It’s in the 40s here in Florida, so I can only imagine the ice-choked, Shackletonian conditions the rest of you are dealing with today. Brr!
Open thread.
[Image credit: Look Human apparel]Reader Interactions
96Comments
Comments are closed.
Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.
Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.
We are aware of all internet traditions.
American History and Black History Cannot Be Separated
Chutkan laughs. Lauro sits back down.
Don’t expect peaches from an apple tree.
When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?
They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!
Republicans in disarray!
The willow is too close to the house.
It’s easier to kill a dangerous animal than a man who just happens to have different thoughts/values than one’s own.
When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.
Putin dreamed of ending NATO, and now it’s Finnish-ed.
… gradually, and then suddenly.
Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.
But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.
And we’re all out of bubblegum.
I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.
Optimism opens the door to great things.
Bark louder, little dog.
We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.
Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.
… looking like a winsome Bee Gee who has stumbled into teaching geography
A consequence of cucumbers
Baud
Yep. Not looking forward to the dog walking I’m about to engage in.
Betty Cracker
@Baud: I’m trying to talk my dogs into NOT going for a walk. So far, they’re still staring at me expectantly…
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
I’ve done that for the last couple of days. I can’t say no any longer.
Rob
It’s 19 degrees in my DC suburb. That’s plenty cold for November!
@Betty #2, that image is making me laugh. @Baud #1 & 3: Maybe your dogs will come to their senses and sit tight for a couple of days.
qwerty42
26 degrees north of Athens, GA. Won’t even go outside to pick up the paper.
ThresherK
I love PBS history efforts, but is anyone else wondering about their 3-parter of recreating the expedition of Shackleton? Part of me wanted to tune in to see if they were going to get their ship icebound on purpose.
It has been officially too cold in the Nutmeg State to read “Iceblink”, a great book about the big, failed John Franklin expedition to the Northwest Passage, for a couple weeks now. Sounds like Florida is cold on our heels.
Morzer
So, will snow and ice wipe out the python population in the Everglades, or is that asking nature to do too much of a clean up job?
Mustang Bobby
I don’t know how cold it was here in Miami when I got to the office, but it was misty and cloudy; as one of my friends would say, “It’s a slithy day.” I’m in shirtsleeves, but then I grew up in the north, so a low of 50 is summer in Michigan. The guard opening the door at the office was in full winter mode: jacket and stocking cap. I learned long ago not to mock Floridians who shiver; it’s just rude.
ETA: Just checked: it’s 56 F. now.
Tinare
The corner of my TV says it’s 13 degrees. The person on the TV is talking about sub-zero windchills. But I’m thankful I don’t live in Buffalo. The people who live there are a heartier stock than I could ever hope to be.
Morzer
@Tinare:
15 years without the playoffs and counting. Hardy stock or masochistic fools who don’t know when to cut their losses? We report, you decide and they stay where they are for one more year to give things a chance to turn around.
Schlemazel
20 here on the frozen tundra, we got an unexpected dusting of snow overnight. It is supposed to be FLorida level warm (in the 40s) by the weekend so that should clear the snow.
Had a short discussion with a nice guy at work, average, not really paying attention sort – “A NASA scientist said the earth is getting cooler because of sun cycles” And “So the scientists don’t agree”. That is the sort of person who will aid in the climate denial battle till it is beyond too late. A good guy, honest, kind, well intentioned and eating a line of bullshit he does not understand.
JPL
It was 19 when I got up. brrrrrr Last year I lost dozens of radican gardenias. This year, I’ll probably lose the rest.
Mustang Bobby
@Schlemazel:
You never forget how to ride a sun cycle.
MattF
Cold. It’s predicted that it’ll get 20 degrees warmer by the weekend, and that will still be cold. Brr.
Iowa Old Lady
We’ve been below freezing for over a week.
satby
Hells, we’re expecting a heat wave, it’s going all the way up to 30 here in SW MI. With gusts up to 30mph, bringing the windchill down to around 18, which was close to the high temperature yesterday. I still haven’t needed to break out a coat, but then I am a native Chicagoan.
PaulW
34,000 words on NaNoWriMo.
Here in Florida it IS jacket time.
I cannot understand why Buffalo exists as a town. If they had that lake effect all these years, I mean, why build there?! Build somewhere out the way of extreme snowing! SHEESH…
Betty Cracker
Holy shit, Buffalo got six feet of snow in 24 hours!
My hubby is from Buffalo, and he still tells the story of a blizzard when he was a kid (1977, I think) that shut the city down for days. He says the plows piled snow into a nearby park and that the mountain of snow created didn’t completely melt until JULY.
