It's beyond cold!

[giantsfan2016]

For the past week it has been beyond cold here in Connecticut. Last Sunday and Monday the 24th and 25th were the warmest days when it was almost 40. Ever since then the temperatures have been falling. Temperatures have been in the teens and factor in the wind and it feels like it's below zero. - Well below zero at night. It might get into the mid to upper 20s for a couple of days later this week, but they will plummet again. The 10 Day forecast NBC 30 puts out seems a little promising showing 30 and 32 for Monday the 8th and Tuesday the 9th. Never would I have believed that I would think 30 degrees would be warm. We get these really cold days in Connecticut from time to time every winter, but usually it's not this early in the winter season nor is it for this extended amount of time.

A friend of mine messaged me on Facebook this morning and asked me what my plans were for New Years Eve. I told him asleep by 7PM. LOL. (Not really). He told me he and his boyfriend were going to the Robin Thicke Concert at the casino, but his boyfriend's brother was going to First Night in Hartford. That's an all outdoor New Years Eve celebration they have every year that starts at 2PM. I don't know if this guy is brave or out of his effing stoner mind to be outside when the temperature will be Minus 5 with a wind chill of Minus 15-Minus 20. 

[JJBers]

Yesterday was horrible to take photos in Bristol. It was only 18 degrees outside, and just hours earlier where I live, it got down to 7 degrees.

[BillyGr]

A friend of mine messaged me on Facebook this morning and asked me what my plans were for New Years Eve. I told him asleep by 7PM. LOL. (Not really). He told me he and his boyfriend were going to the Robin Thicke Concert at the casino, but his boyfriend's brother was going to First Night in Hartford. That's an all outdoor New Years Eve celebration they have every year that starts at 2PM. I don't know if this guy is brave or out of his effing stoner mind to be outside when the temperature will be Minus 5 with a wind chill of Minus 15-Minus 20. 

Kind of surprising - the couple areas around here that have (or have had) First Night events had some stuff outside but many of the events were inside of various buildings around the city it was in.  So still some outside to get from one to another (though they offered a shuttle loop which helped for those spots farther apart) but not as bad as being outside the whole time.

Back to the cold - a local paper here asked people to post temps yesterday AM.  While most were local, there was a surprising number of people who posted from other areas and all were cold.
Ranging anywhere from 20 in WA state to -2 in IL to 25 in GA (and even 50's into FL which is on the cool side for them, if not as cold as what we have up here).  So not too much of the country that seems to be escaping the cold weather as of late.

[TheFugitive]

Here in Pittsburgh on Friday we're supposed to have a high of 8 with a low of -8.
That is pretty danged cold....colder than it's been in awhile.

Perhaps being one of the older guys here I can lend some perspective.
I remember frequently going to school in single-digit temps (and lower) here
in the late 1970's.  I remember sitting in class with my winter coat on because
President Carter had decreed that the thermostats were to be set at 55 to save
energy.

We had some very cold winters back then.  Worst I ever remember was Christmas week 1983 where we bottomed out at -20F.  I had a job at a Shop n Save store gathering carts, and it was brutal!  One cashier came to work in a festive holiday dress.  They put her at the register nearest the automatic doors, and after an hour she was turning blue!

I also remember January, 1985 when President Reagan's second inaugural had to be moved
indoors due to the extremely low temps.  I remember watching that in my room with blankets
tacked up over the windows to try and keep some heat in.

Later I would move to Michigan, where I would experience what locals claimed
were five of the mildest winters they could remember.  Certainly nothing matched that
-20 Christmas back in Pittsburgh.

On the good side a cold winter snap will reduce the bug population come Summer.

[giantsfan2016]

The last couple of days it has been in the 20s here in Connecticut, so it was a little better. Today (Thursday) we're getting out first major snowstorm of the winter season (8-14 inches statewide). Then we're going back into the deep freeze. Temperatures in the lower teens Friday and only 7 for the high on Saturday. Between Friday and Saturday the wind chills are expected to be 15-30 below zero. 30s are expected Monday and Tuesday.

Tallahassee and Jacksonville, Florida got a bit of snow yesterday. Savannah, Georgia and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina both got about 6 inches of snow as well.

Most importantly is even if the road is clear of snow down to blacktop you still need to keep your speed down as you never know where there can be a patch of ice as a friend of mine found out the hard way after a storm right before Christmas 2016. He was driving to work. The roads were down to blacktop, so he thought it would be okay to go over the speed limit like he normally does and he hit a patch of ice and went sliding into a curb knocking the SUV out of alignment.