the hills and hike at Hidden Villa. Inside 15 minutes, I'm on the far side of the ridge and can't see a single building. My daughter and I did a favorite loop over Christmas. We used to hike it all the time when she was a little girl.
Brrr. I’d hate to be in the middle of that. : )
Yes. I now work for a company that makes steam turbines and gas compressors. The “energy” industry (refining, etc.) is the major portion of the business. Since we don’t build refineries in the US, the business is necessarily in other countries.
“Wireless. :-) Verizon.”
That would be the place to be on the weekend. Honey, I’m going fishing. :)
Oh, shut up. LOL
(Madison in Michigan where it will be around 9 degrees F tonight.)
I've had places grow on me like that.
I lived in England for a year, some twenty years ago. When the company first asked me to go, I told them they were nuts. They talked me in to going, and after six months, I couldn't imagine ever leaving.
On the other hand, some places never grow on you. I lived in Florida for a year, working for the same outfit, and at the end of 12 months, I was about ready to quit, I wanted to go home so bad.
Hard to say what sort of place is going to agree with a person.
“Knoxville hit -24 in 1985. I was in charge of the fireplaces. That was no fun at all. The oil lines had frozen.”
In 92’ we had the ice storm in Nashville. I was living on a farm in White Bluff, Tn. I spent two weeks without electricity living with my dogs in front of the fireplace and cooking on a Coleman stove. I took my wife to Nashville to stay with a friend of hers. I had a ball.
Heh...well, you know we southerners have to poke you northerners this time of year. It's an officially recognized FR sport, ya know! LOL
Actually, we've been in the teens here most every night for the last week, and our furnace barely works. Everyone in our house has been bundled up 24/7 for the last several weeks.
That really gets old after a while ;-(
True, true. My parents grew up in Maine in the mid-40’s/500’s and told me how it used to snow so much that the snow was so deep that it covered the windows and doors and you had to dig your way out.
True you just never know. My hubby was in the Navy so we moved around a bit. I hated Memphis. Loved O’side, Annapolis, and Lindenhurst was ok. You take the good with the bad, kind of a mix bag. It’s quite here. A traffic jam is probably at the most 20 cars. Lots of relatives. But, the winters are long and we get tons of snow. Spring doesn’t get her quick enough and summer doesn’t stay long enough. A lot of people here are snow birds, mostly retires. They leave in the winter, come back in the spring.
I grew up in Upstate New York in the late 50’s and let me tell ya .. THE coldest I ever felt in my life was at a Mardi Gras parade in NOLA. Temp was maybe 45-50, but because of the humid air there, it felt like -45 or -50. Right thru to your bones.
I grew up as an Army brat, so I know what moving around is all about. We moved every 18 months on average, during my childhood.
We finally stayed put for three years in Okinawa during the mid-sixties and I sank some roots. It made me nuts when we had to leave.
Since then, the longest I've stayed put in one house is seven years. At 57, I'm really sick of moving, but I've got at least two moves coming before I retire. Thankfully, though, they'll both be in North Texas, so it's not all that bad.
Four and a half hours away from the nearest city sounds like the middle of nowhere to me, but at my age, I think I could learn to love it. If things work out, I'll be finding something similar here in Texas in the next five years.
Yep. The coldest I've experienced is -10. Eyes would water and the tears would freeze. And my dog would be trying to drag me out the door to 'play'. ;-)
Well that can be interpreted a number of ways. :^)
In ‘93 my Mother called me in Arizona and reported she had 2.5 feet of snow in Blount County and their power was out for two weeks. They were living off the grill and the fireplace. I was at a balmy 63 degrees.
The south has its times, off course you never know when. That’s what makes the difference. We are a northern family being from AK and all, but down here folks just don’t prepare as much. That’s a big key to the reaction.
*moan*
We live in a very big, very old home. Darn near impossible to heat comfortably when it gets this cold, and it’s going to be around zero tonight.
Did I ever tell you that I admire you greatly?
(best reference ev-ah)
Algore, what are you doing on FR?
“Southerners have a weak constitution regarding cold temperatures. I recall, when I lived in the south, seeing people wearing parkas when the mercury hit 60.”
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What color were they? I have never seen white people wearing parkas in the South at 60 degrees. I see plenty walking around in tee shirts at that temperature. What are you calling a parka anyway, a simple hoody?
I’ll grant that we are a little cold sensitive, that comes from alternating between cold and hot. In the rare times that we have a long spell of colder weather people start wearing less clothing as their bodies adjust to the cold. I have spent long periods in colder climate including a whole year in Iceland and I noticed that it becomes much more tolerable when it doesn’t switch back and forth so much.
“a minus times a minus is a plus.”
Is a plus times a plus a minus?
Yeah, well I’m about 30 miles from the Texas border, and I was outside wearing a shortsleeved shirt in the 40s. So how does your broad brush look now?
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