Morzer
@PaulW:
Back in the day, if you wanted to have any sort of commercial success, you built your town by a lake or, better, a river. Transport by road tended to be slow (if there even was a road), whereas water transport was faster and allowed you to move more goods. The same was true in Europe and China until the development of modern road and rail systems. I imagine Buffalo was ideally placed as part of the trade network through the Lakes/Niagara connection.
JCT
Spent the past week freezing in Chicago – happy to be heading back to AZ today, should get into the low 70’s.
It’s been cold in the desert in the AM, though- our doggies have perfected the quick AM walk!
BillinGlendaleCA
Mid 50’s here in LA, you’re right a bit chilly.
ETA: (ducks)
Psmith
It’s in the low 40s here in Clearwater, and wimpy old me feels like I’m freezing. So I’m rereading ‘The worst journey in the world’ by Apsley Cherry-Garrard, now that was cold, it’s a terrific book with one of the best opening lines ever. “Polar exploration is at once the cleanest and most isolated way of having a bad time which has been devised”
Mustang Bobby
@BillinGlendaleCA: I’ve got your back. Mojito?
CarolDuhart2
17 This morning, going up to 41, and Monday 63.
Did we skip Christmas and go right into January?
JPL
@Betty Cracker: Imagine trying to open your front door. The only thing you could do is keep shoveling.
Ultraviolet Thunder
17 degrees in Detroit with wind chill -1. I’m at the airport headed to Charlotte NC for a day or 2. It’s 45 there.
The nice thing about traveling for work and living in MI is almost everywhere is warmer in the winter. I could use a nice long posting on the Sea of Cortez right now.
Last winter I missed 100% of Michigan’s record snowfall by being somewhere else.
Note to travelers: when your spouse if shifting 20″ of snow by hand back home do not Facebook pictures of palm trees by the pool and complain it’s breezy.
OzarkHillbilly
Gonna hit 44 today. A good day to take care of a few outdoor projects.
Chopper
Haven’t been able to go on a morning run for like 3 days. Too bloody fucking cold.
Napoleon
@Morzer:
It was (is?) the terminus of the Erie Canal. (Edit, and of course on the Great Lakes, right on the Canadian border, etc.)
Napoleon
@Betty Cracker:
I grew up in Youngstown, Ohio and that entire winter in this part of the country was snowy. It was great being 16 and sled riding or skating with your friends every weekend.
beltane
Because it was 17 degrees out with a few inches of new snow on the ground, my dog insisted on being being taken out at 6:50 this morning. She just wanted to play in the snow, I just wanted one of those big Russian fur hats. I hate going outside in the cold before I’ve had a cup of coffee.
CarolDuhart2
Days like this, I’m more than thankful to have a cat. No cat walks, just clean out the litterbox once in a while. And these days, my cat sleeps in the closet on top of some blankets, and I don’t know if he’s just hiding or just hiding from the cold. (It does get a little cool downstairs)
beltane
The top headline I’m seeing is about gun sales surging in anticipation of the Ferguson decision. Guns are like the Nuk that soothes the anxieties of white Americans.
MattF
So, it says here that Glenn Beck’s claim that he had and then recovered from a dangerous disease is a load of horse hockey:
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2014/11/glenn_beck_says_he_has_adrenal_fatigue_that_s_not_a_real_medical_condition.html
Yeah, it’s a Slate link, but it’s the Good Slate, not the Bad Slate.
Cervantes
@Betty Cracker:
Yes, that was in 1977.
Actual snowfall was only about a foot but, what with the lake and the wind, the drifts were 40-50 feet high in places.
Not something one wants to recall with too much clarity, I imagine.
beltane
@MattF: Are you implying that Glenn Beck is a narcissistic liar? I am shocked.
Cervantes
@JPL:
The Army Corps of Engineers had to excavate a number of buried houses …
Comrade Dread
It’s 55 out here in Los Angeles this morning with a high of 71. I might have to wear long pants instead of shorts.
I know, right? The horror…the horror…
Cervantes
@BillinGlendaleCA:
@Comrade Dread:
Rumors aside, I will remember you both after the earthquake.
Or I’ll do my best, anyway.
gelfling545
Trying to make the decision on whether my sister & I should start off back toward home (from Albany) today. Little snow at my house (toward the north) but my sister (eastern suburb) has 7 feet of the stuff in her yard. Last I heard a stretch of the Thruway was still closed so we may drive about half way & stop until further notice.
