Are You Ready For A Catastrophically Cold Winter?

[Free Vulcan]

Worst winter I was ever in was 1976-1977 when the temperature fell below zero and stayed there for three months...

Everybody, and I mean everybody, here in Iowa who's over 50 or so talks about that winter. It was brutal. I think January '77 it got over zero only a couple of times.

Parents built a house beihnd the trailer home we were living in. We dug out the 5' anchor stakes for the then removed trailer in late May in '77.

5 ft down the ground was still frozen hard. We had to basically chisel the anchor stake out.

[Cyber Liberty]

Everybody, and I mean everybody, here in Iowa who's over 50 or so talks about that winter. It was brutal. I think January '77 it got over zero only a couple of times.

Parents built a house beihnd the trailer home we were living in. We dug out the 5' anchor stakes for the then removed trailer in late May in '77.

5 ft down the ground was still frozen hard. We had to basically chisel the anchor stake out.

We took a TON of snow in that storm, in southern Michigan.

[Elderberry]

I was stationed in Pensacola then. I had a rent house in Cantonment just north of Pensacola. I think it got down to 13deg. One morning driving into work my 59 Chevy overheated as the water in the radiator hose had frozen so no water could circulate. Antifreeze? Who used that stuff?

[Free Vulcan]

@Free Vulcan

The ones that want to,and there are damn few of them. Why bother to do the work and have the wear and tear on your equipment when you have goobermint insurance to pay for any looses,and the only work you have to do for it is to drive to the bank to deposit the check?

@sneakypete

In that situation I believe the Gov of the state has to declare a disaster, and as of now none have.

I think the same applies to crop insurance but am not sure.

There is still some farm assistance, but it's not what it used to be. Most will get their crops out no matter what, and as far as I know would have to anyway to get anything.

[Wingnut]

I was stationed in Pensacola then. I had a rent house in Cantonment just north of Pensacola. I think it got down to 13deg. One morning driving into work my 59 Chevy overheated as the water in the radiator hose had frozen so no water could circulate. Antifreeze? Who used that stuff?

We were young and dumb.

[sneakypete]

@sneakypete

In that situation I believe the Gov of the state has to declare a disaster, and as of now none have.

I think the same applies to crop insurance but am not sure.

There is still some farm assistance, but it's not what it used to be. Most will get their crops out no matter what, and as far as I know would have to anyway to get anything.

@Free Vulcan

All I actually know about this sort of thing is a local farmer that at one time at least was pulling in a little more than a million a year in checks from the soil bank. This became public when he was running for county commissioner on a "cut spending" platform. Needless to say,he had to drop out.

Nice guy,though. I see and talk with him fairly often,and you can't blame him for taking the money when they offer it to him for not farming.

[roamer_1]

It was kinda my theme song for a while there... 

[Wingnut]

Hey Baby it is cold outside.

[Smokin Joe]

Yeah, the zip-up hoodie, the vest, and the coat (Carhartt) are interchangeable... If you're from the far north and used to being out in it, you know the game is to prevent sweating... mix and match swapping layers is how that is done... That vest is an important part of that.

But when the fleece unders are at play, and the Arctic parka replaces the Carhartt... Well, than we're getting serious about things... And @Smokin Joe is getting a shiver.   

LOL! I have gear rated for -40, and usually don't break it out because it is still a little warm for it. Like you said, not sweating is the key, so that's my "real bad weather" gear for when it hits -30 or lower and is windy (and when isn't it windy, here?).
Layers are the key, and by the time I'm putting anything else on beyond the old M-65 with the liner in and a pair of insulated bibs, twenty below seems like a heat wave.  As  long as the outer shell stops the wind, and there's a little dead space in between it and me, I'm usually good. Oh, and I always wear a hat.  By the time a little ice builds on the face fur, I'm pretty well good to go.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

Today it's not supposed to be over freezing mark here in MA, which is unheard of in early - mid November.

[Applewood]

13 in Pittsburgh this morning.  Normal high at this time of year is 52.

But at least many of us missed the snow.  The mountains and counties closer to Erie got it.  All I see here is a light dusting on the grass, car roofs and such.  Just have to be careful -- black ice in spots where the rain froze, particularly on bridges.

[Gefn]

13 in Pittsburgh this morning.  Normal high at this time of year is 52.

But at least many of us missed the snow.  The mountains and counties closer to Erie got it.  All I see here is a light dusting on the grass, car roofs and such.  Just have to be careful -- black ice in spots where the rain froze, particularly on bridges.

21 degrees outside right now according to Alexa. 

[thackney]

[Bigun]

Morning low at my digs here in Texas this morning 24.6 Deg F.   I'm fine.

[catfish1957]

Morning low at my digs here in Texas this morning 24.6 Deg F.   I'm fine.

Same (25 F) in my little corner of Texas.  On the bright side, this should really tamper what has to me been a record bad season for mosquitos (Thanks to 2 of 3 tropical seasons with Harvery and Imelda).
There were a few nights back in August, where you could actually hear an outside audible ambient hum from the swarm.

[Elderberry]

With the solid overcast we had last nite, it kept us from freezing. It only got to 33. (South Houston)

[Applewood]

21 degrees outside right now according to Alexa. 

And we broke a 108-year-old record for a low temperature.  Previous record was 12.  Normal low here is 36. 

Wind chills here are single digits. 

[Bigun]

And we broke a 108-year-old record for a low temperature.  Previous record was 12.  Normal low here is 36. 

Wind chills here are single digits.

I'm pretty sure that this morning's temperature in Houston broke a record set in 1907 for this date.

