# Three more months of cold for the PNW **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 22, 2013, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-more-months-of-cold-for-the-pnw/648009 "2013-01-22T15:31:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-more-months-of-cold-for-the-pnw/648009/1 "2013-01-22T15:31:30Z")
As I drove to work yesterday, I thought ‘The snows are over.’ We only got a little snow on Christmas Day, and just a dusting that quickly melted this month. Sure, there might be another snow or two; but this Winter has been fairly mile with lows in the 20s. On the way home I heard a [report](http://www.boisestatepublicradio.org/post/three-month-outlook-forecasts-chilly-winter-ahead) on KPLU saying: > [@](#): > > The latest computer model run by the National Climate Prediction Center increases the likelihood for below normal temperatures during the next three months in most of our region. This applies to all of Washington, nearly all of Oregon and the northern half of Idaho. > > Washington State Climatologist Nick Bond says to get used to “chilly.” > > “We’re anticipating perhaps a little bit more of the pattern that we’ve had for much of this past month, with cooler than normal temperatures.” I like living where I don’t need air conditioning (which I didn’t have in L.A.) and it’s not uncomfortably hot. I like the rain, and the greenness it brings. But sometimes I miss the Mojave Desert. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-more-months-of-cold-for-the-pnw/648009/2 "2013-01-22T17:21:55Z")
Cold is relative. This report says “[warmer](http://www.weather.com/video/forecast-for-the-next-3-months-33830)” temperatures in the West beginning in February, but turning colder again in March. I watched an online news report out of Minneapolis yesterday that the _below zero temperatures_ were the first in more than 1,400 plus consecutive days. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-more-months-of-cold-for-the-pnw/648009/3 "2013-01-22T17:38:00Z")
The maps (except for the first one) said colder than normal up here, even in February. 28ºF right now. The heat from the heater isn’t making it to my ‘desk’. (Which is to say the couch, when I’m working from home.) ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-more-months-of-cold-for-the-pnw/648009/4 "2013-01-22T18:36:23Z")
I’m about four plus hours south of you if you travel I5. The problem around these parts is not just the cold but the panic caused by freezing fog and black ice. The worst of the lot appears to be the over-confident 4WD drivers who think having 4WD solves all of the problems. My wife was upset that the digital thermostat was keeping the house too cold to her liking. Well, it was kinda chilly so I checked over things. Seems the batteries needed replacing in the thermostat … 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-more-months-of-cold-for-the-pnw/648009/5 "2013-01-22T18:56:24Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > I’m about four plus hours south of you if you travel I5. Wouldn’t that be Highway 99? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![yanceylebeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yanceylebeef/32/12290_2.png) [@yanceylebeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yanceylebeef)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-more-months-of-cold-for-the-pnw/648009/6 "2013-01-22T19:25:41Z")
Our usual exit to my folks house is Bow Hill. We were just up there visiting two weeks ago and it had the worst black ice on it I have ever seen. Seriously scary coming down that sucker. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-more-months-of-cold-for-the-pnw/648009/7 "2013-01-22T19:35:46Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Wouldn’t that be Highway 99? 😉 I205 before crossing into Oregon. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-more-months-of-cold-for-the-pnw/648009/8 "2013-01-22T20:04:53Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > I205 before crossing into Oregon. :smack: I mis-read. I thought you said _north_. My mind is going… ---
**Author:** ![smaje1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47774/32.png) [@smaje1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smaje1)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-more-months-of-cold-for-the-pnw/648009/9 "2013-01-22T20:06:18Z")
_sigh_ Seattlite here. That’s bummer news, Johnny L.A. I’ve been super bummed out at the weather this week (all the crazy fog we’ve been getting here!) and I was really looking forward to a taste a spring in a couple of months. But it looks like spring won’t hit until June and summer is scheduled (as usual) to arrive on July 5th. Makes me miss (a tiny bit) the 90-degree-plus weather I left in the Valley. ---
