Arctic Blast?

[Ann B.]

Rebecca, Vicki, Cathy, Sue, everyone? Are you okay?

I have been checking your weather, and I have to tell you that I have no clue what it is like to be below zero or to have highs below freezing for days and days.

It has been cold here, but not as cold as last week. My pear tree is still blooming and Forthysia is still blooming, but everything else is pretty much dormant and/or melted again.

I just need to know that everyone is okay.

How about Dawn and those tornadoes in Florida?

Come on, everyone! Let us know that you are okay.

[Dazed_Lily]

We've been bouncing from single digits to teens to today's 30 plus heat wave. Last week, we had warnings about not having your skin exposed for more than 10 minutes outside and of course warnings about letting your child stand at the school bus. Some wonderful parents, near bus stops, open their garages for the kids to stand in. There is still frozen snow on the ground since most days it hasn't got past freezing. Also, as far as the residential streets, which Wichita does not plow, the ice melts and refreezes at night.
Ann- you just reminded me . there is a song that I keep wanting you to hear. I'm going to do a net search and I'll be back. Have you heard the song 'Snow Days'?

[Ann B.]

I don't think so!

I'll be back in a bit when you have found it.

[sue salley]

ANN,
Thanks for looking out for us. It is cold and it is getting old. I have been sick and haven't been out of the house since Tuesday except to take the dog out. But I have to go out in the morning to go back to work. It will bee about 14 degrees. Like Cathy we are lucky if we break freezing during the day and around 10 at night. The wind has been howling for the last couple of days. Luckily we didn't get anything but a dusting of snow so our roads are clear. The cold air really bothers my asthma which is what made me sick to start with so I really don't look forward to this week. On the bright side, this should help keep down the number of bugs this summer.

[Dazed_Lily]

Augh ! No luck ! But they play it on a local station. It's to the music of Wild Thing(Wild Thing, you make my heart sing....). Except it is a small boy, and a chorus of kids, singing, "Snow Day, you make my heart sing, You make everything groovy, Snow Day, I think I love you !"
There are more lyrics but that's what I remember. It's very cute !

[txbeyer]

After darn near panicing about a forecast of successive days hard freeze evenings in Austin, everything moved eastward and we only had one night of slightly below freezing, then today, upper 60's and a beautiful mild week ahead, 60's and 40's, practically normal. Maybe the groundhogs prediction was right :D

[vicki]

Dear Ann,
Thank you for wondering. . .. . .it is wicked here! We have been as low as -10 with wind chills -40! Yes, it is very cold, the kiddies won't have school tomorrow or any day until the temps are up a bit. They haven't plowed any of the secondary roads that I drove today, had to go to the little town 6 miles away. The weather has been like this, for 4 days now. We have over +20 inches, along with blowing and drifting. With 1-3" of lake effect snow for the next few days. Temps are going to be up a lil' bit, but not till wed. or thursday. Could be different now haven't looked since around noon.
Once thing is for sure, my plants have a nice THICK
blanket of snow.
I will send a couple pics tomorrow.
Bob, glad you didn't get anymore of the very cold temps.
Button up everyone! The cold is definitely coming south.
Vicki in West MI

[Ann B.]

Hang in there, Vicki! Sounds like you are having it rough, but I would love to see the pics of the white stuff that we never see.

It has been hovering right at or below freezing temps in the mornings, but it is supposed to get back in the norms after tomorrow.

I am grateful to not have any more of those 24 degree lows. Those are definitely NOT the norm for here. They hurt!

[Rebecca]

I haven't had it as cold or snow covered as what Vicki has had, but considering the normal highs for us are in the low to mid 30's last night's -5 (w/c -22) and today's high of 9 (w/c -2) have been ugly. Only a dusting of left over snow, but tomorrow we are forecast for anywhere from 3 to 6 inches of it and tonight we are back to 5 below. Of course it will warm up tomorrow, to all of 18 if we're lucky, but just in time for the snow to start flying tomorrow afternoon, when I get to go to the "Doctor". I can normally walk it in 15 to 20 minutes, but with all the layers I'll have on tomorrow it will take longer, plus I'll have my face pretty much covered so it'll be hard to see! Since I have several issues to discuss I can't re-schedule, or believe me, I would!

The only good thing that temps like this do is kill of a lot of the bugs and bug larva that make life rough for my plants!

In a few weeks this will all be a memory, a bad memory, but one we can bring up in the middle of summer when we're wishing it wasn't so bloomin hot!



Rebecca

[Ann B.]

In the meantime, please do your best to stay WARM!

And please do be safe...

