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Sunday, February 3, 2019

How cold was it?


Wow! That was about the coldest stretch of weather I have seen since moving to the farm twenty some years ago! When we lived inland, back in the 80s, there were longer, colder stretches, but moving within sight of Lake Superior moderated the temperatures noticeably. How cold did it get, you ask? Damn cold! In my front yard it was -31F (-35C)! I waited until it warmed up to about -25 before I went to the barn to let the horses out for the day. A couple of days the temperatures only got up to -12 or -10 or so. The windchill only needs to be noted in that the wind brought those “feels like” temperatures down to -40F (-40C)  to -60F. In the region temperatures in the -40s were not uncommon. Kind of brutal. Fortunately, we have a couple of feet of snow on the ground to keep incoming water lines and outgoing septic lines from freezing, but around the entire Upper Midwest pipes were freezing inside homes. The natural gas provider in the southern part of Minnesota asked people to turn their thermostats down to conserve gas as they were barely getting by and in some areas there wasn’t sufficient supply and some homes lost the ability to heat! 150 homes in just one town didn’t have gas for heat!

Today is a different story, luckily. It is 50 or 60 degrees warmer and my possibly get all the way up to freezing. That will make it easy to be outside to get some chores done, and if I can steal a little time, go skiing at my favorite trail! Now that the government shutdown has ended it is being properly maintained again. Geez, non-functioning government and commodity shortages! We are starting to sound like Russia or some third world country. Oh, that’s right, Putin (Geppetto) got Trump (Pinncchio)to back out of the last nuclear arms treaty so we can all build some new, high-tech missiles, with money we don’t have, in order to get those dying industries rolling again. Such a great idea! In Texas they have already started on production of the shiny new W76-2 medium range missile as a tactical weapon. The idiots are lining their pockets one more time before they go out in a blaze of glory. But I digress.




I did go into work during the cold snap, or Polar Vortex as they call it now, albeit late and often leaving a little early. School was shut down for three days so parents and people with a lick of sense stayed home to hunker down and wait it out. Friday the temperature got up to about 6 or 7 and activities resumed. Kids back in school and parents back to work. Normally, Friday is quiet at work, but this week it was the busiest day. Not that busy because people were still recovering and checking to see if it was safe to go outside again. The good news is that we won’t get anything that nasty again this winter. At least I hope not, but you never know for sure. The days are getting longer and according to various regional and national ground hogs, spring is on the way! In another month or two the snow will start to melt and we will again enjoy the spring mud season. Oh, to hear the ‘squish squish’ of my boots getting stuck in the slop again, along with the warmth and the slow return of the color green into my life. How glorious it will be! 


34 comments:

  1. DAYUM THAT'S COLD! glad you and the horses survived. spring is just around the corner; baseball season starts on 2/12! YAYZ!

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    1. Yup, there are definitely signs of spring just around the corner! Hallelujah!

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  2. The beautiful photo of the yellow wild flowers... Jono--Why did you have to include such ugliness right before it? The orange man and the red man... Ugly. Ugly. Ugly.

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    1. The juxtaposition is for effect. Worked, dinnit?

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  3. You guys got hit HARD! My condolences. We're getting our dose of the polar vortex right now, but we're a little warmer. Today in Edmonton it's -30C with a windchill of -38C. But we're going out this afternoon to a baroque concert although right now (9:30 a.m.) all I want to do is stay home, lol.

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    1. Americans keep forgetting there is a whole country north of us to soak up the worst of it before it even gets here!

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  4. I got the shivers just reading this post. But don't worry, according to Puxatawney Phil there are only six more weeks of winter. And Puxatawney Phil is wrong only 60% of the time!

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    1. Look at the positive side. Phil is right 40% of the time. In the world of meteorology that is by far one of the best records known to humans!

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  5. I hope your weather gets better and you, the cats and horses survived.
    Daughter just moved back from Marquette right by the border with Canada. It is always way below freezing and snow tons of snow. So right now she is very happy to be in Tucson again,

    Stay warm.
    cheers, parsnip

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    1. I can't believe your daughter didn't save me a seat for the trip! Tell her I can see the U.P. from my house on a clear day. Just the Porcupine Mountains, but still....

