Posted on 01/17/2005 11:01:41 AM PST by NormsRevenge
Temperatures plummeted across the eastern half of the nation Monday, approaching an all-time record in northern Minnesota and freezing the Gulf Coast as a river of Arctic air pushed southward.
Thermometers registered a low of 54 degrees below zero at Embarrass, Minn.
"You keep living, but it gets old after a while," said Christine Mackai, the town clerk for the community of about 1,400 people in northeast Minnesota.
Minnesota's record is 60 below, set on Feb. 2, 1996, in Tower, about 10 miles north of Embarrass.
The cold at Embarrass didn't stop the regular customers from getting their morning coffee at Four Corners, a cafe and gas station.
"Everybody left their cars running," waitress Trish Roggenbuck said. "It was pretty much breathtaking when you walked outside."
While below-zero readings stayed in the upper Midwest, thermometers dropped below the freezing mark all the way to the Gulf of Mexico coast.
The morning low was 28, with wind chills in the upper teens, at Mobile, Ala., Gulfport-Biloxi, Miss., and Pensacola, Fla. A hard freeze warning was in effect overnight into Tuesday morning for parts of Mississippi, the weather service said.
Mackai said Embarrass had been prepared for bitter cold as early as last Thursday. "It only got down to 28 below, and that's nothing. That's no big deal," she said.
Elsewhere in northern Minnesota on Monday, Babbitt chilled to 51 below, and International Falls which calls itself the Nation's Icebox dropped to 44 below, the national Weather Service said. Farther south, Minneapolis-St. Paul bottomed out at a mere 11 below.
The arctic blast followed several days of subzero temperatures. Weather service meteorologist Greg Frosig in Duluth said Monday's high would still be below zero in northern Minnesota.
___
On the Net:
National Weather Service (news - web sites): http://weather.noaa.gov/
Current Temperatures-Ohio State University: http://www.weatherimages.org/data/imag226.html
Scientists recorded the world's lowest temperature, -128.6 °F (-89.2 °C), at Vostok Station Antarctica.
In the words of Roberto Duran as he was getting his arse whupped,, (No Mas No Mas)
No MOss No MOss!! :-D
Same reason they named it Hell, MI or Swastika, NY. Somebody thought it was a good name.
How would wind chill effect (non-heated) rail?
Randy's a distraction. Wish he would play someplace else.
When it got to -60 in Tower a guy from our part of the state made the national news by driving nails with a frozen banana. Was rather remarkable, if sad.
We only had -38 this morning. We're slackers.
Garrison Keeler says that in that extreme cold all me are truly created equal.
The electrons slow down and their orbits tighten shrinking the length of the rails causing disjointing.
Aren't you describing the effects of a drop in temperature, as opposed to wind-chill? It seems to me that wind-chill shouldn't really effect non-heated objects, since they should end up at about the same temperature as the air regardless!
"My house is on Lake Superior about 20 miles northeast of Duluth. The lake serves as a heat sink this time of year. It was -21F at my house this AM but when I drove up to the highway, less that 1/2 mile away, it was -37F."
===
johniegrad, is that your ATV? Works nice for plowing, doesn't it? That pic looks pretty much like our driveway. We're about 100 miles NW of Duluth and I envy your lake warmth (LOL); our thermometer read -36 this morning (Tuesday). Warmed up this afternoon and has been snowing again.
Keep warm!
LOL - good one!
79 degrees here in Phoenix, wore shorts hiking this weekend, nice to see spring starting here.
Sadly, in a few weeks the streets here will be clogged with geriatric gomers from Minnesota and Saskatoon and the Dakotas, driving their 1985 Cadillacs at 20 miles under the speed limit, on a mad rush to Luby's cafeteria so they can eat macaroni and jello for a dollar less, if they get in before 5 pm, after a day of gumming up the golf courses, playing at a glacial speed, while wearing un coordinated sansabelts and blindlingly white leather shoes, rivaled by their bony white skin which hasn't seen the sun since mid August.
Not on your life!
===
Some of us like being snowbound, wussies move south,
LOL!!
Its amazing what cognitive dissonance will do for ya!
Lets see, dead frozen wasteland, slippery roads, frozen snot, or beautiful desert, green grass, balmy temps, no heating bill, hiking and biking.
Enjoy the "blue" state.
I am moving south ASAP.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.