Frozen Dopers: Who is caught in the 2019 Polar Vortex and freezing their tushies off?

I live in a city that currently has an all-time recorded low of -28F. We may break it tonight.

As many of you know, mail will not be delivered tomorrow in much of the Upper Midwest. I think that’s a very wise decision, especially for people who carry rural routes.

West Michigan. It’s been a snowy, frigid mess since Monday morning, somewhere around 4degrees F and more than a foot of snow so far. And tomorrow it really gets nasty.

All schools are closed through tomorrow, and I suspect many will close on Thursday too. Businesses, restaurants, doctors offices, all closed. At least four freeways closed due to multi-vehicle wrecks.

Luckily, wife, kids and I are all able to just stay at home this week and stay off the roads. We’ve had a real serious hankering for Arby’s onion rings though, mostly because we realize we would be nuts to venture out just for onion rings.

Ever wonder how railroads keep their switches from freezing up in weather like this? Watch the video at the top of the page and look at the photos of the burning tracks. It is quite dramatic. Then read the explanation if you like.

I’ve been in Chicago for a week. Today it was fucking cold. At minus 5 F, it’s ok-ish when not in the wind, but when exposed it’s near instant brain-freeze. I used to think windchill factor and “feels like” we’re bs. I am now a believer. The scary part is that it’s going to drop another 20 degrees in the next few hours. I thought I had experienced cold in northern Ontario, in Russia, in the Alps. I had not. I don’t understand how people live here.

The “Feels Like” chart.

Wiki on wind chill: “The effect of wind chill is to increase the rate of heat loss and reduce any warmer objects to the ambient temperature more quickly.”

In Canada, water freezes at 0 degrees Celsius and in the USA it freezes at 32 degrees Fahrenheit. Here are charts for each side of the border based on the similar models that estimate how long it takes for your exposed skin to reach ambient air temperature when wind is blowing the surface warmth away.

Environment Canada wind chill chart : http://www.candac.ca/candac/Outreach/Teacher_Resources_Index/tri/31.pdf

NOAA NWS wind chill chart: https://www.weather.gov/images/safety/windchill21.gif

Every winter some folks run into trouble by failing to consider the wind speed when they go outside. The jacket that keeps them warm does not protect their exposed fingers, ears and nose enough in the wind that blows away surface warmth, so those parts freeze: frost bite. Being frozen damages cells, and can result in non-recoverable damage. (Google frostbite images if you want to gross yourself out.)

That’s why I chart my activity and clothing in various winter weather conditions. In the deep freeze, proper attire makes for enjoyable days and nights of skiing about, but a few seconds of exposure at speed can cause damage. It’s a figurative pain in the ass to have to check the charts before heading out for fun in the freeze, but it beats the alternative of the literal pain and damage of frostbite to exposed tissue.

Nowhere near as cold as the Midwest, but it was 10F in Maryland when I got in the car to go to work this morning.

I got a text at 7am that work was cancelled.

So thats nice.

But sadly I’m out of alcohol. I’m pondering if its worth it to drive to the local pharmacy or not.

It’s -28F in Minneapolis right now, windchill -51F.
I live on a relatively busy street and it’s rush hour. I’ve heard two cars drive by in the past two and a half hours.
Schools are closed, no mail, a fair amount of businesses either are closed or have shortened hours. More than a few areas of the cities have lost power.
My government office requires us to be in office 50% of the time, but that was lifted for yesterday/today/tomorrow.

A friend works in HVAC, hasn’t had more than a few hours sleep since Saturday. Furnaces are crashing left and right. I’m lucky knock on wood my 72 year old furnace is a real work horse. My sister and her husband went 3 days without a furnace during the most recent cold snap a few weekends ago. Not fun.

It’s 2 degrees Fahrenheit here in southern Ohio.

Wednesday morning in no. Illinois. It’s 23 below zero and that doesn’t factor in the wind chill. Schools are closed, garbage pickup canceled, even the public library is closed. The Chicago weather people are calling this the Chiberian Express. Sunday is predicted to be 40.