Mustang Bobby
I was living in Santa Fe in the winter of ’77-’78 so I missed the Big Blizzard that buried Toledo. My folks were snowed in for five days, and it convinced my dad to trade in his Pinto wagon for a Jeep Cherokee 4×4.
During the blizzard a friend’s elderly mother chose that time to shuffle off this mortal coil at home. They had to take her body out on a toboggan.
OzarkHillbilly
Residents of drought-stricken California town to get first hot shower in months Global warming, why worry? Just turn up the AC.
Hunter
It’s mild this morning — 22, with a forecast high of 30. Yesterday it was 11, forecast of 20, but I don’t think it ever got there. And let’s not forget Chicago’s famous wind. Some lake effect snow, but nothing serious.
And of course, bus service fell apart. Waited 30 minutes for a bus, finally gave up and took an alternate route. The lady with the walker waiting with me wasn’t so lucky — that was her only bus home.
Then back into the 20s for a few days, but close to 50 on the weekend.
I really, really hate winter.
PurpleGirl
These are the days when I’m glad to not be working. I won’t have to leave the apartment and go outside. I can stay home and huddle in a shawl as I sit in various chairs. I should make some tea.
ETA: I need to quickly crochet a shawl or a poncho without fringe so I can keep it on while cooking. Fringe isn’t safe in the kitchen.
JMG
It’s 24 degrees with a brisk (weather word meaning very cold) breeze here in Boston suburbs. It’s a cold spell, but hardly extreme even for this time of year.
Comrade Dread
@Cervantes: I wouldn’t worry. The prolonged drought has already hit first. Absent some massive rains the next few years, we’ll be paying for the nice winter weather soon enough.
Botsplainer
Last night at dinner in Bonaire, there were rain showers which brought the temp slightly below 80, which chilled my sunburned skin.
I actually had to go buy sunscreen this morning…
Now, off to see to some diving.
Belafon
@Schlemazel: And tell him, yeah, but even if that is true, we’re still not getting as cool as we should be because of man’s screwing with the climate.
Gene108
I have a cold. The cold weather is not good for my throat. I hate winter. Like our blog host, I am more prone to feeling cold the older I get. When I was younger, I was thin and in good shape, and did not feel as cold.
Also, too youth is wasted on the young….NOW GET OFF MY LAWN…
Belafon
I like the shirt that says “Winter is my favorite because it’s all gloomy and cold just like my soul.”
d58826
@Baud: I had dropped my car off for service and was using the shuttle to get back home. The other guy in the shuttle was talking about his time in the Air Force at Minot ND. The MP’s and the guard dogs would maintain a security watch at key points on the base. During the winter there were days when the weather office would declare a hazardous temperature alert. On those days the MP’s patrolled alone because it was to cold to take their k9 partners out in the weather.
Oh and it was 17 in this part of Charoltte NC today. Average January low is 30
Morzer
@MattF:
A load of polo?
polyorchnid octopunch
@Betty Cracker: I’m up that way… at the head of the St. Lawrence River. We were all looking at what Buffalo was getting yesterday in the office and going… ‘better them than us’. I remember that blizzard (’77). It was a doozie. I was nine or ten years old. We got nailed all the way over here, and it’s a hike to get to Buffalo from here.
Baud
@Cervantes:
I hope they didn’t say, I’m from the government and I’m here to help, cuz that would have been scary.
d58826
If anyone is talkng up a collection for tar and feathers, I’m in
Cervantes
@Baud:
If there were Libertarians struggling with their dilemma under the snow, they neglected to mention it to the Corps.
Pee Cee
Record low temps here this morning in South Carolina. And that means I’m absolutely certain to hear something about Al Gore’s BMI here at work today.
Cervantes
@JMG:
Speaking of which, what do you make of Governor-Elect Charlie Baker so far?
Baud
@Cervantes:
Probably slipped their minds. Too busy contemplating freedom, I’m sure.
OzarkHillbilly
@d58826: A buddy of mine was stationed at Ellsworth in SD for his entire stint. His first year was spent guarding nuclear armed B-52s, one MP per plane, walking a circle around it for 8 hrs, no matter the weather. At 40 below in a white out, there he’d be. He said they had boots that would not let one’s feet get cold.
tazj
@gelfling545: I think you’re being smart by delaying your trip back to the area, because even though it has stopped snowing for now in the hardest hit suburbs, the snow is set to make another pass later on. It’s going to take a while to clear the roads. I told my husband to not take the risk of driving home from the hospital in the city even though it has stopped snowing here. I don’t want to worry about him getting stuck somewhere, and he’ll get more sleep without the kids making noise.
