It's so cold outside

[Aerows]

a thought doesn't cross your mind, it passes you on the way inside where it's warm.

[haikugal]

1. I've lived here since 79 ...

It's -2 and we'll warm up to 16, I've never seen it this cold. Bundle up and stay safe.

[SamKnause]

2. It is -12 (actual temperature)

Last edited Fri Feb 20, 2015, 07:36 AM - Edit history (1)

here is Seaman, Ohio.

My door that goes outside, onto the back deck, is frosted on the inside.

That has not happened in the 13 years that I have lived here.

My furnace is running constantly.

I am terrified of the electric bill that will be coming.

Living in poverty is constant fucking stress !!!

P.S. I think a water pipe may have frozen under the house.

I heard the pump to my cistern kick on two times.

I can't find any leaks or drips in the house.

Let the good times roll.

UPDATE: It is now -13 feels like -27.

I have 10 inches of snow on the ground.

They are calling for 3 inches tonight and an additional 3 to 5 inches Saturday night.

[haikugal]

3. Has your water pressure changed?

That's a good indicater of a broken pipe and leaking somewhere. It happened to us two days ago. I'm right there with you about the electric bill....we do what we can. My little dog had to pee, I put his coat on and opened the door, he backed up and didn't want to go out! I had to encourage him.....he went but it didn't take long. Poor little bugger.

[SamKnause]

6. No change in the water pressure.

If it is leaking under the house it is probably frozen and I won't know the situation until things thaw.

My pump to the cistern controls my water pressure.

A slow drip would not effect the water pressure.

If you are not running water and you hear the pump kick on, you know something is wrong.

I haven't ran any water since 5 a.m. EST.

It is 6.28 a.m. EST.

The pump has not kicked on.

I am timing the intervals to determine the speed of the drip.

I fear when it thaws it will become a big problem.

[haikugal]

9. Yeah..

Ours didn't let go until my son got home from work and turned on the tap at his house....it let go here, at my apt. The garage ( below) sprung a leak...what a mess but not hard to fix. I had noticed a pressure change but thought it was partially frozen pipes...oops. I hope you don't have a big mess and I also hope you have water available somewhere in your house...no water sucks big time.

It was our fault because the heat tape had been unplugged for some reason.

[notadmblnd]

24. 22 seconds

most dogs relieve themselves within 22 seconds of going outside. Mine has been beating that record the past few days. She's back in and under the covers for the rest of the morning.

[haikugal]

26. Yeah he's pretty quick..

Back in and under the blanket, Ha!

[notadmblnd]

28. yep and she's no little Chihuahua either

she's a big ole pit/shepard mix. Don't tell her she not a chihuahua though, she'd be crushed emotionally.

[haikugal]

35. LOL.....

Mines a Boston terrier Minpin mix...fat little bugger now, about 25 pounds...10 years old. My buddy.

[avebury]

8. Do you have a crawl space under the house?

I do and keep a heater under my house in the winter. I have is plugged into heavy duty outdoor extension cord and the cord plugged into a power strip. As I turn the power strip on and off the heater will turn on. It is close to the pipes most like to freeze if is gets too cold. The prior owner of the house also had put electric wire wrap around the pipes that I have set to be plugged in when necessary as well.

Also have you been dripping your faucets to try to help prevent the pipes from freezing?

Growing up in Maine with a well built house with cellar, dealing with an older less well built house with a crawl space has been a pain in the neck. I learned the hard way that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure (i.e. avoiding plumbing bills).

I have a friend who obsesses over earthquakes (Oklahoma is the new No.1 earthquake state) and I obsess over cold temperatures in teh winter like she obsesses over earthquakes.

[SamKnause]

10. Thanks for all the tips.

You can't leave your water running when you have a cistern.

My cistern only holds 1 truck load of water.

I am snowed in and the water truck could not get up my driveway if I ran out.

My pipes are wrapped.

I don't have a heater in the crawl space.

Keeping fingers crossed.

[haikugal]

30. Oh I used to have a cistern..

You need to get a heat tape..I used one and it worked well.

[SamKnause]

32. It took 3 hours and 40

minutes for the pump to kick on.

It takes 4 and 1/2 cups of running water to make the pump kick on.

It is a slow drip.

I fear when it thaws things will get worse.

I have never needed heat tape, but I guess I do now.

13 years and I have never had a problem.

Thanks for your reply and input.

