Its 2 here... we saw a high of 3 and a low of -1 so far today. We haven't left the house and we're ordering pizza in.

My Zombie from Gurney's sent up a second scape and it is amazing. Harlequin is in full bloom now-- I'm glad I got my replacement surprise! And finally, my identity-crisis nymph is also in full bloom. Oh yeah...and red nymph is working on her second scape. She stands nearly 4 feet tall in her pot (a run-of-the-mill 10 in pot).

Ryan

The only time I left the house today was to go to lunch with my homey, Megan. She's moving to Denver next week. Lame.

I've been digging your pics. That identity crisis Nymph is pretty sweet! Hopefully your red nymph will produce an offset that I can trade for sometime! :-)

12? 2?

Oh, I hush my mouth!

It's 9, now. I have one of those indoor/outdoor temp jobbies. I refuse to leave this house. Where do you live, Elizabeth? No fair :-(

Mobile, AL

Currently 58 degrees and that is the low for today!

We have had frost on many mornings, but it has only been frost. No really bad freezes except for one which went down to about 28.

Brrrrrrrrr! 2? 12? 9?

I don't think I would survive very well. 32 is downright COLD!

Bless you!

-2.4 °F / -19.1 °C
Scattered Clouds
Windchill: -2 °F / -19 °C
Humidity: 72%
Dew Point: -9 °F / -23 °C

Poor pizza guy is getting a big tip tonight. I just got back in from taking the pooch for a walk. In weather like this, I'll unleash her, let her run around like a lunatic that she is (she loves snow) while I huddle up against the side of the building closely watching my extremities for signs of frost bite-- then it is a mad dash to the front door, dog in toe.

Why is you friend moving to Denver? Finally decide to trade up? ;o)

We may be a mile high, but our temps are so, so low.

lol Trading up....perhaps! Denver sure is pretty :-) Our best friend moved there a year ago. Megan is following. Super bummer. At least I get to have an excuse to travel once a year. What punks.

10 degrees here... frigid doesn't quite describe it! We lucked out on the ice storms that were supposed to come in the middle of the night, though... we got a little bit of ice under a tad bit of snow... but it's brrrrr cold! I'm very glad I left the faucet drip in the kennel last night, or I might not have water to clean it with today!

It's so cold that my dogs made the fastest trip out to do their business I've ever seen! They normally dawdle for as long as they can before coming in!

Larissa... gorgeous blooms! I love the Orange Sovereign! Great photos, thanks for sharing!

Stay warm, everyone!

We bottomed out at -15F last night-- windchill as cold as -60F.

Some may freak out or hate this weather, but anyone who has ever seen -15F (I've seen -48F ambient, -80F windchill before) Nature reveals a whole other side of herself.

I remember once, walking in a park near my home in Minot ND when I was stationed there. It was a perfectly clear night, lots of snow had fallen earlier in the day and a full moon was out. It was so incredibly frigid that the fabric of my heavy coat became stiff and unyielding. Anyway, I had about 10 layers on but the night was so gorgeous that I wanted to take it all in, despite the cold.

At such cold temps (and on this night, no wind) the air begins to shimmer. If you look closely enough you'll see the smallest little crystals lightly floating in the air. This is NOT snow-- as the skies have to be clear and calm. I don't know what conditions must exist except the cold, but the air no longer holds water and it separates in the form of ice crystals. I'm not even sure they fall like snow, but actually seem to just float around. Because of this, the light from the moon was separated and created "rainbows" or "icebows" everywhere. It also created this strange sight of a pillar of light that shot straight above and below the moon and any other light source, like a street lamp or a passing car. Beyond that, it is just amazing how matter-- all types-- exists in such cold. Snow is different. Ice becomes more clear and brittle. I once shattered a 3-foot long ice scraper on my car by simply tapping a piece of ice.

It is hard to handle the cold-- but the sight of this is simply amazing. It is akin to the Aurora-- a sight seen by so few and if you don't take the time to look, you'll miss it entirely.

Shimmering air people.... brought to you by Nature!

Ryan

Nature is a wondrous thing... from a simple sky full of stars that we view all the time... to these strange phenomenon that we only get to see if conditions are just right.

It is amazing... however, I prefer to be warm and toasty, and so do my bones. I can't handle the cold weather as well as I could when I was young.

Oh!!!!!!!!

Ryan, I'm going to take your word for it. I'm not sure I could adapt to that much cold, though!

Currently, we are experiencing a warmer period. Lows of 60 and highs going up to the middle 70's this week.

It is overcast with a misting rain most of the time. That should clear up in a day or two.

Please do take some pictures. I thoughly enjoy seeing pictures of snow, especially at Christmas time!

