Cold Snap

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Wow. Now, they're used to harsh weather up there, but that sounds terrifying.

The best thing to do in a blizzard is stay home, but that doesn't work when your home starts falling apart...
 

RichardGarfinkle

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I'm bumping the thread for three reasons.
1. We're supposed to get another nasty cold snap next week.
2. To point out the misuse of the term Polar Vortex in all the news last time. I'm doing this to reduce my daughter's need to rant about this.
3. Today's xkcd gives a brilliant four panel takedown of the errors that come from taking isolated incidents as proof of overall reality, showing why you actually need to look at the statistics.
 
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Alpha Echo

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Interesting, Richard. I'll check those out.

You mention another cold snap NEXT week? It's been in the single digits here all THIS week. Not all day, granted, but most of it. I'm so done with this weather! Can't it at least snow and keep us at home rather than just be so damn cold?

How are you Canadians and Northern US-ers doing? I know you're more accustomed to cold, but this is ridiculous!

ETA: Richard's #3. Ha!
 
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StormChord

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Just to set the record straight so I don't need to flip out about this later:

The Polar Vortex refers to the enormous rotating wind system over the North Pole, caused by the strong temperature gradient between the Polar Cell and the Ferrell Cell. When the vortex weakens, it causes the polar air to slide down the globe due to the Coriolis Effect. The cold snap we are experiencing is this polar air, which among other things is inducing a system of planetary waves in the northern hemisphere; California is in a warm crest, while the rest of the U.S. is in a cold trough, and it will likely stay this way for another week or so.

Contrary to popular sci-fi, "polar vortex" does not translate to "cold spinny bad thing".
 

kuwisdelu

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Ugh, I hope they cancel class again this Monday and Tuesday.

The forecast lows are -20F Monday and -10F Tuesday, and I don't think that's accounting for the wind. The cold is okay, but damn the wind coming down the hill walking up this week made it difficult to even breathe.

I can skip Monday, but not Tuesday...
 

blacbird

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This is going to sound like a boast, but it isn't intended as such. Right now, here at 61 degrees N latitude, in Anchorage, Alaska, it's 45F at my house. This morning, when I woke up, it was 50F. Night before, at 9PM, it was 52F. We've had weather like this for two weeks. Everything is melting.

Honestly, that's not at all good for us. The ecology up here is geared for sub-freezing temperatures through the winter, with significant snow on the ground. Animals and plants living here are all adapted to those conditions. And the big thaw has turned streets and parking lots into rutted ice rinks. The only saving grace is that it has lasted now for an unprecedented number of days, is supposed to continue for at least another week, and is getting to the point that even the glare ice is melting away. Oh, yeah, and this form of weather always comes with high winds funneled down through the mountain canyons directly east of the city.

Winter sports are a big deal up here, both for recreation and for the economy. The major local ski area is shut down, and that's a big loss of money for many businesses, with the concomitant echo effect throughout the local business economy.

Good winter weather here is daytime highs in the 10-20F range, lows down to about zero F, with a couple of feet of powdery snow on the ground, replenished every few days with a few inches more.

Two winters ago we had the snowiest winter on record (137 inches officially measured at the least snowiest place in town, the airport). Last year we had the longest snow season on record, with measurable snowfall from the third week in September to May 18. This year is shaping up as the warmest winter on record. It almost certainly has been the warmest January on record.

And it's all you guyses' fault, for sucking all that cold air waaaaaay down south.

caw
 
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wilchris

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Here in Bangkok, it's been the coldest in 30 years - the temperature has plummeted to 15.6 degrees Celsius!

when you're used to 32 degrees that feels cold.
 

tjwriter

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Our temperatures are riding a rollercoaster so that it is low teens with a negative windchill, followed in a couple of days with temps in the forties, followed by temps in the low teens and single digits again a couple of days later.

I'd love to get used to one thing, but it feels unbearably cold when the temperature is flopping back and forth like a fish out of water.
 

shadowwalker

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Temperatures Friday were low to mid 30s (F) - Monday the high is supposed to be -13. And as others mentioned, the damn winds... I thought it was just me but talking with others, everyone has noticed that the wind (and I mean strong wind) has been the rule since spring. No breezes, no calm days - just nearly constant strong winds. Enough to drive one mad...