Colder than a witches ...

10 years ago

Weather predictions are for a high of -10 on Monday. Down to -15 overnight. Coldest in 15 years here. I suppose it could be worse. My parents in Northern Wisconsin will be down around -30. Worried about my roses. There is an extensive amount of white mulch out there which I'm relying on to hopefully do the trick. On the upside the 49ers won't know what hit them when they come to Lambeau on Sunday. There are some things you can't mentally prepare youself for and if you've never known cold like this...

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Comments (30)

lesmc
10 years ago
I feel for the 49ers...you are so right! I don`t have a dog in that fight, but I can not begin to imagine that cold! I am worried about my roses here in Louisville,KY. I do not winter protect except but some leaf mulch. Oh well.... Lesley
kittymoonbeam
10 years ago
Poor animals in the wild.
Can you imagine what the ice age was like for our ancestors? I wish it wasn't that cold for all of you in those states where winter hits hard
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IM kind of a pretty big weather buff myself, and I used to get the farmers Almanac every year when I was a kid as well. I still read it for its interesting articles and such, but really, I think that NOAA is more accurate as its more science based rather than on oak trees "MASTING", and other natural phenomena. For those who don't know, "MASTING" is when Oak trees overproduce acorns to an extreme amount. It happens from time to time some reigons, and from what I understand is more of a survival insurance than anything else. It happend here several years ago, and it was truly incredible just how much acorns were produced. Never seen anything like it. I think it only occurs once in like every 50 or 100 years or something. Anyway...Im still hoping for ( and thinking that it will be) a very mild winter here in the Mid Atlantic. We have the same saying here... " if you don't like the weather in D.C., wait 5 minutes". While its not that volatile all the time, we do get fairly changing weather for large portions of the year, especially spring and fall, we were can see 40 degree differences in temps in sometimes as little as 12 hours. The D.C. Metro just does not have the same winters it had regularly up until about 1995 or so. The last true "blizzard" we had here was in 1996. The rivers and bay almost NEVER freeze over anymore in the last 10-12 years here, and seeing teens and low 20's in the city is fairly uncommon anymore. Were also very hurricane prone here as well, although most are usually strong to medium tropical storms by the time they get here. Although, a few have come through at a category 1 hurricane, like Isabel in 2003. IIRC, it was finally downgraded to a Tropical Storm once it moved just north of the D.C. Metro. Its center passed about 50 miles due west of downtown D.C., putting most of the metro area, and most of VA/MD in the worst / strongest quadrant of the storm. What a trying 24 hours that was. I rode it out in my east facing 14th floor apt at the time, and we had sustained winds up there of 82 MPH for several hours at the hight of it, with a gust to 106. That was the gust that blew the anomometer off of the balcony railing. I can tell you the vines that I could not get down, and the 10' river birch in a large half whisky barrel were all defoliated by the winds, and quite a few of the windows were blown out on the east and south facing windows of the high rises we lived in. Im glad we heavily tapped our large plate glass windows up, because those were the ones that were breaking into peoples apts. Anyway, lots of varied weather here. It keeps things very interesting. I just wish we were 1 zone warmer! Who knows, in the close in dowtown areas of NoVA and DC we have moved into a zone 8 in the last 10-14 years, maybe a zone 9 is coming? Im not for "global warming" but man it would be nice to have even milder winters than we do now.
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Keith, You know, I'm just kidding about him being a weather weenie! He is, in fact, the bravest man I know and puts his life on the line for his fellow citizens all the time, both in his professional career as a police officer (back when he was hired, they all were cross-trained as firefighters too) and in his volunteer capacity as a firefighter. Our son is the same way...he works as a professional firefighter/paramedic and then also as a volunteer firefighter on his own private time. You can bet that we immediately had a discussion here at our home about the Fulton fire as soon as we heard the story. Both DH and DS said the family clearly was at fault for failing to pay the fire membership fee (or whatever the heck they call it there), that the family knew the consequences and that the family gambled they'd never need the fire dept., and they lost. So, the family received virtually no sympathy from my two firefighters. Also, please note that they were burning trash in metal burn barrels and set their own place on fire by leaving those unattended. (I'm assuming the barrels were unattended since a person sitting there with a water hose could have quickly put out the fire when it spread from the barrel to the grass.). I would have liked to see them stand in front of the camera and say "This is entirely our own fault and we accept full responsibility. Since this particular area's fire fee has been in effect since 1990, there is no doubt in my mind that the family knew exactly what the consequences would be if they didn't have fire protection and had a fire because the same thing happened there just two years ago to another family. I have really mixed feelings about this, but I do want to defend the firefighters. Their hands were tied. If they had fought that fire, each and every one of them who fought the fire would have been dismissed from the department. Those firefighters had a moral and ethical obligation to obey their policy and could not fight that fire. I hate that the family put them in that sort of position to begin with. After all, if you choose not to have auto insurance or homeowners insurance, you surely do not call up an insurance company AFTER the fact and ask them to pay for your damaged home or car. Why should fire protection be any different? If the fire dept. disregarded their own policy and fought that fire, they'd be opening the door for every resident to decline to pay their annual fee. Then, the dept. wouldn't have enough money to operate and would cease to exist and no one would have fire protection. So, it is just a big mess, isn't it? My personal feeling is that while the family was wrong, in my heart I wish the fire dept. had the latitude to fight the fire and then to bill the family after the fact. In that case, the fire dept. should be able to bill the family for the FULL COST of fighting the fire, which my