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Polar Vortex is about to drop


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I’m in Texas on vacation, and Friday I’m checking the house in Ohio on the Nest thermostat, and see that the furnace is running, but the temp inside is going down.  Got ahold of my furnace guy and he finds a bad pressure switch, and a new part would come the following Monday.  He did a jury rig for the weekend, put in the new switch, and the house is fine.  

I only got the Nest because the gas and electric each gave a $75 discount.  The cool factor of checking on the house remotely is vastly submerged in the cool factor of not having to rush home and deal with burst pipes.  

Hawk 

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Yeah we hit -23 according to one of my local weather apps. My furnace is not keeping up. Our town basically has shut down today, too. Looks about the same for tomorrow and then about an almost 100 degree warm up to the 40's by the weekend.

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At 2:30AM we had -26F (I don't know what the wind chill was, but it wasn't too bad standing on the patio making sure the old puppy didn't have any problems)  so I guess that's the worst of it and we start crawling up hill to almost 40F on the weekend.  It's not so bad when you can see daylight a few days away.

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It's cooling off now that the sun is down.  Windchill is in the -30s.  I have to go rub some ointment on the few chickens I have with single combs (this is the reason I switched to breeds with rose combs or pea combs - less chance of frostbite).  At least my rabbits don't seem bothered by the cold.  The escapee yard bunnies were out playing in the snow, and stealing the chicken feed, earlier.  I'm mildly annoyed that the HEATED waterers in the rabbit cages keep getting frozen nipples, and the top half of the bottles freeze despite the heaters on the bottom halves.  The bratty rabbits play tug of war with the ceramic bowls and spill all that water before it ever freezes.  Twerps.

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30 minutes ago, Mrs.Cicero said:

It's cooling off now that the sun is down.  Windchill is in the -30s.  I have to go rub some ointment on the few chickens I have with single combs (this is the reason I switched to breeds with rose combs or pea combs - less chance of frostbite).  At least my rabbits don't seem bothered by the cold.  The escapee yard bunnies were out playing in the snow, and stealing the chicken feed, earlier.  I'm mildly annoyed that the HEATED waterers in the rabbit cages keep getting frozen nipples, and the top half of the bottles freeze despite the heaters on the bottom halves.  The bratty rabbits play tug of war with the ceramic bowls and spill all that water before it ever freezes.  Twerps.

Yeah.  My 175 Watt bird bath heaters can't keep up when it gets below zero.  When it's cold and the water isn't frozen, it surprising how many Squirrels will climb the cast crane I have leaning into the water bowl, so they can get to the water to get a drink.  Taking in heat must make a difference.

The Squirrels aren't a problem for me.  The come from all over periodically during the day, clean up the bird seed on the ground, and when full leave the property.  Kind of cool to watch them mingle with the Morning Doves on the ground.

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I don't understand this Polar vortex thing. A polar vortex — the cold air and low pressure that constantly surrounds both of the Earth’s poles — has allowed bitter cold temperatures to drop much farther south than normal, and has slammed the Midwestern area of the U.S.

OK, but if it's bringing polar temperatures further south, how come it's happening in the Mid-west, but not in the North-west and the same distance south of the northern polar regions?

I'm located near Spokane Washington which is at a latitude of 47.658779 and the temperature is currently 30 degrees But in Grand Rapids MN where the Latitude is 47.2372 the temperature there is MINUS 24 degrees.

I've lived here for 20 years and winters are usually mild except it seems like about every 5 years we have a cold winter. The record low for this time of year was -19 degrees in January 1950. This winter, so far, is one of the mildest winters I've seen.

It's also warmer at the same latitude farther west closer to the pacific ocean but it doesn't seem to be any warmer farther east closer to the Atlantic ocean.

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23 minutes ago, Borg warner said:

OK, but if it's bringing polar temperatures further south, how come it's happening in the Mid-west, but not in the North-west and the same distance south of the northern polar regions?

The oceans warm the air.  Where's the middle between the Pacific and Atlantic?

The US's prevailing winds move weather patterns west to east.

It's all wrecked up because you use plastic straws.

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It is -11 and -36 in SE Michigan currently, the weather report on the news says Friday will be above freezing.

My Dobermans will be happy when this is over. They are like the energizer bunny on crack so being cooped up inside is rough for them. We put jackets on them once the temps hit single digits and after 4 or 5 minutes they are ready to go back inside today.

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1 hour ago, Huaco Kid said:

The oceans warm the air.  Where's the middle between the Pacific and Atlantic?

The US's prevailing winds move weather patterns west to east.

It's all wrecked up because you use plastic straws.

The oceans warm the air? So why is it that last year they were experiencing record low temperatures on the east coast? Here's an article from the associated press Sun 7 Jan 2018:

The blast of arctic air that has engulfed portions of the US east coast broke more cold temperature records in several cities on Sunday, although a warm-up was forecast for Monday. The National Weather Service (NWS) said the temperature in Worcester, Massachusetts, fell to -9F (-23C) on Sunday, breaking a record of -5F (-21C) set in 1942.

In Providence, Rhode Island, temperatures fell to -3 (-19C), breaking a record low of -1 (-18F) set in 1912. And in Hartford, Connecticut, the temperature dropped to -9F, smashing the previous record of 1F (-17C), also set in 1912. Boston tied a low-temperature record set more than a century ago, in 1896, of -2F (-19C).

Patrick Burke, a meteorologist with the NWS Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland, said the wind would not be as punishing on Sunday as it was on Friday and Saturday.

“With the wind dying down it will probably feel significantly better although many of these areas will still be below freezing,” Burke said.

Many north-east residents endured jaw-clenching temperatures and brutal wind chills on Saturday as clean-up continued from the storm that dropped as much as 18in (46cm) of snow in some places on Thursday.

Aviation crews at South Carolina’s busiest airport, Charleston International, struggled to clear runways of snow and ice so they could be reopened. In New England water main breaks, frozen hydrants and burst pipes created new problems for officials.

Boston was wrangling with a shortage of plumbers as the weather wreaked havoc on pipes that froze and cracked, Mayor Marty Walsh reported.

And this year, colder than normal temperature are predicted for the east coast once again, but not the West coast.

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Edited by Borg warner
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