its fucking cold here

[leigh.bess.toad]

[JoeyBryant]

I am in Milwaukee. Coldest day in nearly 20 years. It has gone up to -11, that is the expected high today.

 

I've been going to Milwaukee and Minneapolis for the past couple winters and I couldn't understand what all the fuss was about 'brutal' winters. Guess I just happened to visit during the better years.

 

From what I've heard from neighbors, we haven't really gotten any MAJOR snowstorms (3 feet+) in Denver for awhile. But apparently it happens every so often. However, the mountains can get pretty tricky. I was fortunate to be able to get over a pass the other night in my FWD that looked something like this, except it was nighttime:

 

http://wildfiretoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/I-7u0-at-Loveland-Pass-October-17-2011.jpg

 

 

Randomly:

 

In the past two years, I have received four (4) letters from the Gas Company telling me that, in comparison to my neighbors of similar-sized houses, I'm #100 on the list of using too much gas. Of course, that I'm home almost 24/7 and like it at 70 rather than 68 [three months indoors one winter re-set my comfort zone] might have something to do with it.

 

New boiler might help ...

 

That's an issue I have with going over to people's homes, namely the leaky older homes so popular in the gayborhoods. People keep their places way too cold for my comfort, or way too dry. Some people just don't want to turn on their gas no matter what. I'd be nice to atleast turn it up when you have company over. Especially when 1 or more parties plan to get naked.

 

I've been able to keep my place so warm and humid at 68-70 with the use of 2 fireplaces and the furnace along with Blackout, double rod curtains and sealing off windows. My Palm tree seems to like it, it's grown so much it's blocking the entrance to my bedroom.

[+ purplekow]

Randomly:

 

In the past two years, I have received four (4) letters from the Gas Company telling me that, in comparison to my neighbors of similar-sized houses, I'm #100 on the list of using too much gas. Of course, that I'm home almost 24/7 and like it at 70 rather than 68 [three months indoors one winter re-set my comfort zone] might have something to do with it.

 

New boiler might help ...

I just got one to say i was #98 but i like it at 70 as well and there are times i open the door to let the dogs out and leave it open until they return. Wasteful i know but otherwise they are out there until i remember to open the door for them or on a rare occasion, until I wake up. Mine are big dogs but they are pathetic looking when I forget them and i see them standing waiting for me to open the slider.

[Guest]

Well just checked my temp and it is -17 and windchill -52. I am going to go out and start my car and get some lunch and hope my nose does not freeze and fall off and thank god something else is covered up.

 

All right, let the stupid Californian ask the basic question. How exactly does one start a car when it's -17F? Wouldn't even engine oil and antifreeze be solids at that point????

[jackhammer91406]

Ice Breakers for party favors.....

 

Younger brother called today telling me of his 15 below zero temps and 40 below wind chill with ice and snow. Hard to work up sympathy since he moved voluntarily from Sacramento, Ca. to Rockford Illinois (90 miles west of Chicago). (I blame my sister_in_law...you sorta have to know her and then it would make perfect sense.) Anyway, did I mention Voluntarily? I told him about our days and days of 70 to 80 temps out here. I had no sympathy for him (Mom always Liked him best) (OK, maybe)

 

i can see all the snow I want on TV. I went to school in DeKalb (which is just outside Rockford and I voluntarily left to move to Los Angeles when I was 23 so I would never have to experience that again with the cold. I am a t-shirt and tank top kind of guy. I am an easy caring and loving man but....Cold weather, snow and such ,harden me up quite a bit and turn my compassionate heart to icy marble.

I'll put on a pot of homemade soup when they come to stay in New Port Beach at the Marriott Beach Time share resort for a 3 night/4 day comped trip in exchange for attending a 2 hour seminar. Wonder if my brother will wear shorts.

[JoeyBryant]

All right, let the stupid Californian ask the basic question. How exactly does one start a car when it's -17F? Wouldn't even engine oil and antifreeze be solids at that point????

