How's the Weather Today?

[94touring]

They changed it to a high of 10 and low of 1 now.  Merging onto the highway this morning I drifted my way into traffic accelerating through about 40mph.  To the guy not slowing to let me merge he quickly gave me space.  I managed to not do a 360 degree spin but had it about 45 degrees for a moment.

[MiniDave]

Yep, I hate Feb. I think in the future we'll go find a beach somewhere till Feb is over.....either that or move in with my son in Phoenix.....by March it will be too hot there for me tho.

[94touring]

It was 9 this morning when I went out to my truck. Got up to about 18.  The next two days will have lows in the negatives.  The roads have been great the past couple days.  Zero anything on them, yet you'll be doing 75mph down the highway and some jackass is in the left lane doing 40mph.  If I were a trooper they'd get tickets for being a hazard.

[MiniDave]

-4 this morning when I got up, 6* right now but Monday night is when we're really gonna get hammered - forecast is for -16!

But by next weekend it's supposed to be mid 40's again....

[BruceK]

I guess I shouldn't mention the t-shirt and shorts weather here of 72°.

So I won't.  ;D

Of course 5 months from now it will be so freakin' hot here that it will be quite unbearable to work outside.

All good things must end.  The forecast for next week is that it will be freakin' 13° here.  And snowing.  That's like absolute zero for us. Kelvin.

It got down to 7° and it snowed about 5-6 inches last night.  Of course that's nothing for a lot of the country.   But it's a huge deal here where it has not snowed that much since 1985.  This is the first snowfall many people in this area have ever seen, and for some it may be the only snow they see their entire life.  Grown adults are laying in the snow to make snow angels because they've seen that on TV and movies.   

As you can imagine with no snow removal equipment the area is just about 100% completely shut down.  And it's going to be just as cold tonight too.  So the snow is going to be around for at least several more days. 

[94touring]

I was supposed to fly down to Dallas tomorrow for recurrent ground school and my sim rides.  That was just canceled and I stay home till the 20th as of now, which is pretty good cause I've been home since January 28th.  We're supposed to get 3-5 more inches by tomorrow night.

[MiniDave]

Only supposed to get to -11* tonight, up from the earlier forecast of -16!

Currently, it's -2, and it hasn't been above zero all day.

And just to make things even more interesting, the local poco is running rolling blackouts thru the area - no warning, or schedule, just one minute it's on, the next it's dark. They're only supposed to be 1/2 to 1 hour long.....some of the larger apartment complexes and office buildings are having problems with not being able to get their heat back on after the blackout. I imagine if I had a heat plant at an industrial building that blew a bunch of controls or something due to an unannounced blackout, I'd be sending the bill to the poco once I got it back online again.

[94touring]

Oh yeah they're doing that here too.  We have gas and I'll be running that for heat and/or getting the propane heaters out of storage.  Currently 1 degree and dropping to -6 tonight. High of 7 today.

[cstudep]

Crazy weather for sure. It never got above -4 here today and it just keeps snowing. Still calling for -16 for this area tonight, it got down to -12 last night according to my thermometer. Thankfully no rolling blackouts here so all is well on that front. Glad I spent a few days last week cutting and splitting wood just in case, with my small generator I can run fans to circulate the wood stove heat if need be. Several years ago we went without power for 11 days in the dead of winter thanks to an ice storm, that was a long week and a half for sure but we managed thanks to the wood burner.

[MiniDave]

I have a genset too, and it's ready to run if I need it, but I know folks in Texas and Oklahoma are not prepared for this kind of stuff.....Bruce lived in St. Louis so he knows how to deal with the cold, but to a lot of other folks it's a whole new experience.

If we get hit we'll wait it out for the hour they say it will be off, then if it doesn't come on again I'm firing up the genny.....this old house is leaky enough that it doesn't take long at all for it to start cooling off.

[cstudep]

but I know folks in Texas and Oklahoma are not prepared for this kind of stuff.....Bruce lived in St. Louis so he knows how to deal with the cold, but to a lot of other folks it's a whole new experience.

100% accurate, below 0 and snow are mostly "normal" for these parts this time of the year and we are appropriately prepared for such. I can't even imagine the chaos down south this is causing.

[gr8kornholio]

Yea single digits here in N. Tx too.  Got 2-3 inches of dry snow.  Supposed to get more tomorrow night.  Warming back up into the 20's tomorrow.  Supposed to finally get above freezing by Friday.  Then 60's next week. 

[BruceK]

..

Bruce lived in St. Louis so he knows how to deal with the cold, but to a lot of other folks it's a whole new experience.

And back in the 1980s I lived in Chicago and winters there were quite wintery.   One night there it got to be -24°. 