Ryan, that is such a beautiful description of that cold, cold night. I could picture exactly what you were saying. No chance of that tonight here in NJ. My computer is reading 63 degrees at 11:00 p.m., and I was outside planting the rest of my tulips and crocus purchased earlier in the fall. It is supposed to snow for the next couple days. Have orders from RC and Edens and a msg. from ETG that they have sent their pkg., so there's lots to do inside. ETG is the last of my orders for this season. That's it! I'm done!!! Well, if there happens to be some fantastic sale somewhere . . .

I never tried to photograph the shimmering... but did manage to get the Aurora. It was in Sept 05 and very, very late in the night. My wife and I were watching a movie and when it ended, we went outside for some fresh air and the night sky had what we call a moonbow-- a strange glow arching the entire sky, signifying an approaching solar storm. I knew the Aurora was going to kick up so my wife lovingly, if not totally annoyed, got in the car with me and my camera equipment. We went deep into the country-side away from lights and waited. I think we were out there for 2 or so hours-- and NOTHING happened. It was the exact moment that Carrie opened the door that she looked up and said, "Oh my God! Look!" The sky opened up as if on fire and we enjoyed an hour+ long show that was nothing short of a divine experience. It actually made us cry, it was so amazing.

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To describe it with words or images does no justice. But it was as if a great eye was directly above us. It swirled like a storm and then it would morph and pulse like a blinking eye. It was about half way through that the light pours down to the horizon, surrounding us like huge candles, dancing. The colors changed constantly, revealing reds, purples, greens, yellows, blues and oranges-- pretty much the entire spectrum. When the storm was finally over, the sky continued to pulsate, rhythmically for hours and hours. We stayed until the sun rose. We later found out that it was one of the largest solar storms ever recorded-- and we were so thankful to have seen it. Not that I doubted then, but having seen the Aurora, it was like witnessing the very presence of God.

Sorry for all the photos... but I wanted to share them. The cold can be hard to bear if you're not use to it-- but having the chance to see something like this, requiring me to be very far North-- was worth all the shivering!

Ryan

Good gracious!!! That sounds COLD! Ryan, Larissa and Jodi...ya'll stay warm! Elizabeth and I are about on the same page as Kitty for the time being. We aren't expecting snow, but rather mid 60's all week and a forecasted 74 and sunny for Friday...woohoo! Might have to pull out some shorts! It's currently 58 and cloudy here.

I couldn't deal with that extreme cold. My bones might crack! When the temps get in the 40's and the wind blows here...that is COLD to me...but nothing to ya'll apparently. Yikes! I'm usually ok without the wind and actually enjoy a nice below freezing evening. It is so cold that everything stops no creature makes a sound which is so serene and peaceful to me. Oh, and being able to blow out steam that looks like puffing on a cig is fun too! haha!

Ryan- WOW! What amazing images! It almost seems like aliens should jump out from the circles...or did they? Spooky! I am sure that was a once in a lifetime experience and so lucky you were able to capture it and share it with us!

Ya'll stay warm!

-Frank

Ryan, I can imagine that was as close to a religious experience as one can have here on earth... how amazing! And to have captured it all on film is even more amazing!

Thank you so much for sharing those... as I read your words and looked at your photos, I could imagine what it was like to stand in the presence of such wonder... I imagine your hands must have shook a bit while setting up the camera equipment... an experience like that could almost make a person forget it was so cold...

It's been frigid since night before last, but my plants are toasty indoors, under their warm lights! I have an oil filled space heater set up in the north alcove, just to compensate for the cold breeze that sneaks through the cracks... it's an older farm house! We're staying warm! Hope everyone else is, too!

As a footnote to my above post... we're now getting deluged with snow! It's coming down like no tomorrow! I don't know how much we're supposed to get, but it's accumulating fast, and doesn't look like it'll stop anytime soon!

It's a whiteout out there! :-)

Goodness Jodi! I bet that is pretty! And to think I had the a/c on in my car this morning...it was almost creepy because there was a dense fog. I guess it acted as insulation and made it really warm here? Gosh, I miss seeing some snow!

Ya'll stay warm and do share some photos if you get a chance...of course, watermark them in case someone is auctioning snow on ebay and needs to steal a pic for their posting...LOL!

-Frank

Ya, how 'bout it! I'd hate to find someone using my photos to sell winter! LOL! But seriously... I can't believe people do that, and don't care... boggles the mind!

It has turned from snow to freezing rain, so it looks like we're in for a nasty ice storm! I'll try to get some shots of it in the morning... even though it's dangerous, ice does look pretty covering everything!

Be careful in that fog, Frank!

Jodik....Hi!!

I pray we don't have a winter that makes your porr dogs do their buisness that fast!.lol

I have a mind to start growing these things since they are so beautiful...Maybe I could squeeze a few of them between my plants , mayber near the water fountains in my plant room and brighten things up...

I have seen yours and I am amazed..

Mike:-))))))