[haikugal]

34. When I lived on the mountain and had a run of below double digit temps...

Last edited Fri Feb 20, 2015, 10:30 AM - Edit history (1)

I had to drop a light into my landcruiser and another one into the cistern...it doesn't take much but it works. Be well, stay happy!

[PotatoChip]

40. One more tip from another Mainer:

5 years ago, we finally invested in energy efficient, double hung windows and doors.

Prior to that, we'd always 'button-up the house' (a Maine term-lol) every fall, by covering the windows from the inside with a clear, thick plastic in order to keep too much heat from escaping. It's not the most attractive thing, but well worth doing in order to prevent drafts and heat loss.

I'm sure that whatever you currently have for windows and doors are sufficient in a normal (for you) winter, but if this cold is fore-casted to continue on in your area for awhile, you might want to consider doing this.

You can buy a roll of this plastic fairly inexpensively... Just an idea/option that I hope helps.

[SamKnause]

48. Thanks for the input.

I have double hung windows.

I have a well insulated front door.

My backdoor is in the laundry room.

A door separates the kitchen and laundry room.

It was the one that was frosted up.

It needs to be replaced.

[In_The_Wind]

4. It's actually -2

Advanced Observations For:

Orville Todd MS
Poughkeepsie, NY
Elevation: 135ft
Data as of: 6:00 AM 2/20/2015
Current Conditions
Temperature: -1.9°F Pressure: 30.05"
Average Wind: 8mph W Sunrise: 6:44 AM
Humidity: 63% Sunset: 5:35 PM
Dew Point: -11°F Moonphase: -2

Wind Chill: -15°F Monthly Rain: 0.13"

So Far Today
High: 2°F Rain: 0.00" Rain Rate: 0.00"/h
Low: -2°F Gusts: 21mph WNW



When I opened the back door so miss pia could go out to pee, it took my breath away

[livetohike]

5. It's -11 F here right now. I let both of the dogs out and they did their business and ran back to

the door. We have over two feet of snow on the ground with a mix of snow/rain tomorrow.

[LiberalElite]

7. Pretty cozy here at 2 degrees. nt

BUT up the Hudson River earlier this week: http://www.dailyfreeman.com/general-news/20150219/coast-guard-cutters-help-free-tugboat-from-hudson-river-ice-near-west-point

&maxh=400&maxw=667


"WEST POINT >> Crew members from the U.S. Coast Guard cutters Line and Willow worked with a commercial tugboat Wednesday to break the tug Maryland out of thick ice in the Hudson River near West Point, according to the Coast Guard."

[Divernan]

11. Minus Six; windchill, minus 21 in Pittsburgh area.

Got down to minus 8 last night. Lived here since 1969 - this is the longest, coldest number of such cold days I've experienced here. And the most bizarre and difficult to adjust to because it is constantly interrupted with short periods of temps up to 50 degrees. When factoring in the wind chills, we see temperature swings of 60 degrees within 24 hours. It got equally cold last winter but generally stayed cold.

Anyone else notice a difference in which of your outdoor plants survive? Last winter killed off my 9 year old lavender bed which was in an area out of the wind. I've never seen my rhododendrons so shriveled up as this winter.

And I've been shoveling a ton of bird seed out to the birds - have had to start spreading it on the ground because the seed in the bird feeders froze up and wouldn't disperse out of the openings. Never saw that happen before.

[SamKnause]

12. My lilac bush did not bloom

last year.

It has bloomed every year I have lived here.

The bush was healthy.

The leaves were healthy.

But zero blooms.

They start budding in January.

I think this deep freeze may keep them from blooming this year.

We had a very long cold winter last year.

This year our winter was mild until about 2 weeks ago.

It is much much colder this winter.

[HereSince1628]

13. Typically I look for the cold to break around the 2nd week in Feb

Last edited Fri Feb 20, 2015, 08:40 AM - Edit history (1)

and really not see below zero much at all after that.

Running 20-25F below is way old. Wednesday we had blowing surface snow that spun up and formed snow squalls

but... pitchers and catchers -ARE- back at work! There are signs this winter is moving into the opening scene of it's final act...

In just a short 4-5 weeks the cold will be forgotten and the wrecked roofs will be from spring tornadoes rather than crushing weight of accumulated snow.

[NRaleighLiberal]

14. 6 in Raleigh NC. Brrrrr!

[a la izquierda]

15. A balmy -3F in Morgantown, WV.

Yuck. My dogs had to be forced out to the patch under my deck that has no snow. They would not entertain a walk today.