[txbeyer]

Here in Austin we had our coldest night of the year - a one nighter where the bottom dropped out and we reached 19 degrees at a weather station 2 miles away, but I had 24 on my wall mounted outdoor thermometer, so it was somewhere in between depending on microenvironment. That's not cold to folks up north, but to us that's more stress than our garden plants would like to endure. At least there was no frozen precip - just very dry clear skies this time. :eek:

The good news is the local weather forecasters are saying that may be the end of any severe temperaturs for this year and we are now into a very nice warming trend for the next week and hopefully beyond. I wanna dig :D

[Ann B.]

The temps have just now gotten above 32 degrees (at 10:30am). We were down to 24 degrees when I left for school this morning.

I sure hope this is the last of the 'hard' freezes. I'll probably go home to find a white yard under my old pear tree. It was filled with blooms and little pears.

Oh, well...

[Rebecca]

We had another Arctic Blast last night with temps dropping down to minus 5. It has warmed to 6 above (at noon) but the wind chill keeps it in the single digit minus range.

I am still snowed in as far as anyone removing snow from the back walk and in front of the door and the little snow that was removed from my front walk doesn't go all the way to the street, let alone the public sidewalk. More snow is forecast for tomorrow. Great. The sun is shinning and it is pretty out, from what I can see and the street in front of the house is basically clear.

For being a short month, February sure is taking a long time to pass by!

I'm just glad I live in Central Indiana and not in New York, where thay have up to 10 feet of snow. 2 feet is plenty!


Rebecca

[Ann B.]

Oh, Gee!

It was not supposed to be that cold tonight, but now, I see a 27 degree low.

I don't mind that so bad when I am at home to check the temps...

I'm ready for this arctic blast to GO AWAY, and those north of me, I am sure that you are more than READY!

[Dazed_Lily]

Brrrr... Miss Rebecca ! & Miss Ann !
It has been single digits at night, teens and 20's during the day. However, it is supposed to warm up this weekend and we might get 50's by Monday ! I have off Monday.
I am planning to get the daffodils in the ground--LOL!

[Ann B.]

It was 24 this morning...

They had forecasted 30 for tomorrow mornng, now they say 26!

I am ready, READY, for winter to be OVER!

[Ann B.]

I was up at 3:30am, and I checked the temps outside. It was 24, a lot lower than forecasted.

By 5:30, it was up to 29. That's unusual. Right now, it is 30 degrees at 7:30am.

At least, it doesn't appear that the bitter cold will last vey long today. We have a forecasted high of 60 for today, and two more mornings of frost.

Four more weeks to go before our average frost date.

I am READY!

[sue salley]

Ann, I know that is really cold for you down south of me. We re also colder than normal. 28 right now. 17 tonite and 14 tomorrow night. Later in the week we get up in the 50's. I can't wait even if it is suposed to rain when it warms up. We probably do need the rain. I would just love to have one warm (comparitively) day. It would be nice to just walk around the yard and look.

[Ann B.]

Yes, Sue! I am spoiled!

Not quite as spoiled as Cindee, but quite spoiled!

Last night was colder than forecasted. I know that it got down to 29 degrees, and I was a little worried about the porch (no kerosene for the night) and the gh (only floodlights), but all seems to be okay.

It is forecasted for 31 tonight, then we should get back to normal temps, like Bob mentioned, for the next couple of weeks.

I am so, so, so very ready for spring!

[sue salley]

Ann, We are a balmy 21 now. Last night we got a little snow. Just enough to mess up the roads, a couple of inches. I got to ice skate home from work this morning. BUT.. they are forecasting 69 and sunny Thursday. I can't wait. That is above normal for us this time of year.

[Dazed_Lily]

http://www.ksn.com/weather

Feast your eyes on this forecast !
Of course, it is only 40(?!) right now but look what they are promising !

[txbeyer]

You guys need to come to Austin for a week. Predicted highs for the next 7 days in the low to mid 70's and predicted lows in the low to mid 50's. Time to get the shorts out again, ha ha! Hope it's not just another teaser. Another month of trepidation to go though. :D

[Ann B.]

I sure hope so. It dipped to 29 degrees this morning, so Bob, we appear to be one day behind your weather. It is now about 45 degrees.

The next week is predicted to be the same as Austin, and accuweather does forecast that the first couple of days in March will dip below 40 degrees. That's too far off to really know for sure.

I haven't been outside yet to check on the pear tree, but from my window, I see that it is still loaded with white blooms. It seems strange that the frost does not seem to bother the blooms, but the tiny pears will fall if they are not large enough to withstand the freezing temps.

It's going to be a pretty day, and I plan to work in the greenhouse most of it...