[roamer_1]

LOL! I have gear rated for -40, and usually don't break it out because it is still a little warm for it. Like you said, not sweating is the key, so that's my "real bad weather" gear for when it hits -30 or lower and is windy (and when isn't it windy, here?).
Layers are the key, and by the time I'm putting anything else on beyond the old M-65 with the liner in and a pair of insulated bibs, twenty below seems like a heat wave.  As  long as the outer shell stops the wind, and there's a little dead space in between it and me, I'm usually good. Oh, and I always wear a hat.  By the time a little ice builds on the face fur, I'm pretty well good to go.

Yeah, I get all that... I am alright all the way down into -20 or so in my normal rig (Carhartt top and bottom) with differences being in the under layers... So long as I keep moving.

I have a set of woolies too, which work about the same so long as the wind ain't up... And I probably prefer them, though really use those only for hunting and woods, because they can't take work as well. I have an oversized light canvas shell for those, top and bottom, which I have turned tin for water and wind. But tins get heavy in the wearing, and don't breath well.

If it is much past -20 unless I am moving, I will probably be in my woolies, and the the parka, which is fur lined inside with a fur wind collar and face fur on the hood (the real deal)... And switched out to fur gaiters below the knees. I can sit in that rig, no matter how cold, all day long.

Cold as I been as I recall is proper -30s, but maybe colder up above the treeline (I wouldn't know), and some of that blizzard winds.  I really don't mind down to -20, but somewhere around mid -20s I will start pining for a cabin and a warm fire. Normally that cold will see me busting out the feeding and hightailing for the house to hide by the fire with the womenfolks.

Unless I really get caught out, I ain't got to prove that no more, and cows/horses are generally more sensible than oil riggers. :D  ... Except for cows calving, but thankfully they wait for freezing rain and slush on the ground, so they can get way up the mountain and into the thick brush, where they can find a creek to lay down in before they start having trouble. :|

[Free Vulcan]

Yesterday a.m. in the Florida of Iowa the local weather stations were hovering around 4F.

We're a fair bit warmer today.

[goatprairie]

It's gotten below zero here in parts of western Wisconsin.  "Highs" have been twenty plus degrees under the average.
It's fun arguing with liberals on public forums when they go on about "record warming." I like to ask them where the record cooling is coming from.
The main argument of warmists is that the earth is undergoing extreme warming everywhere.
Well then, where is all this record  cold coming from....outer space? How is it possible to break records for cold if everywhere on earth is heating up at a record pace?
No answer.

[Free Vulcan]

@Free Vulcan

All I actually know about this sort of thing is a local farmer that at one time at least was pulling in a little more than a million a year in checks from the soil bank. This became public when he was running for county commissioner on a "cut spending" platform. Needless to say,he had to drop out.

Nice guy,though. I see and talk with him fairly often,and you can't blame him for taking the money when they offer it to him for not farming.

@sneakypete

Back when things were looser, there were definitely those that milked the farm subsidy programs for all they were worth, and there were more than one that were doing it illegally by false reporting and accounting.

It's tightened up more today, though some still try and play the game.

Most farms today are incorporated even though run by individual families. Even then, most just want good crop insurance - they don't care so much about subsidies.

My real criticism of farmers is over ethanol. They hang onto it like a cross of gold in a den of vampires. They will not change or adapt and it is killing them.

[sneakypete]

@sneakypete

 
Most farms today are incorporated even though run by individual families. Even then, most just want good crop insurance - they don't care so much about subsidies.

@Free Vulcan

EVERY farm that I am aware of that isn't a hobby farm is incorporated. They HAVE to be to keep from being broken up after the current head of the family dies. Otherwise it would be like a passenger ship at sea with a dead captain and everybody on the crew wanting to take charge. SOMEBODY has to be the unquestioned boss.

I am also aware of a few big farms in the past that went bankrupt,and were cut up and sold as pieces after the owner died without a will and the children,grandchildren,and all their spouses hired dueling lawyers to see who could be the boss and get the biggest cut.

I also know of one local farm that will belong to the county once the daughter that is the last heir and her husband dies. The daughter was in her 50's with no children when the mother died,but the daughters husband has a LOT of white trash relatives,and she didn't want to see them get the farm that had been in the family for generations,and split it up and sell it,so she "gifted" it to the county and they are supposedly turn it into a teaching farm for high school and college students.

Smart move,IMHO.

[goatprairie]

@sneakypete

Back when things were looser, there were definitely those that milked the farm subsidy programs for all they were worth, and there were more than one that were doing it illegally by false reporting and accounting.

It's tightened up more today, though some still try and play the game.

Most farms today are incorporated even though run by individual families. Even then, most just want good crop insurance - they don't care so much about subsidies.

My real criticism of farmers is over ethanol. They hang onto it like a cross of gold in a den of vampires. They will not change or adapt and it is killing them.

I'd like to send the bills for the three machines I've had to get fixed because of ethanol gumming up the carburetors to the morons who foisted it on the country.   

[Free Vulcan]

I'd like to send the bills for the three machines I've had to get fixed because of ethanol gumming up the carburetors to the morons who foisted it on the country.   

The tech already exists to break ag products down to protein, sugars, and fats. Some versions can even do it without heat.

If you want to ferment anything, ethanol included, it's far more efficient to start with sugars v. the whole product.

And if you want to ferment things, there are far more profitable things than ethanol.

Problem is no one, including farmers, will invest in it. The current model isn't making a profit, but they still think that things are in the 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' mode.