son tells me would be approximately $500 per hour. Then, it would be your choice as a homeowner to pay the $75 per year annual fee or to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars per fire incident in the event you had a fire. However, that was not an option the Fulton firefighters had available to them. You might be surprised to learn that more property owners in this country are in areas covered by volunteer fire departments than by professional fire departments. Volunteer departments receive miniscule amounts of funding from the state of Oklahoma and the amount that most receive from their county or city are not very large either. In our county, if you add together the money you get from the state and the county, you might...just might...have enough money to pay your annual fuel bill. Sometimes you don't have enough. I have personally witnessed, quite often, volunteer firefighters paying for fuel for the fire trucks or parts to repair fire trucks using their own personal funds with no expectation that they'll be repaid that money by their department. In order to have money for gasoline, insurance, fire station utilities, etc., we have to spend tons and tons of time on fund-raising. Our guys spend as much time on fundraising some years as they spend fighting fires. Something is wrong with the way we fund volunteer departments in this country, but you cannot blame departments for that. It is the fault of the governmental officials we elect. Do some departments get federal, state or local grants to help buy equipment, fix equipment, buy personal protective gear, etc.? Of course they do. However, to receive a grant you have to apply, apply, apply over and over and over again, year in and year out, and if you're lucky AND extremely good at filling out tons of paperwork over and over again, you might get a grant once or twice a decade. Smaller depts. who lack grant-savvy members rarely, if ever, receive grants because they haven't mastered the paperwork nightmare. Our dept. is very fortunate because we have a couple of guys who spend probably hundreds of hours per year working on grants, so we get a grant about once every 2 or 3 years. Without them, I don't know what we'd do but think we'd be in worse financial shape than we currently are, and we'd have older, less safe and less reliable equipment. It used to be that professional departments had the funding from their entity, be it a city or county or fire district, to cover their needs adequately. However, in the tough economic times we're in now, every fire dept. I know of, no matter how big and marvelous they are, is fighting to do more with less. Many depts. nationwide have laid off firefighters and even closed down entire stations because they lack the funding to maintain the level of service they once had. I think incidents like the Fulton incident will continue to occur because you'll always have people who won't pay their fair share until their house is burning...and, by then, it is too late. For the members of our fire department, there is nothing worse than being unable to save a burning structure, but sometimes by the time you arrive, the home is already fully engulfed and all you can do is try to keep the fire from spreading to the adjacent dwellings. I cannot even imagine our dept.'s firefighters standing by and watching a house burn because a family hadn't paid their fire protection fee. Doing that would go against everything the members of our department believe in. However, our county doesn't have a fee like that or a policy like that, so it isn't something we have to deal with. The only thing that really disturbs me about the Fulton policy is this: what if people are inside a burning home and are likely to die if firefighters do not suit up, go inside the house, find them, and carry them out? What then? I think that, morally, it is one thing to stand and let someone's home burn because they CHOSE not to pay the fee. It would be something else entirely different, though, to stand by and let someone perish in a fire. I would find that morally reprehensible. I know this isn't gardening-related, but I am glad we discussed it. For all of you who are involved with your local dept as a volunteer or who financially support your local dept., THANK YOU. For all of you who don't, please remember they need your support! There used to be a bumper sticker (it first appeared during a campaign to unionize firefighters and give them collective bargaining rights) that said "Suppose You Had A Fire, And Nobody Came?". Well, if you don't support your local volunteer depts., that could happen to you. Carol, If you're in a fire district with a required membership fee, I believe the insurance companies do require you to pay it or they can deny you fire coverage. Our county doesn't have a fee, though, so I have no first-hand experience with it. I do know, though, that if we send an insurance company a letter notifying them that we fought a fire at a piece of property they insure, most of them send us back a letter of gratitude and a check to help cover our costs. Unlike some residents, the insurance companies understand EXACTLY where they'd be without the volunteer and professional fire depts. Finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention this: our local fire department had a big fund-raiser a couple of weeks ago and our whole community turned out in force and they brought their money with them. The fundraiser was a success and virtually ensures we'll be able to pay our bills for the next year, assuming no major disaster occurs. I am SO GRATEFUL to all the Love County residents who attended and who made our fundraiser a success. The residents are the reason that we do what we do, and they also make it possible for us to serve them by contributing money to the department to help pay its operating expenses. I feel so fortunate that in Love County the citizens support their VFDs. Dawn
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nanadollZ7 SWIdaho
10 years ago
I am hoping all your roses survive the arctic blast. This too shall pass. And if it's any consolation, yesterday it was -47 degrees F in Embarrass, Minnesota (yes, that's the name of the town). It puts the Arctic Circle to shame. Diane
jim1961 / Central Pennsylvania / Zone 6
10 years ago
Suppose to drop to near -10 below zero degrees this
coming Monday night into Tuesday here...
bethnorcal9
10 years ago
Yikes you guys! I feel for ya! We're having almost record highs here. I'm currently loving it, but I know we really NEED the cold and some rain. We're in a drought right now. The governor hasn't declared it so far, but our rainfall is lowest in decades. The nearby reservoirs are lower than ever before. And if we don't get the precip soon, there won't be much snow in the Sierras to provide us with the runoff later. Gonna be rationing I'm afraid. I may have to start collecting grey water this yr!