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  6. Still hot (and nasty) on this side of the world. Your post reminds me (again) that I have little to complain about.
    I hope you do get your skiing in. Sigh on the resurging missile industry.
    Yay for coming spring (and yay for our coming autumn).

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    1. The contrast between our hemispheres is amazing! I did get a ski in this afternoon and it was beautiful! I had the trail all to myself and didn't see signs of another human until I got back to the parking area.

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  7. I was shivering in solidarity with all you folks in the polar vortex, even though we were only at minus 10C. But our groundhogs say we have six more weeks of winter, so maybe it evens out a bit. Maybe.

    The Trumpet and the Poot are well matched, are they not?

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    1. We would expect more than six weeks of winter in a normal year so whatever the groundhog says is always good news. As Tom pointed out above, the groundhog is right 40% of the time which is much better that our meteorologists.
      One ruthless dictator and one wannabe. Having those two sociopaths in charge of anything puts the world in a very precarious position.

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  8. Every day puts us closer to spring with daylight and warmth. Thoughts like that keep you going in the cold.

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    1. We are gaining about three minutes of daylight each day and it is starting to show. I don't need to use my high beams when I drive home anymore! Eventually, the sun will do its job and we will be basking in its warmth before you know it.

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  9. Hi Jono,
    There was a lovely ethereal fog in the big city down below. Did you have it at the lake as well? Would have made good photo ops.

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    1. I was seeing the frosting on the trees up here from the higher humidity, I attempted some shots with my cell phone, but doubt that they show much.

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  10. Brutal, indeed. Glad you didn't lose your heat. I had to deal with a frozen, busted pipe only once in my life (in South Carolina, of all places!), and it wasn't fun.

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  11. It can be a real mess when that happens. A worker at one of the local resorts tried thawing a pipe with a small propane torch. The ensuing fire must have done a half million in damage.

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  12. A sad commentary but good to read the positive note it ended on. Stay safe.

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    1. We must always find the good amongst the bad things in the world. You photos show real life in your part of the world and I so enjoy that!

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  13. That's so cold. It's 61 degrees here in Florida. I have mud in the backyard where Franklin and Penelope like to dig holes. They are construction worker dogs.

    Love,
    Janie

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    1. Dogs have a different perspective on landscaping projects, but they are persistent workers. And they work cheap!

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  14. Oh so much cold there dear Jono!

    i doubt i can survive in _31 brrr

    this is great that you got warm day for your favorite hobby :)

    wishing you a warm shiny days ahead my friend

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    1. Thank you baili! People ask what do I do when it is that cold. I tell them I don't do anything I don't have to. Just be patient and wait it out.

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  15. Whew! I'm glad temperatures are moderating out your way. I can only imagine how awful it would be to have the furnace going full blast and still watch the interior temperature drop. I hope that's the last of your REALLY cold weather!

    We're having a "cold" snap out here, too - actually a few degrees below freezing at -10C. There's a bit of whining going on; but mostly the consensus is "At least we're not out east!"

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    1. It is getting better and the days are getting longer. It all gets better slowly.

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  16. I hope by now it is even warmer in your area. Here in Nashville it did go down to 24 F so the schools and many businesses closed. But today it is back to 70 F with a full sun and many people are out jogging. I enjoyed looking at your political illustrations – so true. I wonder if the US will start again building underground shelters now that there is no more agreement with Russia. I hear they had them during the cold war – I never saw one in France, though.

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    1. It was -12F when I went out to feed the horses this morning, so yes, it's warmer. When I was a kid my neighbors across the street had a bomb shelter dug in their backyard.

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    2. The weather is crazy. Last week near zero and today fifty degrees. back to the cold tomorrow. I have seen weather fluctuation before but not cyclic at this rate.
      the Ol'Buzzard

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    3. Yeah, things are happening in a different way than they used to. Somehow, I don't think it's a Chinese conspiracy, though.

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  17. We had the same temperatures in southern Wisconsin. My animals did fine, but I was so worried about them! It was so cold for so many days. Glad to see you fared well!

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    1. I can't believe how far south the cold went this time! We are a bit more used to it, but it was still nasty. All our critters did fine, too.

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