[watoos]

16. I have -22 in Central Pa.

The digital thermometer shows -27 downtown, so maybe my thermometer if froze up, lol.

[jimlup]

17. -18 in Ann Arbor MI

we have not been this cold since '94 which was a volcano year.

The jet stream is broken.

https://robertscribbler.wordpress.com/2015/02/18/mangled-jet-stream-global-warming-hot-atlantic-water-boston-buried-under-8-feet-of-snow/

Unfortunately our condo heating system can't keep up. 56F inside my unit right now. Can't get out of bed as it is the only warm place available.

[ybbor]

27. Where are you getting the water for all those courses?

I do love it out there, but don't get too cocky.

I fear that may be your regions biggest fear in the present and not so distant future. Water that is not golf courses.

[haikugal]

33. LOL....enjoy while you can.

Seriously. Enjoy.

[Divernan]

36. But the summer temps are, literally, killers. Do you summer in Boston?

With the drought conditions, is water still wasted on keeping the south west golf courses green? Or are they allowed to go fallow?

Here are the temps as monitored at your Sky Harbor:

May - Average High Temp. 95 /monthly precipitation -.11 inch
June - Average High Temp 104 / mo. precip. - .02 inch
July - Average High Temp 106/ monthly precip. -1.05 inch
August - Average High Temp 104 / monthly precip. -1.02
Sept. - Average High Temp 100/ .monthly precip. - .64 inch

"Planning a trip to Phoenix can be tricky. You can get some great rates at fantastic resorts in the summer -- but before you make your reservation, make sure you understand Phoenix weather. We have about five months of summer, and the weather in Phoenix can be brutal if you aren't used to it.

You will see average temperatures for the Phoenix area published in various places, and they will vary by a degree or two. Keep in mind that the official temperature for Phoenix is monitored at Phoenix Sky Harbor."

http://phoenix.about.com/od/weather/a/averagetemps.htm
Golf courses are in trouble nationwide and the Phoenix area is having it worse than most, because golf is an old white men's game and old white men are dying off. Millennials don't play it. Another reason is that courses eat up water and that eats up profits.

In the Valley, during the summer, when temperatures can reach upwards of 115 degrees Fahrenheit, golf courses use 1 million gallons of water per day. That water could be used for 9,000 residents for an entire year based on current per capita water usage rates in Phoenix.

Most golf courses in Phoenix use effluent — recycled water that has been treated but is not potable — but scientists say in theory that water could be cleaned up enough for human use.

Wilson Gee, owner of the Ahwatukee Lakes course, let the course go fallow because the water bills were too high. Then, he became embroiled in a years-long dispute with angry homeowners who'd paid premium lot prices to face the golf course. Gee wants to convert the dead golf course into homes, and the homeowners are threatening to sue him. He said the course lost money for five years. "When the cost of water gets up to $1 million per year, 30 to 40 percent of revenue goes toward water. It's impossible to keep it open," he said.

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/ahwatukee/2014/11/17/phoenix-area-golf-courses-continue-struggle/19186917/

What's more, Gee recently got slapped with a tax bill from Maricopa County for closing the course. Gee owes $1.6 million in back taxes, according to the Maricopa County Assessor's Office. That's because of a 1985 statute that gives a golf-course owner a tax break of $500 per acre each year as long as the course operates as a golf course. If the owner takes the tax break and closes the course, he or she must pay 10 years of the tax break plus interest and a penalty. But he has more headaches than the Ahwatukee Lakes course. His other golf courses aren't faring as well as he would like. Three of the golf courses are breaking even, while the fourth, Club West, is losing money like Ahwatukee Lakes.

[Divernan]

37. Very sexist to say local pols "fight like little girls"; most are white males!

Specifically, six out of nine are white males.

https://www.phoenix.gov/mayorcouncil

[Tsiyu]

41. Exactly..just say they fight like stupid adults

I've seen little girls with more ethics and conflict resolution skills than some adults have. If his local politicians suck, he shouldn't deflect by blaming little kids, who have nothing to do with adult bullshit.

But sexism is fun. Rather than place the blame where it should go - on adults - it's more fun to denigrate "little girls," those silly, worthless things.

[Vinca]

19. Yesterday I noticed the poor deer have eaten all the bottom leaves

on my rhododendron bushes. Not that I care . . . I'd rather have live deer than flowers on my bushes. It's been a tough, tough winter for wildlife. And it seems like it's never going to end.