This morning I went outside with my dog so she could take care of business. Thankfully she wrapped things up in about 3 or 4 minutes. I knew it was going to be cold, I stayed home from work for that reason, but I wanted to experience it for myself. 20 below zero with 15mph wind. OK, I’ve seen enough. (The predicted high temp for Chi-town today is 13 below.)
Canada, take it back!

I work for the USPS in a Chicago suburb, carried 21 years, stepped up to lower lvl management. You’d think the USPS upper management would have a contingency plan for circumstances like this, but NOOOoooo… HQ issued last night at 10 PM eastern that delivery would be suspended for our zones, BUT NEVER NOTIFIED LOWER MANAGEMENT! Now we’re waiting for the Central Illinois District to provide us with a plan. Well. Oiled. Machine.

NOT!!

At least my car started, so I can drive on deserted roads to work to do nothing… :smack:

Us old-timers remember when a “polar vortex” was just a cold snap, and no one paid no nevermind to “El Nino” since wet/dry mild/cold winters just came and went.

That said, it’s durn cold today (high of zero expected) and we have to be careful that the new puppy doesn’t turn into a pup-sicle.

My dog stepped out the back deck, peed on it, and came right back in (this is only the second time I’ve ever seen him do this; normally he goes down the stairs and into the backyard.). He’s an 80-lb pit bull and usually is fine in cold weather, despite being a short-haired breed (he’s been out for his full walk these past few weeks even when the temps dipped to the single digits or near zero. He insists on it.) But this was too much for him.

My thermostat is still claiming that it’s -21F outside right now at 8:40 a.m. It is quite brisk out there.

It’s -7 here in my part of NE Ohio. Schools are closed and trash pickup is suspended. The mail service is suspended in Cleveland but not down here (our carriers use trucks, many Cleveland carriers walk).

I work from home so my commute was nothing. Dogs have gone out and come in, it didn’t seem to faze them too much - they don’t like it when it’s cold anyway.

I have my furnace set to a steady 67 like Alley Dweller suggested. Usually I have it down to 63 and then 65 so it’s actually toasty in here.

Pondering whether or not I want to go swimming tonight. Obviously it’s indoors but the parking lot is big. Do I want to walk through all that with wet hair?

We’ve got two rabbits and two chickens. We hung a garbage bag over part of the hutch and wrapped towels around it to keep the wind out (and maybe a little of their heat in). They were both fine as wine this morning, hopping around the hutch, even more active than they’ve been in recent weeks. For the chicken coop, we put a board in front of their doorway into the run, but snow was still blowing in, and there was quite a bit of snow in their coop; they didn’t look happy at all.

Pretty much the same for me in Milwaukee. Except for the yoga part. It’s currently -21 with a windchill of -51. I have a jump pack. Not for my car, I’m not too worried about a 3 month old Honda not starting, but some of the cars I was working on over the summer had issues. Today seemed like a good day to bring it indoors to make sure it’s warm and top off the charge. I have a few drivers on the road and some of our delivery vehicles are older and might need help.

Montreal has pretty ordinary end of January weather. The next 6 nights predicted lows are -20, -16, -20, -8, -7, 0 C. Or -4, +3, -4, +18, +19, +32 F.

According to my Acurite weather station, it is 4 degrees F and falling. Wind is 3 mph with a peak gust 15 minutes ago of 11mph. Windchill is -4 degrees. Humidity is 50% and falling. Barometric pressure is 29.88 and rising. The gadget is forecasting sunny conditions. Compared to many of you, I am enjoying a stay in the tropics.

The company I work for uses diesel fueled cars. We were told we could work as usual and hope that the fuel doesn’t freeze or we could use PTO. If we did go to work and our cars broke down we were on our own. They would not be able to help us. Most of us were proactive and took the PTO.

I’m more worried about my rum supply. I’m hoping to make it to Friday when it warms up.

Right now it’s -24 F with -54 F windchills in the western Chicago burbs.