January 16, 2009

-17°.

State Street

(Temperature is right now. Photo is from a couple days ago, one of the few times I've ventured out of the house in the past week.)

28 comments:

TMink said...

7 degrees here in Nashville. They closed the schools.

I kid you not.

Trey

traditionalguy said...

Someone alert Henry Waxman. This Global Freezing has to be stopped by the US Congress' Super Powers while people are still alive up there.. We do have room for the intelligent ones down South. We'll keep a light on for you Professor.

AllenS said...

I presently have -26º. When I awoke at 3:30 it was -28º. So, things are looking better. Today the local schools are closed, as they were yesterday, with about the same temps. It's like a giant kick in the groin, with a cold boot.

Hoosier Daddy said...

7 degrees here in Nashville. They closed the schools.

It was minus 10 here in Indy today and my daughter's school was closed too.

It's like a giant kick in the groin, with a cold boot.

I hear you. It's not that cold here but cold enough to where I've been in the office for an hour and my testicles finally dropped.

Now I can get to work.

AllenS said...

It's time to get dressed and head outside to feed the cats, then to the barn to throw the horse some hay, then down the driveway to the mail box, and finally out to the shop and get a fire started in the wood burner.

Shanna said...

We're in the middle of a terrible cold snap in Arkansas. It's 17.

And we actually had some flurries yesterday!

Original Mike said...

7 degrees here in Nashville.

Heat wave.

Bissage said...

Dear Fellow Althousians,

I now swear to you a BLOOD OATH, that if it ever turns -20 degrees outside, I will remove my clothing, drench myself with water, run outside and roll on the ground for two minutes, and then I will run back inside and rub myself all over with course grit sandpaper.

Yep . . . that’s right . . . I had my fingers crossed.

Harsh Pencil said...

-22F this morning. (Not windchill). Schools open.
We don't close schools in Minnesota for cold, although
one school district closed their schools because their green biodiesel buses wouldn't work at these temps.

Hoosier Daddy said...

Al Gore was not available for comment.

Tibore said...

"TMink said...
7 degrees here in Nashville. They closed the schools.

I kid you not.

Trey"


Ohmigod. As much as I hate the cold - and 7 degrees is damn cold - they closed the schools? Where I'm at in Indiana, at the moment I'm typing this (9:15am), it's currently -9 degrees F. And at Indiana University in Bloomington, the campus status is "Normal".

However, area schools are on a delay (2 hours, from what I see on a local radio station's website).

"Hoosier Daddy said...
It was minus 10 here in Indy today and my daughter's school was closed too...
"

Huh. I didn't know Indy closed their schools today until I looked. Didn't expect that. A delay maybe, but I didn't see an actual closing coming. I think it's a good idea, however.

And yeah, this morning was just... messed up. My car cranked sooooooo slow. I actually took a very roundabout way to work, just to warm it up some more and make sure the battery had a decent charge in it.

Hoosier Daddy said...

And yeah, this morning was just... messed up. My car cranked sooooooo slow

Well my Ford started right up without a hiccup. The problem I had was trying to get my garage door to open.

John Althouse Cohen said...

Get your if-global-warming-is-real-then-why-is-it-cold humor right here.

Paul said...

It's been cold here in Norcal (for us at least) until recently, but now we're having a record warm spell. It's been in the 70s and even hit 80 degrees on Monday. That's why we stay in this crazy state with all its leftist imbeciles.

I've lived back East and you couldn't pay me enough to endure that masochistic existence again.

AllenS said...

Harsh Pencil--

You may want to check this out for MN school closings:

http://wcco.com/schoolclosings

There seems to be quite a few.

traditionalguy said...

A stray thought for the frigid denizens of the Siberian-like parts of the upper mid-west: Only Sarah Palin truly understands your pain this winter.

former law student said...

And yet it was warm enough in Racine on Tuesday for the mayor to meet a "14 year old girl" in the food court of the mall.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/37649499.html

Maybe the cold freezes people's brains: Becker fell under suspicion in December when he brought a home computer for a city computer tech to fix, and the tech found child pornography on it.

LouisAntoine said...

Hey, it's called climate change, not global warming. See, it's not that hard to understand: buildup of man-made gasses in the atmosphere are causing CHANGES that will disturb thousands of years of human, plant, and animal patterns of settlement. Like, the jet stream could change or cease, leading to super-cold winters in Europe. It will be very disruptive and destructive. IT DOESN'T MEAN IT'S SUPPOSED TO GET HOTTER EVERY PLACE. Dumbasses.

