Polar Vortex 2014

Q: So how cold was Thursday?

A: The national average temperature of 11 degrees is the coldest of this winter and will likely be the coldest of the season, according to calculations by Weather Bell Analytics meteorologist Ryan Maue. It was computed from temperatures at 7 a.m. EST in the Lower 48 states.

The lowest was minus 34 in Montana and several areas were minus 20, according to the National Weather Service.

Q: Has this been a record winter?

A: No. Given the unusual heat in the West and the cold in the East, they almost balance each other, Masters and Arndt said. So when the final monthly statistics come out, January in the U.S. won't be near record cold.

Nah Moodles, the chances of precipitation in the morning have actually been increasing most of the afternoon/evening. went from negligible to 30%... plus this time the ground will be good and frozen way earlier, unlike last week when it swerved down from 65-70 degrees overnight.

Is it really going to be so bad that they need to shut everything down for the whole day?

haha, probably not, but I wouldn't go out in the morning if it does sleet! so many wrecks last week.

so it seems like the city has decided to use today as an "apology for last week" snow day, since there is no precipitation at all and UT just shut down for the rest of the day and every ISD in Central Texas cancelled last night?

It makes no sense, the weather today and yesterday was just cold. There is no danger driving in cold weather. Buncha fraidy cats.

I can understand playing it safe and delaying start until 10am or noon, but UT deciding to shut down for the rest of the day is a little strange.

-51C (-60F) with the windchill overnight. Welcome to March.

Where you at

the great white north we call it

currently -24, -33 with windchill. falling to -34 prewindchill overnight.

High of -22 today, on Mars: https://twitter.com/MarsWxReport

Low of -84 is less appealing.

But no windchill.

50 degree difference btw yesterday's high and today's

bad winters aren't so bad when they bring you joys like this

http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/19hf3v2tdsbw1gif.gif

the general trend has been really cold, followed by a day of warmer (high teens to mid 30s weather) where it snows

over the weekend, I was clearing off my sidewalk post-snow in 0 degree weather. in march.

fuuuuuck yoooou polar vortex

Except that cuts off right before the big reveal that it didn't even knock him over!

(xpost)

oh I know, the gif is a little misleading, but it's still super funny imo

gif is amazing, watching that all day, thank you dan

skip the truth, gif the legend

lol

59 degrees in NYC tomorrow

Thursday night: 17

For the first time in nearly 100 days, MSP wasn't below freezing overnight.

I have been riding my bike to work through all of this too. two pairs of pants , huge down jacket, balaclava etc

mostly though Im sad abotu the cost of heatin gmy house with oil

https://i.imgur.com/bpxDIpu.png

solid

yeah last night was some day after tomorrow shit, just walking to the corner and back required like a major recovery period.

good luck Midwest

Thanks! Weirdly, it's 35 outside right now, which isn't even hat weather. Hard to believe we're all going to die.

Was talking with my wife, who reminded me I was here when the city last broke a record, in the winter of 1994. I don't remember it that well, unlike a few years back. Probably because I was in college (aka stupid) and didn't have kids t worry about (smart?). I do vividly remember my calculus professor taking us outside and demonstrating that if you blow bubbles in sub zero temperatures the bubbles just freeze as spheres. And if you pop them they deflate and a little bit of mist puffs out.

My science experience from last time around is that if you chuck a cup of boiling water out the door it turns into frozen vapor and floats off before it even hits the ground. That was a great way to kill ... five minutes.

whoa my OP from 5 years ago has today's date

Our office will be closed for weather-related reasons on Wed. for the first time probably in forever. I'll take it.

-6 on Wednesday then 50 on Sunday, sounds about right

my day care closed, that's...not fun

also not fun, my snowblower's out of gas and I can't get to the station right now

xpost *Just* -6? Where are you, Phoenix?

the vortex is even brushing los angeles, we're going to be a chilly 57 later this week

Was talking with my wife, who reminded me I was here when the city last broke a record, in the winter of 1994. I don't remember it that well, unlike a few years back.

Associative memory - the day after the Northridge earthquake was when the 1994 Cold Wave hit the midwest. At work I took a tech support call from someone in Chicago who used to live in California but kept going on and on in an unending tirade about earthquakes, how horrible they are, how much he couldn't deal with him, etc. I asked him how cold it was outside and he said that overnight the birds froze to the trees on his street and that a homeless person was frozen solid to the side of a building and the police couldn't figure out how to remove the body.

Wow

the state college 40 miles north has preemptively cancelled everything from Tuesday night until Thursday. no immediate cancellations on the closest local schools but if Wednesday’s predictions pan out, things will be pretty still. probably should plan on working from home Wednesday because the office will be empty

xpost Huh. I guess that's ... possible.

Related story. Once I went out to LA to visit a friend. I forgot to bring socks (as happens), and went to a store to buy some. Checking out, they asked for my zip, then asked where that was. Chicago, I said. Oh, they said. How cold is it there right now? Well, I said, it's (LA was having a weird winter heatwave) ... exactly 100 degrees colder.

going to check with a few friends who help the local homeless camp because this “hard to believe” junk is not at all hard to believe when it’s happened in milder weather

The kids said the teachers weren't even pretending there would be school Wednesday.

You want hard to believe, look up the stuff about frozen alligators.

I was irritated at the “hard to believe” comment you made about dying, Josh. I know we’ve got a level of disconnect but there are some homeless people I’ve run into locally who, especially with full shelters and a homeless camp that got recently displaced in my area, who are very near freezing to death

I totally believe people freeze to death (though I was thinking more about the birds frozen to the tree). Still, frozen to the side of the building sounded particularly extreme and unique, though I wouldn't be surprised if that happened too. Like you said, stranger and more horrible things happen under the most normal of circumstances.

damn, y'all, stay safe

currently hovering a hair above freezing. which is to say, chilly but not that bad. I think basically everything that's capable of shutting down or moving indoors for the next two days is going to do so. apparently even home heating systems are not designed for temperatures as low as predicted, so they have been sending out a handful of recommendations to prepare.

my back is completely wrecked by having to shovel for 2 hours

I have a snowblower but it can't operate on snow this high, lmao @ me

I spent last week in Arctic Finland, where the temps hovered around -15F all week. But that's going to seem warm compared to what you guys are about to get. RIP

frogbs:

This is some real Chicago shit https://t.co/hGkcNQ1Mos

— Brandon Wall (@Walldo) January 26, 2019

Not particularly bad here yet, supposed to take a turn for the frozen around dinner time, with peak Ice Station Zebra overnight through end of the day Thursday.

-8 in Minneapolis and falling, heading for -28 tonight

Yeah, weather in Chicago at the moment is the kind of bog standard flesh-destroying cold to which I've become accustomed. The polar vortex within my sinuses, however, is seriously harshing my buzz rn.