 

That's the thing, sometimes they don't start lol. It's usually the battery that dies before the fluids freeze.

 

Synthetic oils and oils with the 1st number 5W or 0W e.g. 5W30, 0W40, 5W20...stay thin enough and have greater starting power over something with 10W30/10W40. Those are generally 'summertime' oils, which get really thick in the winter. You start the car, and for a few seconds you can hear the bearings knocking against each other due to lack of lubricant. That's why most of the engine wear occurs during startup.

 

Anti-Freeze is exactly that. They don't freeze. I don't have the chart with me, but I think I recall most 50/50 anti-freeze properly mixed can stand a little colder than -30. Winter Windshield fluid's are often marked down to -25. All the other fluids are basically a form of oil as well.

 

I find the best way to prevent everything from freezing is to either remove battery, or don't allow the car to stay turned off for more than a day or so...unless you're parked at the airport in which case you're fucked.

[Bart]

Well we are starting off today like yesterday, -17 but we are suppose to see 0 today. The wind chill is currently -43 and schools are closed again. But tomorrow it will get up to 6 and there will probably be people out with shorts on because it will feel like 50.

I have a garage which was at least keeping the car slightly above 0. For winter you need to keep your car well maintained. You need a battery that is meant for this kind of weather too. You have Anti-Freeze in the radiator. You adjust your oil based upon the type vehicle and weather so that is another change. But most cars have a modern fuel injection system that gets the gas to the engine without sitting in the fuel line.

I remember back in 1978, the Gremlin and Pacer days and the dark ages of Disco coming to an end, we had a series of three winters in a row where the weather was just brutal. Tons of snow and lots of temps below zero. Winter of 78/79 I worked a lot of Saturdays then and lived in an apartment so car outside all night. It was about -5 going to work, I was being dropped off and the car died. I had the dreaded gas line freeze. We had to bring the car into the shop and get some anti-freeze and let the water get out of the gas line. All you can do is wait.

I remember the following winter which was the coldest I can ever remember, we went to a wedding in January and the temps that night got down to -20, the next day we would set the record for the first time -26. But during the reception which was in the Performing Arts Center here. All glass you could not see a thing, there had to be 2 inches of ice wrapped around the building covering the windows. Every couple of hours you could see people going out to start there cars. That was before the days of fuel injection systems so cars had lots of issues in weather like that.

 

So we have had worse weather, in the end I would probably take the cold over the snow because I just hate driving in the snow and ice. I actually hate the most of February more as by then I am sick of snow and usually February tends to be the more consistently cold month here and March like last year lucky to hit 40. February 1 to March 15 is the time frame I would love to not live here. I will say when we do get sick of the white, brown and black we can always go to the Mitchel Park Domes and see green. http://www.milwaukeedomes.org/

Also I know the question always come, the odds of Lake Michigan freezing less than 1%. It has never happened in my life time, last time was in the 40's I think. The current is just too warm. I think only have it recorded happening twice.

[+ ArVaGuy]

It's 5 degrees here with a wind chill of -10. But it's a dry cold.

[Bart]

Is that like a dry heat in the desert when it is 110 and really does not feel like it? I don't know about you but -17 and -43 wind chill is so cold it just goes right through your clothes. I have a scarf wrapped around my face and mouth in the car just trying to keep warm as I begin the drive to work. But good analogy ArVaGuy. Dry cold, never heard that one before. But cold does dry out the air very fast that is why we use a lot of moisturizer this time of year and chapstick.

[Frequentflier]

On the drive to work this morning I heard that thousands of people in Iowa (or some such place) will be without power for several days. When I'm without power in the winter time for 4 hours I'm not pleased. Can't imagine in this cold being without power for days. I feel sorry for those people. Yes, there are generators people can spend $10,000 +/- but I doubt most people have those.

[Guest countryboywny]

I woke to -15 degrees, -30 windchill this morning! I LOVE IT! Absolutely fuckin' love it!! LOL

[+ Archer]

All right, let the stupid Californian ask the basic question. How exactly does one start a car when it's -17F? Wouldn't even engine oil and antifreeze be solids at that point????