I think my Flowering Pear trees are going to be very damaged if they survive. They hadn’t lost their leaves and I can see some branches are broken. Of course it’s no big deal in the grand scheme of things, they can be replaced.
Mike J
38F here in the beautiful PNW, but we’re all wearing flannel shirts, so it’s not an issue.
Cervantes
@Baud:
The Fountainhead, at 753 pages, makes a good fire.
Atlas Shrugged, at 1168 pages, is even warmer.
OzarkHillbilly
@Cervantes: I find both to be superior butt wipes.
max
Looks like it was about 18-19 last night but it’s up to a balmy 20 already! And somewhat warmer today.
max
[‘So I need to make a pina colada, right?’]
D58826
@OzarkHillbilly: ouch. The guy I was talking to was one of the weather guys so he could watch the entire process from a nice warm office
Pee Cee
@Cervantes:
I’d be worried about the toxic fumes certain to come out of either of those volumes, myself.
japa21
I saw where all 50 states had at least one location with below freezing temperatures. Not sure that has ever happened before on one day. Granted, the Hawaii spot was on top of one of the mountains and it was still a balmy 31, but jeez, that is just sick.
Xantar
Fire alarm went off in my building at 2:45 AM so there I was standing outside in the 25 degree night (I’m in Baltimore). If they find the asshole who was playing with matches or whatever, they’re going to have a lot of angry residents to face.
ferd of the nort
Zero F in US IN. About -7 where I used to live. I am tired of the cold. Actual real çold.
Belafon
@OzarkHillbilly: Nothing the free market can’t solve, obviously.
...now I try to be amused
Betty, I like your use of the adjective “Shackletonian”. One could also call the conditions Scottish.
FridayNext
@Pee Cee:
Or who the newly released demons will possess next.
FridayNext
74 comments in and nobody posted a link to this classic rant from Stringer Bell yet?
The Balloon Juice commentariat disappoints me this morning.
Tommy
Warmer here today. Up to 32, but the wind is just biting to the bone. Blew my huge heavy plastic, 65+ gallon trash can across the yard. Not really going outside today if I don’t have to.
geg6
@japa21:
I saw that, too. Crazy.
Here in Western PA, we dodged the snow bullet (just a dusting) but got hit hard by the cold. Yesterday was horrendous. Today, a bit warmer at 14F with wind chills at 5F, but the sun keeps peeking out so I can deal a bit better just because of that. And it’s going up to a balmy 30F or so by afternoon. Not really getting back up to more normal mid/late November temps (mid-40s to mid-50s) until the weekend. Hope next week is a bit better. I’m off all week and would like to do some things, like go see Mockingjay Part I and have some lunch with my sisters and a wine afternoon with some friends. Plus, the holiday and all. If it’s like this week, I’ll barely move out of the sunroom.
Ruckus
It’s a balmy 52 here in the land of nuts and berries. I’m off to ride to work.
Ruckus
@OzarkHillbilly:
Careful, hard to wipe shit with pages already covered in it.
Daniel'sBob
Give ’em hell, Harry.
HRA
14 degrees here in the one suburb of Buffalo where the sun is shining now on top of the mounds of untouched snow. Our portion of the snow began on Monday at 9 pm and stopped on Tuesday at 10 pm. Right now not much has been shoveled or plowed at the house. Although I can see the road has been plowed now. The worst part is being not able to leave the house at all. Travel ban is in effect for today, too. Plus we are expected to get more snow later today.
Daniel'sBob
Same ol’ GOP
J R in WV
Been in the lower teens at night for too long for not even December yet.
Supposed to hit 40 today, which will be really nice. I may go to town – fresh vegges, milk, fish, etc. Really pretty, strong sun today. I was up during the Leonid meteor shower, and for the first night in a while you could see the stars…
But the glass where you would get the best view was covered with film, so I wouldn’t be able to see shooting stars without going out in the 13 degree cold. Clothes would have been necessary – many many clothes!!!
Never mind…
Looks like it’s gonna be a loong winter.
shelley
Yup, I could complain plenty. But I think anybody who doesn’t live in Buffalo should temper it a bit.
shelley
Don’t know about that. Have you seen the plot synopsis of his new book on Santa Claus as a machete-wielding Highlander type? There’s some serious brain derangement going on there.
NotMax
Having grown up (chronologically, at any rate) in the Northeast plus also having lived in Minnesota before moving here 30+ years ago (lows in high 50s/low 60s here tonight, expected high about 83 during the day Wed, wet and blustery right now at 5:45 a.m.), find it amusing to read people expressing wonderment at cold in late November.