So, the Packers/Niners game is gonna be interesting. Of course, my husband's team is the Niners, but we like Green Bay too, cuz Aaron Rodgers is from Chico and played at Butte College, where we've all gone to school at one time or another. Gonna be a tough one to call!
seil zone 6b MI
10 years ago
Wicked cold here too. Although, today we're going all the way up to 20 something. A heat wave, lol! Then back down into the minuses again. And 6 to 12 more inches of snow on it's way. I just got the last 6 inches off the drive! The roses will be fine though. There'll be lots of "deep pruning" in the spring but they'll survive.
zaphod42
Original Author
10 years ago
beth - Regular weather and I would predict the Niners. Been a rough season for the Packers this year. I think the weather is a game changer though and will work in favor of the Packers. They've already played a few frigid games at Lambeau this season.
ken-n.ga.mts
10 years ago
Suppose to be cold here also. No - temps but 7 on Monday morning with snow and 5 on Tuesday morning with sun. Won't be seeing anything above freezing for most of the week. Over 1/2 of my roses are on fortuniana rootstock. I do protect with about 12" of leaf mulch. We will see this spring. As far as the game goes, passing will be funny. Green Bay should have the upper hand in the rushing game. Frank Gore is a "U" product and when he hits that cold air, I want to see the look on his face. If he has any smarts, he'll run between the tackles and let all those big body's bury him to help stay warm.
nummykitchen
10 years ago
Seil, thanks for your positive thoughts on this weather :) Deep pruning is what I'm expecting. I guess they are better equipped to handle this than the spring thaw/freeze/thaw/freeze cycle that claimed some of mine last year, right? I think I lost more during that than over the winter.

Andrea
mori1
10 years ago
Suppose to get some snow maybe but -9 tomorrow its 40 now. Already had negative temps a couple of times in December, feel like I'm back in Nebraska instead of Kansas. Not worry about the roses outside more worried about my plants in my unheated garage.
grambu
10 years ago
Would I be mean if I just told you all that it is 70 degrees here in San Jose today. I was actually out and pruned a few roses! In regards to tomorrows game watch out for our 49ers. They have played for many years at Candlestick Park where it is like winter in the middle of summer. It should be a fun game to watch---Good luck to all of the players and hopefully no injuries to anyone.
Back to roses--I am a senior who lives in a condo with only porches no ground so everything gets planted in pots. I have pulled out most of my old roses that were not doing well and gave myself a gift---I ordered a dozen different floribundas. It has been a wonderful week just planning which ones to purchase and then where they will go. I am ready for spring.
Take care of yourselves all of you living in cold country. I am originally from Michigan and remember several 20 degres below zero days. My body goes out to you all.
Stay warm and look through rose books. Judith
nanadollZ7 SWIdaho
10 years ago
OK, Embarrass, MN, was again the coldest place in the U.S., but this time came in at a balmy -37 degrees F. It makes sense that Embarrass was originally a Finnish settlement. No one else could stand these arctic temps (apologies to the Finns). I'm a little obsessed with upper Minnesota cold temps, since they are worse that Alaska's and fun to track. (Now I need to aplogize to the Minnesotans), two natives of which are currently sitting in my living room. Diane
thedogsLL
10 years ago
So now I don't feel so bad about our 2 degrees this morning. It was cold enough for me though. We managed low 20s today, and it actually wasn't too bad being outside after the last couple of days. And it should be warmer tomorrow - going up to high 30s, 40s Monday, and then dropping into the teens that night. What happened to SPRING freeze/thaw? I only have one rose that I'm really worried about, and if the mulch and cover I did already isn't enough, it's pretty much too late to change it now, I guess. This winter has been weird for Boston.
seil zone 6b MI
10 years ago
Yes, Judith, that's just mean, lol! Enjoy your roses for all of us out here shivering!
User
10 years ago
grief - we are getting the fallout from the US icestorms....but in a dreadfully watery deluge which is again causing desperate flooding across the UK. A shameful result of under-investment in our decrepit flood defences along with massive lay-offs in the public sector (Tory scum with an evangelistic zeal to 'shrink the state'). Add that to a preponderance of development along floodplains - with all the concrete covering the soil and our little saturated island is literally drowning.