I happily don't live in Chicago anymore.  And I definitely did not expect the kind of weather we have now, here.

[Red Riley]

..

Bruce lived in St. Louis so he knows how to deal with the cold, but to a lot of other folks it's a whole new experience.

And back in the 1980s I lived in Chicago and winters there were quite wintery.   One night there it got to be -24°. 

I happily don't live in Chicago anymore.  And I definitely did not expect the kind of weather we have now, here.

I spent 7 winters in Minot North Dakota. -24° was shirt-sleeve weather up there.

[MiniDave]

-9 this morning now, supposed to get all the way up to 12 tho, and mid 20's tomorrow - so a warming trend is definitely on the way.....just need to hold out a few more days. Clear blue sunny skies this morning, which always brightens my mood - I hate the endless grey days we get in Feb.

I don't think we had a black out during the night, none of the clocks are blinking.

The boys do NOT like to go out to do their business in this weather - it hurts their paws. So Rose found some stuff you rub on their pads called "Musher's Secret" that seems to help, but I have to re-apply it every time. 8 wiggly paws that need to get a good coat on before they'll go out, and even then it's pretty much out and right back again!

We've only gotten about 6" of snow, but we're supposed to get 2-3" more on Wed.

Bruce, does Cooper like the snow?

[BruceK]

Not sure if the car likes the snow. We are not going out. Everything is closed and we are fully stocked up with food and water.  Plus, there is no snow removal equipment or salt or anything so the roads are going to be terrible for several days to come. It's cloudy and only 10° so nothing is going to melt or clear up.

We are very lucky that we have not experienced any of the rolling blackouts a lot of people in the area have.

[MiniDave]

I was talking about your doggo!   ;D

[BruceK]

Ahhh.   :-[  It all makes sense now.  You talked about your pooches and asked about mine!

This was the first time he's seen snow and when he went outside he was confused at first.  Then he started romping around in it like crazy having a blast.  He loves the snow and doesn't seem to mind his feet freezing.  But like all dogs with a lot of fur the snow gets caught in his feet between the pads.  When he comes in we were trying to manually pull out all the snow stuck in each feet.  Then I got and idea of using a little plastic tub filled with warm water to dunk his feet into. The snow melts and we dry his feet off.  Problem solved.

[MiniDave]

Yep, on our boys it's easier to just pic them up and hold their feet under the faucet, then dry them off. Otherwise they lick their paws incessantly to get the snow out from between their toes.

I figured he would like it, most doggos the first time in snow they absolutely love it, romping around and burying their noses in it. My boys will be happier when it's not so cold - this below zero stuff hurts! If the snow gets too wet tho it mats up in their fur and it's a mess- as long as it's just the legs I can rinse them off in the sink, but if it gets above that it's time for a bath.

[94touring]

Been snowing for the past about 14 hours.  Currently a hot 18 degrees out though.

[gr8kornholio]

Yea the BIG second wave of snow just went north of us.  Got another inch or so of snow dust but that's about it.  Supposed to at least reach 32 by tomorrow.  So sitting around waiting for another pipe to pop as they thaw.   It's so bad here that commercial businesses and hotels are busting lines.  Our brand new just finished post office flooded.  Got to love that government oversight 😉.

[MiniDave]

Economic stimulus! Lots of trades work.....  ::)

It's already 10* here, warmest it's been in a couple of weeks but we won't get above freezing till this weekend, then next week it should really warm up - we're talking mid 50's! I am down for that!

This house is old and leaky, so when it's in the minus', the furnace runs almost non-stop, can't wait to see what my Feb gas bill will be. Still, it beats being cold!

[94touring]

That's funny Mark!

My electric bill will be high next cycle since I've left the shop heater running.  I burst a line a couple years ago during a cold spell and it wasn't fun to fix.  Luckily contained to the shower area.  I'll probably try to get out there Friday and turn the heater off before leaving for a couple weeks.  Supposed to be back into the 50s this weekend.

[Jims5543]

That's funny Mark!

My electric bill will be high next cycle since I've left the shop heater running.  I burst a line a couple years ago during a cold spell and it wasn't fun to fix.  Luckily contained to the shower area.  I'll probably try to get out there Friday and turn the heater off before leaving for a couple weeks.  Supposed to be back into the 50s this weekend.

You reminded me of this line in a financial news article I was reading that caused me to laugh pretty hard.  The cold hurts, the real pain comes next month when you get your electric bill.

As one Houston energy trader so eloquently explained, Texas electricity customers are about to get "lubelessly pounded" as prices explode:

[MiniDave]

Yeah, they were paying absurd amounts per hour in the worst of it.....the Texas energy companies were getting reamed!