 

Hopefully you remembered to plug in your block heater when you parked the night before. In cold climates, they are lifesavers.

[+ Charlie]

Is that like a dry heat in the desert when it is 110 and really does not feel like it? I don't know about you but -17 and -43 wind chill is so cold it just goes right through your clothes. I have a scarf wrapped around my face and mouth in the car just trying to keep warm as I begin the drive to work. But good analogy ArVaGuy. Dry cold, never heard that one before. But cold does dry out the air very fast that is why we use a lot of moisturizer this time of year and chapstick.

 

When it is 117 here and someone reminds me, "But it's a dry heat," I want to smack him.

[unsub2O17]

I have good friends in southern Michigan who wrote me that it was -5, completely snowed in, and everything shut down. When asked how my weather was, I actually felt guilty saying "cloudy and in the low 60's".

[+ buddy12]

In my area in southwest Michigan, we were in the so called "bullseye area". At least that's the way the National Weather Service described it. Since Sunday night at 5 pm when it started to snow until now, my area received 21 inches of snow with blowing and drifting piling it up 4,5 and 6ft high. The "polar vortex" hit Monday dropping the actual temp between -10 to -15 with wind chills ranging from -35 to -45...slightly nippy...

[tyro]

Dayum. It's bad here, but not THAT bad......

T

[Mark Gordon]

Currently in Toronto, not much snow, but -4 Fahrenheit (-18 Celsius), with the wind chill -22 Fahrenheit (-30 Celsius). Cold, even by Canadian standards. Yesterday, my condo had a false fire alarm because the extreme cold caused an exterior fire sprinkler to freeze. I've stocked up on food and will only leave home by door-to-door taxi if I get an outcall.

[bigvalboy]

Well God bless all you guys that are getting slammed by the weather. I'm a flip flop and t-shirt kinda guy. I just can't do those frigid temps. Must be absolutely miserable in some places. Be safe everyone!!

[leigh.bess.toad]

I woke to -15 degrees, -30 windchill this morning! I LOVE IT! Absolutely fuckin' love it!! LOL

 

You know I love you, but BITE ME!!!!

[adriano46]

You know I love you, but BITE ME!!!!

 

 

Do NOT ever invite someone to "bite me" when it is -30 windchill, Leigh... it will break off like a candy cane 8-O

 

Here NYC has been a cool 9 F all day and now dropping again. But, like countryboywny... I do love it.

[+ Funguy]

Got the jams and tank top on and basking in 75 degrees, convertible top down. I do feel for the midwest and east (sorta) because I did go to school in the midwest and did brave the snowstorms/wind-chill factor in my much younger, braver days. But…..Lordy, I need a cold drink!

 

As to -35 to -45 being "slightly nippy" - you can be slightly nippy on me anytime as I am always,

 

Funguy

[+ Funguy]

Also…in all seriousness…why don't people in the cold climes have portable generators? We use them here when there are outages (tho short-lived). And yes, I know they run on gasoline, so have some available when the weather service says, "Brrrrr."

[jackhammer91406]

Daily Show knows cold....

 

This'll warm you up....

http://screen.yahoo.com/comedy-central/global-warming-hoax-050000609.html

[Bosguy]

This'll warm you up....

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-january-6-2014/the-global-warming-hoax

[/color][/size][/font]

 

That was so enjoyable. Loved the line "Parts of my body are frozen that I didn't know could freeze". The only thing I know that would warm you up better would be Tyger and Chris playing on your lap :-) :-)

 

Boston Bill

[JoeyBryant]

When it is 117 here and someone reminds me, "But it's a dry heat," I want to smack him.

 

There actually is a difference. I find in Arizona you can rest in the shade and feel a little cooler even if it's 100+. In Missouri, TX or FL you step outside for an hour and feel dirty. I don't even get breakouts anymore. Went to Florida for 3 weeks, started all over again.