Tibore said...

"Hoosier Daddy said...
Well my Ford started right up without a hiccup. The problem I had was trying to get my garage door to open."


You got a garage. I don't. Poor car's just out in the open air, freezing it's tailpipes off.

Thank God Grand Prix's got seat heaters. I can't tell you how addicted I am to that one option.

Palladian said...

"Hey, it's called climate change, not global warming."

Oh is that what it's called now. How... convenient.

Tibore said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Tibore said...

/it's/ /its/... Gaaaah! I should spellcheck before submitting.

chuck b. said...

Ah, new photography! More please! (Note that I said please.)

sonicfrog said...

Mort, it WAS Global Warming until just a year ago... when it started to become apparent that there was a lack of extreme warming predicted... er, I mean project by scenarios A and B of the climate models used by the IPCC and Prof. Hansen. Those scenarios most closely match the current CO2 gas concentration, but the actual observed temps are currently below scenario C. This is nothing more than changing the language to match the observed outcome. Using the new mantra of "climate change" how can you tell if the current unusually cold weather or the new big heat wave is a man made phenomenon, or simply a matter of natural variation? YOU CAN"T. But that's the beauty of this young field - no matter what happens, it's impossible to disprove, because ANY change can be pinned on it. That's a problem for this science, because if you can't disprove it, then it's not science.

PS. Not all climate science is a fraud, and yes, the extra CO2 will have some effect on the general climate. But it is not, and never has been shown to be the dominant driver in world climate. And please, don't come back with Michael Mann's tree ring circus "The Hockey Stick". That thing stinks on ice.

Chip Ahoy said...

I have serious photography-related questions that are burning in my soul. Possibly in my mind.

How does the camera function in such cold temperatures? Are the lenses automatic focus? Do the lens motors slow? Is shutter affected. How do your fingers work the camera controls when it's so cold? Does the glass fog due to extreme temperature change by being brought inside? How do you carry the camera? How do you walk on ice and still protect the camera?

I have searched the internets for answers to these questions and found incomplete and contradictory and so unsatisfactory answers. This leaves me puzzled.

Unrelated to cameras, I bought retro ice trays that come with a crank to assist in lifting out the cubes. The crank handle in the down position produces rhomboidal shaped ice so I'm freezing them with the crank handle in the up position. This causes them not to fit in the freezer because the freezer is small and already stuffed with other things. I put the trays on the balcony and keep changing the water hoping for a freezing night. I've been doing this for over a month. I've seen icicles out there a few times but my trays haven't frozen. It does occasionally dip to below 32℉ but by the time I get to them it's warmed up. It's been weirdly warm in Denver so far all winter. It's presently 49℉, which in dry atmosphere at altitude, is nearly t-shirt weather. This compels me to ask Al Gore, "Can't something be done about this Global Warming?"

This whole thing reminds me of a famous phrase made famous by that famous phrase maker, Mark Twain, "Everybody talks about the weather but the only people who do anything about it are seriously invested." Or something like that.

How God-like, when you think about it, to imagine we have the influence and the power of a sun! Are we working with divinity here or are we substituting ourselves for it? Are we making the same mistake mythology and religion has Satan himself making -- substituting ourselves for God? The arrogance is astounding.

One last thing. Have you seen the video of Gore receiving the Nobel prize? Now, there's a lovely party for you. His smile is touching. He smiles the smile of a person well-pleased. Pleased with himself. Pleased he's getting his due reward. Pleased everybody acknowledges how well he's done. This can be all be read on his posture and his visage. The pomp of the ceremonies makes one wonder, if the recipient of various awards took the messages that led to the bestowal of those awards seriously, wouldn't the message maker have lived the message? It seems to me Al Gore missed perfect opportunities to drive the message by troubling himself to appear at award ceremonies, flying around the globe to get there. How effective teleconferencing could have been. No. There was something about being present to bask in the glow of praise and glory that was far too important to be missed for the mere show of living what one preached. Would you reasonably follow a preacher who didn't live the preaching?

blake said...

Monty is being totally super-serial right now.

TitusPapaDon'tPreach! said...

It was cold in New York today but nothing like that. New Yorkers are pussies about their weather. Rain, snow, cold, hot-big pussies.

When I was home for Christmas in Wisconsin those cheeseheads just deal with it. Bad roads, fuck it. Snow, who gives a fuck. Awful temperatures, no big deal.

Although many of the cheeseheads have an extra layer of blubber.

Kev said...

That picture is beautiful! If you send Christmas cards, I nominate that one for next year...