Cold enough for 'ya?

Well, I guess we all asked for it, marvelling out loud like amateurs at how warm the winter had been up til mid-January. Now, we've had a solid two weeks of real, bone-chilling cold, and next week is going to be even colder! High of 16F, low of 1F predicted for Monday! I'm uncertain how my plants are holding up, because it's too cold to go check on them.

Last night I could hear a raccoon get into our garbage cans. I've developed a most comical routine for when this happens. I open our second floor bedroom window and shoot the side of the can with my BB gun. First shot, the commotion inside the can stops. Second shot, a masked head peers out of the can to see what the heck is going on. Shoot the can again and the rascal runs off. I never get tired of it. But last night, there was no way I was going to get out of my warm bed and open the window. And if did, my wife would have shot me!

Scott--April can't come soon enough!

Single digits for highs and down to -20 at night in these parts. I have heard that by next monday we will be really cold. There is little snow out there so not much for insulation. But this is nice weather for people that have been waiting to get into the woods, nice frozen ground for the skidders. Attached is Golden Harvest crabapple before the cold weather turned the fruit to a rather unattractive brown.

...I am kissing the earth upon which you walk, David.

Of course, someone will have to come extract my lips from that ground (à la Flick), but that photo is just too fine.

Ahhh, 16 deg. Sounds nice. Don't know if we topped out that high today. Poor little rhodie leaves are curled up like a cigarillo.

Scott, do you sleep with your BB gun under the pillow or is it in the nightstand?

Willis

I was wondering if you wear a coon-skin cap ala Dan'l Boone while keeping the homeland safe from the critters. Just picturing you perched on the window firing your Daisy down to the garbage cans brings a smile to my face.

It going to be a bit brisk here the next few days, with highs ranging from 0-5F and lows dipping down to about -12. Chilly, but nothing to get too excited about. I think I can hear my little Stuartia/Stewartia planted last summer wimpering and begging for mercy.

My trusty Daisey is always propped against the wall by the window. I hope and pray for the day I get to sting a deer on the arse. In the meantime, flushing out raccoons will have to do.

Scott

14 here today. That's Celsius, of course.

Resin

Shooting the behind of a deer... Can only dream of that around here. Gardens around me are practically non-existing, neighbours FEED the deer, raccoons, and guess where they go for desert!

Resin, you insufferable braggart--LOL.That's rediculously mild for this time of year. I checked the record high and low temps for Northumberland county (83F and 10F). Just how concerned are you about the meltdown of Greenland?

Mrs_C, if I caught the neighbors feeding Bambi, I think I'd be tempted to borrow Scott's Daisey and plop one in the neighbor's behind! It's illegal here.

Supposed to be in the teens to single digits for the foreseeable future here. But we do finally have some snow cover. It was 10F when I got up this morning, but it's up to a balmy 13 already.

David, gorgeous pic!

jan

-14F here this morning and while it's cold, it could get twice that cold, and then some, here. Brrr...
Mike

Woke up to a cold 1 degree with wind chill of 15 to 20 below. High today was 15 degrees and breezy all day. It's 12 degrees right now with a low expected near zero. It's just very cold out there. The wind makes it much worse today. Cold expected for several days here in northwest Missouri.

Cuckoo

It was -12F here last night, and -19F at a spot 2.5 miles away, down low in a valley. That's REAL Zone 5! Treelover--what did you get for absolute lowest temp up there in MN-land?

It was 1ºF (-17.2ºC) on the porch this morning, our lowest of the year so far.

The Osmanthus heterophyllus 'Variegatus' hates me.

A nice even 0F when I got up this morning.

This morning, in Lakeville, MN, approx. 10 miles south of me, it was -26F this morning (-32C). It was -17F at my place this morning. We got above zero today (1 degree F) so we were only below zero for 61 consecutive hours. In 1996, were were below zero for 84 consecutive hours.

In northern Minnesota, in Embarrass, it was -38F this morning (air temp, not windchill). Brrr...
Mike

Mike, pretty cold up here also, without our usual snow depth. This will be a good test of all the zone 5 perennials and picea albies cultivars I have purchased expecting the usual 10 feet of snow cover instead of 10 inches.

Can you blush when it's that cold? Embarrass, MN at -38º.

There's a locale for where naked Polar Bear Club members should get to live. And just the right temps, too.

No, you can't blush when it's -38°F (I sure miss being able to type/make this ° symbol on my iMac when I am at home. Anyone know if the ° can be made using a Mac?) Your face freezes solid in 2 minutes flat, so you can't even smile when it's that cold. (:o)
Mike

Minneapolis is a very cool place to visit, BUT! Its way too cold right now! Not that this isn't normal for February to have the temps fall below zero on and off for about 2 weeks, but its still reaks havic with my dog walking schedule. Do you know what Border Collies are like when you don't exercise them for at least an hour a day?

My coldest here was -5F the night before last. That is the coldest of the winter so far and the coldest temp the past 3 winters I think. The warm January was what -- 2 1/2 weeks ago maybe? but seems like a distant memory now. Patrick how cold have you gotten? Interesting for me to see that my new garden is often about 3-5 degrees cooler, both summer and winter, than the old place which was part of the suburban heat island. I am glad that even though we are fairly far north that it doesn't get as cold here as west IL or MN............Gotta love those Great Lakes....

Though global warming is undeniably with us, it is rather striking to see how the discussions about GW in the news and among people in general hit the skids with the prolonged cold snap.

Yes, and the cold "snap" came hard on the heels of that climate conference when they seemed to be in agreement about warming in general far exceeding anything of a cyclical nature. I would not want to be making a sustancial investment in "beachfront" property.

I also would sell any slope side ski property. Here in Montana we are hardly getting enough snow to get down the hill. I think far inland Eastern Washington along the Columbia river you could get some ocean front cheap.

David, its been down to -4 F. at my house (Monday Morning, 02-05-07). It was -1 F. this morning when the dogs went out, around 6:00am. Tomorrow its suppose to be above zero wind chill so I can resume the dog walk, and save my Living room! Right now, we are playing ball in the hall. Border Collies never forget anything so I am betting that she will assume this will be a regular activity now...

We've been in the deep freeze for 4 weeks now(with the exception of 2 days highs 10°F(5.6°C) to 25°F(13.9°C) below normal) in Eastern KS and the weather guy just said another week to 10 days of more deep freeze(highs only 10°F(5.6°C) to 15°F(8.3°C) below normal) here. So far the coldest we've been was +1°F(-17.2°C) in the very early morning of January 17. I think this is the longest cold snap we've had in 30 or 40 years, although the low temps haven't been as below normal as the highs, so it's not anywhere near as brutally cold as shorter cold snaps of the past have been.

I'd say Kevin's long-range weather forecasting buddy nailed things perfectly.

Scott