North American weather

chinstrap

chinstrap

Active member
Just a thought for those of you in the US and Canada who are enduring the horrendous weather we’re seeing over here on the news. Apparently the technical term is a ‘polar vortex’.

2 inches of snow and a couple of degrees below freezing stops the country moving in Britain!

Look after yourselves- and your helmets !

Patrick
 
Thanks, the worst is about over, we got down to -32 degrees F with -60 below windchill, coldest I remember since being a kid, when these type of temps where more normal.


James
 
Patrick's quite right , we can't deal with the cold very well over here in the UK . That windchill sounds horrendous . I think its best if you send your collection over here to me for the winter , i promise they'll get sent straight back in the spring the same bar a little drool.
 
It has been cold, but the snow storm earlier in the week worried me more. I was in Las Vegas for work last week and my wife, my father and I opted to drive home from Denver, Colorado to Michigan on Sunday/Monday straight through. That was 22 hours but we got home just hours before the snow came in! Better to drive all night than have to deal with the snow storm all day.
 
It has been cold, but the snow storm earlier in the week worried me more. I was in Las Vegas for work last week and my wife, my father and I opted to drive home from Denver, Colorado to Michigan on Sunday/Monday straight through. That was 22 hours but we got home just hours before the snow came in! Better to drive all night than have to deal with the snow storm all day.
 
Fortunately, my wife and I are wintering in Florida over the worst winter months so we have escaped the brutal temps back home in Ontario. One of the many benefits of retirement. As usual, we will be attending the SOS and I look forward to meeting up with all my forum friends in Louisville.
 
One of the fun things that came out of the cold, was I got to show my kids how you can through a pan of boiling water in the air outside, and it will instantly freeze, and it worked!

James
 
I worked overnight that cold evening of Tuesday, February 26th, from 7 pm to 7 am. It was -31 F at 1:15 a.m. when a co-worker and I went out to start our vehicles and let them run for about 25-minutes. When we got off at 7 a.m., it was -33 F, and the wind was still pummeling us at 30+ to 40 miles per hour outside of town in the country where I work. There is no protection from the fierce northwest winds in the parking lot! My car and my co-workers pickup truck both started o.k. when we got off work.

The official windchill was said to be -48 F.

Several people at work had cars that wouldn't start.

The US Postal Service did not deliver here in Iowa that day because of the cold. First time I ever remember that happening.

Best Regards,

Alan
 
We were forecasted to get 6 inches (15cm) of snow with the storm and got none, but yesterday the forecasted flurries amounted to 2 inches (3.33 cm). The Philadelphia area is lucky when it comes to weather, storms from the west usually pass north of us and those from the south head out to sea before they get here. Past two days temp has been around 15º F (9.5ºC). First day 30 mph (48 kph) winds and it was awful out, second no wind and it was tolerable. Biggest problem I have with this type of weather is the wife finds things for me to do around the house.
 
Those of you in Europe need to be aware that the American news outlets are always reporting in a way to make the weather look much worse than it really is. Fake news has been around for a long time. -33F is about the same as -37C, it is cold, but not uncommon. Most of the news people have only been reporting for the past 5 to 10 years and do not remember that this type of weather happens about every 20 years. They always report the wind chill which makes it sound even worse. Wind chill only is a problem to exposed skin and does not really make it that bad. The news even reported that it was so cold that the railroads had to light the tracks on fire to keep them from freezing. The news media never noticed that the railroads do the same thing anytime that snow or ice can build up in the frogs on the tracks, but they do report it now to make things sound so much worse.
 
joerookery said:
Sensationalism sells!
Click to expand...

It does, and I should not complain about they sensationalizing the weather, at least they are not paying sick people to murder a lot of children when the weather is bad.
 
Gustaf said:
Those of you in Europe need to be aware that the American news outlets are always reporting in a way to make the weather look much worse than it really is. Fake news has been around for a long time. -33F is about the same as -37C, it is cold, but not uncommon. Most of the news people have only been reporting for the past 5 to 10 years and do not remember that this type of weather happens about every 20 years. They always report the wind chill which makes it sound even worse. Wind chill only is a problem to exposed skin and does not really make it that bad. The news even reported that it was so cold that the railroads had to light the tracks on fire to keep them from freezing. The news media never noticed that the railroads do the same thing anytime that snow or ice can build up in the frogs on the tracks, but they do report it now to make things sound so much worse.
Click to expand...

I worked in a newsroom and I can attest that the day starts with figuring out what will draw attention. More than once I heard, "we could use a plane crash about now." This is common.

This isn't so much "fake news" as it just isn't really that newsworthy, but there is only so much politics that will get people to tune in. But I can predict the future too... soon we'll hear about spring flooding, a drought or two and then of course extreme heat!
 
I would point out something which also relates....if you want to sell newspapers, you need eye catching/blazing headlines. Magazines, comic books...the front cover is everything (think Playboy) if you want sales. The front cover/title of any modern book is designed with great deliberation to attract the consumer. Look at the Brit tabloids, The National Enquirer, etc everyone with any sense has known that these were less than truthful...it's gossip and entertainment. I never really believed that Elvis was alive! Anyway, we need a free press but we also must realize that there is no free press without sales, people have to be paid. Consequently, there has always been some media distortion and manipulation in order to get people to tune in or buy.
 
The temperature turn around without any wind chill in less than a week's time has about 85 Degrees F. At minus -33 Degrees last Wednesday, it was 52 Degrees F. today. Our snow is almost gone, with mostly bare ground to see her. Sounds like we'll get more snow on Tuesday to make up for it.

Best Regards,

Alan
 
joerookery wrote: ↑Sun Feb 03, 2019 8:14 pm
I never really believed that Elvis was alive!
Sacrilege :thumbsdown:
I am pretty sure I saw him pan handling in Las Vegas a few years ago.
Click to expand...

He was in the Marine second division during the gulf war.
 
62ºF (16.6ºC) here today, went driving with the top down on the car. I drive a convertible because you can't wear a spiked helmet in a coupe.
 
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