Four competitors wait to compete in the UK Cold Water Swimming
Championships at the Tooting Bec lido in London January 22, 2011.
REUTERS/Kieran Doherty
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 ...
Damn. Maybe we’ve REMOVED too much carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
You say “its only January” but, February 1st is the date that always gives me hope because every winter weather record of any kind around here was set in January, typically the last week.
The temperature didn't even hit 60 today here in Northern California.
I think you’re right. I was a little kid in the late fifties, grew up in the sixties(Northern NJ), seems winter was really cold then and the snows were deep. In the ‘80’s I lived in a little place outside Cooperstown NY , Westford was the name of the place. Its was -25-in March!
Four competitors wait to compete in the UK Cold Water Swimming
Championships at the Tooting Bec lido in London January 22, 2011.
REUTERS/Kieran Doherty
We got slammed with a huge storm here last Feb. It was awful. My wife is a nurses aide at the local hospital. She had to stay over for two days. I couldn’t get her because the streets weren’t plowed enough to get though. I missed two days of work too. Spring will be here soon enough and then Summer. And I’ll be complaining about the heat. Oh well, that’s life right?
I hear you. We’ve had the faucet in the tub trickling since Tuesday night. If you don’t do this the pipes freeze.
Not all. When the temps drop to the 50 to 60 degree range, old Cajun will wear a t-shirt under his short sleeves. When the temps drop to 40 to 50 degree range I'll switch to flannel long sleeves. Only in the 20 to 40 degree range will I wear a jacket and find lots of reasons not to be outside for too long, especially if it's raining or worse.
I've never seen forty below. But I have seen thirty below on several occasions.
But I have never been so cold as the day I spent working the floor of a pecan orchard in Central Alabama with the temperature 35-38 above and a north wind blowing mist/drizzle/occasional snowflake.
I was fully and warmly dressed -- inside a pair of quilted coveralls. And, when I got home, I had to sit in front of the fire for two hours before my bones thawed out.
As they say, "It's the humidity..."
We hit over 70 here in San Jose today .. but I am a native Minniesodan.. have a large number of family there.. and I do miss ice fishing.
Brrr! You’re making me shiver, even though it’s 79 in SoCal and will be all week. So THAT’S why we pay the big bucks to live here among the fruits and nuts...
I’m in NJ too. Did you just say blizzard on Tues? I better go check Accuweather right now...
Warm globally, cool locally! LOL!
I lived in NOLA for 30 years and the sales on coats was fantastic. Every year I would purchase some of the best parkas, coats, leather, blazers, etc. b/c the sale prices would be so fantastic I couldn’t resist. I was able to buy a full lenghth leather coat for 75 percent off. I wore that coat, which I loved, about 3 times a year if I was lucky. Also, every year, I would donate coats to the Womens organizations who were protecting abuse women and children. We would also go to the Quarter and hand out coats and blankets since it does get pretty cold at night. In addition, we (just a bunch of friends) would also buy coats for kids that we could get for $5 to $15 dollars at nice department stores. We gave those away too.
I guess this can be summed up as vanity that resulted in helping those in a bad situation. It just felt good.
That reminds me, I need to get some pruning done at this rate.. rumor is rain will be back in February.. along with yet another crop of weeds. I have seen lots of bees around lately .. little and large ones too..
Yep pretty much, they just bundle up well and go. I don’t like it, even the house feels terribly cold. It’s suppose to be 21 monday. Sounds silly but, when it’s been this cold, when it gets to 21 it actually feels warm.
I’ve been out in the wind when it was just in the teens and it hurts your eyes. Mine start to water. I went out the other day to just do a quick shoveling off of our walk, it was about 1 degree, not much wind. I was out less then a minute, with my usual clothing on, nothing special. Yea, I know it wasn’t the brightest thing to do. By the time I got in the house my hands were hurting so bad, just aching. Wouldn’t take to long out in that to get frost bite.
Yeah, they’re saying a storm of some note is heading for us. Tuesday into Wenesday.
It was -46 degrees this morning, right outside the kitchen window. If this little town in the Lower 48 is “the nation’s icebox,” I’d have to say that the village in Alaska where I live should be “the nation’s cryogenic storage facility.”
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