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-more-months-of-cold-for-the-pnw/648009/10 "2013-01-22T21:57:41Z")
I’m having trouble wrapping my head around the idea that, in the middle of January, there wouldn’t be 3 more months of cold. I have the same reaction every year, on Groundhog Day. Of course there is going to be six more weeks of winter, from February 2nd. > [@Duckster](#): > > I watched an online news report out of Minneapolis yesterday that the _below zero temperatures_ were the first in more than 1,400 plus consecutive days. Actually, that is 1400 plus days since the HIGH was below zero. We have had plenty of below zero temps in the last 4 years. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-more-months-of-cold-for-the-pnw/648009/11 "2013-01-22T22:07:20Z")
> [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](#): > > I’m having trouble wrapping my head around the idea that, in the middle of January, there wouldn’t be 3 more months of cold. The operative phrase is ‘below normal temperatures’. ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-more-months-of-cold-for-the-pnw/648009/12 "2013-01-22T22:10:28Z")
Obligatory drive-by from where the highs aren’t expected to get out of the single digits or teens at best for days, and the lows will be in the single and minus digits. The [Farmers Almanac](http://www.farmersalmanac.com/weather/2012/08/26/will-winter-return-with-a-vengeance/) is once again right on. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Woodhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@Miss\_Woodhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Woodhouse)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-more-months-of-cold-for-the-pnw/648009/13 "2013-01-22T22:56:00Z")
**chiroptera** that’s what we’ve been dealing with in my part of the northwest. It was so cold last Friday night that we woke up to no water. My husband spent four hours trying to find the frozen pipe only to discover that the freaking water supply at the street had frozen. We’re thinking things are pretty warm today because it got into the teens. ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-more-months-of-cold-for-the-pnw/648009/14 "2013-01-22T23:12:33Z")
> [@Miss\_Woodhouse](#): > > **chiroptera** that’s what we’ve been dealing with in my part of the northwest. It was so cold last Friday night that we woke up to no water. My husband spent four hours trying to find the frozen pipe only to discover that the freaking water supply at the street had frozen. We’re thinking things are pretty warm today because it got into the teens. Yep yep. I woke up this morning to frozen pipes and no water. Identified said pipe and put a space heater in my crawl space for two hours to thaw it out. According to the news this morning it was 22 below with the wind chill. I’ve been in a lot colder, but seriously, that’s cold enough. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-more-months-of-cold-for-the-pnw/648009/15 "2013-01-22T23:22:46Z")
You wusses! The predicted overnight low here is -26C (about -15F) with a high of -21 (-7). And wind chills around -40 (-40). ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-more-months-of-cold-for-the-pnw/648009/16 "2013-01-22T23:53:30Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > You wusses! The predicted overnight low here is -26C (about -15F) with a high of -21 (-7). And wind chills around -40 (-40). Ha! I _knew_ one of the “seriously, no really” cold climate peeps would show up. 😃 Anything that’s minus double-digits below zero is just too fucking cold. I’m amazed at all the wildlife and birds that survive several months of this nonsense. ---
**Author:** ![SeldomSeen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@SeldomSeen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeldomSeen)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2013, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-more-months-of-cold-for-the-pnw/648009/17 "2013-01-23T02:53:07Z")
Here on the Oregon/Idaho border ('bout 50 miles west of Boise) we’re in the middle of one of our infamous temperature inversions. It’s been dipping into the minus realm every night for about two weeks, daytime highs 10-15 F. Thick, icy fog, visibility about 1/4 mile. And yesterday the power went down for about 8 hrs. Meanwhile, up in the high country above thiscold air mass they,re skiing in shirtsleeves and bright sun. And for a week the TV weather person has been telling us “just one more day of this and it will start to clear up”. Gah!! ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2013, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-more-months-of-cold-for-the-pnw/648009/18 "2013-01-23T03:38:28Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > :smack: I mis-read. I thought you said _north_. > > My mind is going… Naw, just a wee bit stiff … from the cold. 😃