[Bjorn Against]

20. The last three days were brutal in Minnesota

Today it is looking much better though, we are supposed to get up to 24 degrees today. Much better than the subzero temperatures of the last few days.

[ybbor]

21. Woke up to -23 actual temp

At 8 am here in Ann Arbor. It was -26 earlier.

Not a cloud in the sky, so it looks beautiful.

My neighbor flew to Brazil last night. He was gonna experience a 100 degree difference in temp!

Think I'll go lick the flag pole. 😝

[notadmblnd]

22. -19 in South East Michigan that does not include wind chill

usually I can ignore the cold by imagining that it is really 85 and sweltering outside but this is too much.

[NuclearDem]

23. It's a smoker's worst nemesis.

You know, when you don't know when to stop exhaling.

[meow2u3]

25. Woke up to -6 w/ -25 wind chills in eastern Pennsylvania

It's now -2 at 8:30! My space heaters are working overtime and I still can't get the house up to temperature.

This "Siberian Express" cold wave is surely Putin's revenge.

[Atman]

29. I saw a squirrel roasting his nuts.

[Divernan]

38. Bad, Atman, Bad! But funny too.

[Atman]

39. Pretty sure it's an old David Letterman standard.

But hey, stick with the classics!

[Atman]

31. Our furnace has been out for a few days.

Finally got it fixed yesterday. It's ancient (as is the house), and something in the controller box fried. It would run after I hit the re-set button, but then wouldn't re-start. I'd have to slog to the basement and manually restart it -- fun waking up at 3:00 am to a 50 degree house. I never thought I'd consider 62 degrees "warm."

It's been too damned cold even to go snowboarding. -12 (real temp) in the mountains yesterday. But Sunday supposed to be up in the 40s. WTF? There goes the powder. Oh well. First world problems.

[Jackpine Radical]

42. I can't tell how cold it is here.

We're having to heat the thermometer to thaw the mercury so we can read it.

I tried to run an extension cord out so I could put an electric heater on it, but the electricity was frozen in the cord.

[2naSalit]

43. It might also be wise to

leave one or more faucets running just a bit to avoid freezing water pipes. Here in Montana where we see those kinds of temps regularly, the going "flow" for running water to avoid freezing is about enough to have the water stream about the width of a pencil lead. If your drains freeze up, sometimes just dumping a couple ounces of table salt down the drain with a little hot water can thaw the drain pipes.

[Jackpine Radical]

49. Actually, I don't think you need that big a flow.

I grew up in a rather poorly insulated house in n. WI the wood & coal stove era with -40º not too uncommon. About all you have to leave is a steady drip (making sure both Hot & Cold faucets are contributing to the drip).

Where I live now, one faucet freezes if we don't leave it running when it hits -10 with a howling north wind. We're expecting -20 tonight; the faucet will be running.

[2naSalit]

50. I agree that it doesn't take much

but in my travels I have found that all faucets are different. Up here it will be some -20F too but make it to +31F tomorrow.

I have never had pipes freeze in this particular cabin (even at -50F!! I have a deep crawl space, more like a cellar and all the pipes are centered underneath and wrapped.) but I have had it happen in others.

Do stay warm, the cold has finally come home, this is what it's supposed to be like in this part of the planet at this time of year. The last few weeks we have had rain or really wet snow then it freezes at night and we end up with glaciers and skating rinks everywhere... until it warms up and remelts everything. The streets are bare, even YNP had to stop allowing snowmobiles in the west gate and the snow-coaches have transitioned to wheels instead of snow track. This bitter cold siphons the moisture out of the snow such that it can't be "worked" by the grooming machines. We have no snow now, it's granulated concrete and some dusty stiff, won't pack together.

It would be nice if we could have some snow before it's over. Near by mountains have more snow, the storms have been breaking up and going around us all winter.

[DeadLetterOffice]

44. We are supposed to finally break freezing on Sunday...

... just in time for it to ice and sleet on us, before dropping back to single digits Sunday night.

This winter is just fucking ridiculous...

[Holly_Hobby]

47. -17 in NW Ohio this morning

It's gone up to 4. We had more snow last year, but not as much below zero, going on 2 weeks now.

I'm older now and can't tolerate the cold anymore, I'm wearing 3 layers of fleece and a hat, but my hands and feet are still cold. Our house was built in 1959 with aluminum windows and no insulation. Our furnace is 34 years old, we keep it set at 62. Even the dogs were cuddled together this morning, which has never happened. They're getting old too.

Chomping at the bit for spring gardening...bored to death, and tv sucks.