ahhhh.....winter

[Dr Mordrid]

Michigan has a white New Years -

The wind chill is -5°F (10°F actual) and there's at least 5-6" of snow on the ground. The plows & salt trucks have barely started. They usually don't until the snow fall slows and it hasn't, but one snow plow that did go out is in a ditch after hitting black ice.

One local reporter said, with a straight face, that due to the heavy snow and ice on the freeways speeds are down to 45-50 mph. Yup, that fast and there aren't even significant tracks worn in the snow yet.

I would recommend visitors not drive. Either stay in or have a local drive you. If the latter, don't forget to take your Xanax 30 min. before leaving.

Another report was about area Polar Bear clubs having their New Years Day swims yesterday, They go out on area ice covered waterways, cut a big opening, get in their swimsuits & bikinis and jump in. The ice was 8-10" thick.

But Michigan State won the Rose Bowl !!

Fun days

[dZeus]

No snow in the streets yet here, but the Alps (as seen from our balcony) are very white.

Panorama-Grenoble.jpg

[Evildead666]

Wish we did have snow. I love the stuff, and especially driving in it
Not far though, down to the local train station car park and spend the day there

[VJ]

Abnormally warm winter here in Warsaw... No snow, no frost (maybe a -1° at night), and predictions of +10°C later this week. Four years ago, it was -20° C, and snow was present for nearly 2 months by January. Up till now, just 2-3 times we had to de-ice the wind-shield.

Plants are blossoming, which may be a problem when the winter really hits.

[ZokesPro]

Here it's -27C, wind chill: -38C.

Just to give you an idea, if you start your car and let it run idle for 15 mins with the heat on full blast, it's not even warm inside not cold but not warm and the engine won't heat up at all, that's if your car starts. I run synthetic oil, so it starts. It's barely enough to defrost the windows.

I did 50km yesterday night and when I got home, the car was starting to warm up, stayed at half it's normal operating temp the whole way down. If I would have kept it at 3500rpm then it would have warmed up a little more. As soon as I came to a stop, the engine cooled right back down and lost all the heat.

Good for overclocking though. My server room is at 22C with the server running at 100% no additional heat.

[KRSESQ]

-22F -40F wind chill @ 8:30 am and both cars started without being plugged in. Drove to Minot and back yesterday (200 mile round trip)in 0F -6Fwc. By the time I got home it was reasonably comfortable in the car. Lord knows what it might have been like without the cardboard in front of the radiator!

[Umfriend]

8C over here, 4 RealFeel(R). Had a nice walk yesterday, close to 4 hours in the lovely Dunes of Schoorl.

dZeus, whereabouts are you? We'll be close to Biot in the summer, should have great views of the Alps then (with nice weather).

[VJ]

Just to give you an idea, if you start your car and let it run idle for 15 mins with the heat on full blast, it's not even warm inside not cold but not warm and the engine won't heat up at all, that's if your car starts. I run synthetic oil, so it starts. It's barely enough to defrost the windows.

When it is that cold here, I switch off the ventilation completely (providing the windows don't fog up): the car heats up a bit faster then. But as soon as the engine is at temperature, and you switch on the ventilation, you see the engine's temperature drop immediately...

[Umfriend]

I remember, years ago when I drove a VW Polo (it must have been like a 1979 make driving it aroun 1990/1991) and it was hot outside and I had a cooling issue as well which drove temps way out there. I switched on the heater at full speed and highest temp just to cool the engine. It worked but, man!, did I sweat while driving!

[dZeus]

8C over here, 4 RealFeel(R). Had a nice walk yesterday, close to 4 hours in the lovely Dunes of Schoorl.

dZeus, whereabouts are you? We'll be close to Biot in the summer, should have great views of the Alps then (with nice weather).

Schoorl is nice indeed. Last year I've visited Grasse for business, and this city is very close to Biot. It's an absolutely stunning area of France!

Right now, I'm located in Grenoble. The city is not very pretty, but the different mountain ranges of the Alps are very pretty to walk in outside of Winter, especially the Vercors which takes less than one hour to get to.

[Brian Ellis]

2014-01-03_092031.jpg

Here, anything not in double figures is as cold as charity. If the leading figure is 1, it's just chilly, 2 is mild, 3 is warm and 4 is hot. The above weather forecast is pretty accurate. Unfortunately, the house walls are single brick with no insulation, so we need heating in winter, background electric storage + living room in evenings with a wood stove.

I do not miss the Swiss winters!!!!

[Jammrock]

It's -1 C in South Carolina and today's high will be a balmy 3 C. No snow in sight

[paulw]

Ahhhh!!!.. Sumer down here . About 20 ~25c where I live.. Yeah I watched the NHL from Detroit the other day where they were playing outside while the snow was falling. Guess that's why they play the NCAA Football Bowls in the southern states where there in no snow..

[KRSESQ]

Yesterday it was -5F. Today it's 38F. It's a beautiful clear blue sunset after a rainy day. About 6:00 pm local a blizzard warning goes into effect. Tomorrow and Sunday the high is expected to be -15F with -60F wind chill. Cold is expected to last the rest of the week at least. Damned nuisance.

Our temps have been yo-yoing like crazy this winter. A stormy spell then a cold spell then a mild spell, maybe three now since just before thanksgiving, with near record highs alternating with near record lows. That part's normal. What's throwing me off is the frequency.

[Dr Mordrid]

Forecast for Monday night / Tuesday morning is -10°F actual, -40°F to -50°F wind chill. Lovely.