As for english houses, they are legendary in their general rubbishness - shops are predicting a huge rise in sales of hot-water bottles and ridiculous 'onesies'.
jim1961 / Central Pennsylvania / Zone 6
10 years ago
Just the mere mention of 70 degree weather made me feel
warmer...lol
michaelg
10 years ago
Here in the sunny South we have wind chill values of MINUS 25 forecast for Tuesday with subzero temperatures (the first in 25 or 30 years).

I experienced -30 in Wisconsin during the 60s. No fun. One morning the gearshift lever of my Chevy 2 snapped like a matchstick.

But I've been a Packers fan ever since.
hoovb zone 9 sunset 23
10 years ago
Sunny and 77F (25 C) here today. Sorry. Would much rather have rain. Stay warm, everyone!
kittymoonbeam
10 years ago
Over on the fruit and orchards forum there is a big discussion of the cold complete with weather maps.

A bright spot from them is that there is a chance that the Pineapple Express will come to So. CA in late Feb.

* happy pineapple dance*
bethnorcal9
10 years ago
Crap. Green Bay lost. Well, makes my husband happy!
zaphod42
Original Author
10 years ago
There will be a river of tears cried into beers across the state tonight...that is...as long as they don't freeze into tiny icicles as they run down the fans' cheeks.
ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9
10 years ago
In the 70's here too for quite a while now and with a dry wind blowing constantly. Sounds not so bad but it is. The Sierra snow pack which is the source of much California water is at a 125-year record low at 11%, breaking the record low of last year which was 12%. This is predicted to be another drought-stricken winter. I wish we could siphon off all that excess water from that drowning island across the Atlantic Ocean. It seems that no matter where you are the extreme is becoming the new normal.

Ingrid
buford
10 years ago
Going down to 6 in Hotlanta Tonight!!!!!
seil zone 6b MI
10 years ago
It's 9ÃÂ° right now. Tonight's low, -12ÃÂ°. Tomorrow's high, -3ÃÂ°. 13 inches of snow fell yesterday on top of the 6 we already had. I now have a walled driveway, lol!
wirosarian_z4b_WI
10 years ago
Climbed up to a "balmy" MINUS 12F at my house today.
dan_keil_cr Keil
10 years ago
It will be -15 to -18 below tonight. At least I have winter protection on the roses PLUS 12" of snow from our Blizzard we had yesterday! We can get out!
This is the coldest we've been in over 15 years!
nanadollZ7 SWIdaho
10 years ago
Take care, all of you, and may your power stay on and your roses endure to see another spring. It all sounds awful and darn dangerous.
To make all of you feel a little better (ha), the low Saturday in the nation was -36 degrees F in Big Black River, Maine; and yesterday, the nation's low was -40 degrees F in Babbit, MN. It's time for Embarrass, MN to get back in the game.
Diane
jockewing
10 years ago
This is slightly off topic, but related to the thread--

Do you ever feel like the weather reports 'hype' how cold it will get? Here in S. Louisiana a hard freeze is a rare occurrence. Some of the weather people are predicting mid to low teens tonight, but as of 11:15PM, my outdoor thermometer still says 28 degrees. I seriously doubt it's going to drop another 10-15 degrees when it's already been dark 6 hours already. Maybe this is just something that happens here since freezes are so infrequent. It's such a hassle to wrap pipes, stow hoses in the shed and move all those pots--and then find out it really wasn't necessary. But I guess it's better to be prepared than not.

Most of my roses are putting out new growth. I guess that will put a halt to that until February or March.
seil zone 6b MI
10 years ago
OH, Jockewing, yes! All the weather has gotten hyped out of proportion since the Weather Channel started. It's the only way they can stay in business, lol. Soon they'll be naming every piddly rain cloud that rolls over head!
kittymoonbeam
10 years ago
They name the fires in CA too

How are all of you doing in this crazy cold weather? We are having cool and cloudy alternating with warm dry winds. All the rose leaves have blown off leaving just the wind frazzled flowers on top like sad pom poms. I want to prune them just to quit looking at that sorry sight. Today was nice sweater weather and the weekend will be back to shorts again.

minus anything is too cold for me

Colder than a witches ...

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