Can remember more white Thanksgivings than snow-free ones from back then. Shoveling snow from late November on through December provided welcome extra funding for a kid for buying holiday gifts.
By the by, for any
masochistichardy souls planning on braving Black Friday, most of the flyers should by now be available online at this site.delk
You know it is cold out because Michelle Malkin is tweeting Al Gore jokes.
I am thankful that I have all the winter wear that I need to make the weather a non factor.
You know, as a I get dressed to take the dog out at 5:30 a.m. I always expect the worse but usually it’s never as bad as I think it is going to be. Plus picking up dog poop is a convenient hand warmer, lol.
Taking two perfectly fine older coats to the dry cleaners today and then donating them.
ThresherK
I have an appointment to get the heater core done in my car on Monday, and I may well hibernate until then.
The rental van was worth every penny for the effortless swallowing and disgorging of stuff, and it had heat! When I turned it in and got my car back, all I could think of was the Little Match Girl.
Mnemosyne
@CarolDuhart2:
I have to make a “tent” for our short-haired cat this time of year — I drape a throw over the armchair and she crawls underneath it. And this is in a mere Southern California winter. So, yes, your kitty has probably made himself a nice warm cave in that linen closet.
My mom is spending her first winter in Chicago in 30+ years — until my dad died in 2013, they were snowbirds who traveled between Chicago and Phoenix. I bought her an electric throw, but I’m still not sure how she’s going to get through the winter.
(She lives with one of my brothers, so at least she’ll probably be physically safe, which was what we worried about when she lived alone in Arizona.)
Mnemosyne
@NotMax:
I’m always surprised at how popular quilts and quilting are in Hawaii, but I suppose you guys never really need down comforters like we used to have in Chicago. I made an impulse buy of a really cute quilted throw our last day on Kauai — Hawaiian-themed print, but reasonably muted colors that match our living room furniture (brown, green, and red-orange).
OnkelFritze
Cloudy and raining a little, but still 72 degrees. Greetings from Colombia!
WaterGirl
This looked like a safe thread for me since I’m still (figuratively) rocking in the corner after the elections.
Holy cow, Buffalo got 6 feet of snow? I love snow, but that would be scary even for me in my one story house – how would you ever make it out of the house before the floods came in the spring?
It’s been really crazy cold here for the past few days, but at least the city got my new tree in the ground 5 days ago right before everything froze.
It will be above freezing today for maybe an hour, so I need to go out and put the final pots away for winter, empty the birdbath, coil the hoses, etc.
CarolDuhart2
@Mnemosyne: At least she won’t usually have to go outside (I assume she’s retired). As long as she can get some sun, she should be fine.
I imagine the hardest part would be the boredom and no longer having those warm sunshiny days in late winter. Could she use some extra lighting?
Calouste
@shelley: Yes, no self-respecting highlander would want to be seen wielding a machete.
PurpleGirl
@OzarkHillbilly: His boots were probably like the bunny boots my brother had when he was stationed in the Aleutians. Big, insulated, white things that made his feet and lower leg like three-four times their normal size. But they were warm.
dmbeaster
@Schlemazel:
He is probably referring to the recent crank John Casey who was a NASA engineer but has zero training in climatology. His theory? Sunspots and the solar cycle is the primary driver of climate variations; an idea debunked long ago. There is some merit to the idea that the solar cycle does affect climate. Overall, the output of the sun through the solar cycle is very stable, but there is a much bigger variation in output for certain high energy radiation. Lower amounts of high energy radiation affects the very high atmosphere, and perhaps changes patterns of air circulation on the surface which alters weather patterns. It does not change the overall heat budget from the sun, nor have any affect on the global warming.
There has been legitimate speculation that the force of the solar cycle is diminishing — perhaps we are entering a new Mauder minimum. Casey has run with that speculation to declare that a new ice age is upon us. He has created a bogus “research institute” to try and cash in on the wingnut welfare for purveyors of climate change denialism. He then runs around and openly cites false facts about the oceans being cooler, or global temperatures dropping. Uh, the oceans are at their warmest ever, and this year is predicted to be the warmest year ever surpassing the previous highs in 2010, 2005, and 1998.
Gravenstone
@PurpleGirl: Colloquially known as “Mickey Mouse” boots. The white ones are the airborne variant (they have a relief valve on the side to allow draining air due to pressure changes experienced in aircraft). The normal issue are black, and just as bulbous. My stepdad was stationed in Alaska in the early 60’s and I adopted his pair once I was in my late teens. Those boots are rated to -20 F, although they kept me warm well below that on occasion.