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+--- Thread: IT'S COLD OUTSIDE (/showthread.php?tid=5109)
IT'S COLD OUTSIDE - Nobleone - 01-31-2019
The blast of Arctic air that brought record-breaking cold, causing at least a dozen deaths and canceling or delaying thousands of flights in the U.S. Midwest, spread eastward on Thursday, bringing frigid misery to the Northeast.
A forecast for warmer weather by the weekend offered little comfort to those enduring icy conditions, brutal winds and temperatures as low as minus 30 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 34 Celsius).
"This morning is some of the coldest of the temperatures across the Upper Midwest, and we still have some dangerous wind chills," Andrew Orrison, a forecaster for the National Weather Service, said in a phone interview.
In Minnesota and Upper Michigan, temperatures will be at minus 20F (minus 29C) on Thursday and parts of North Dakota can expect minus 30F, forecasters warned.
The bitter cold was caused by displacement of the polar vortex, a stream of air that normally spins around the stratosphere over the North Pole but whose current was disrupted. It pushed eastward and states including Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania experienced bitterly cold temperatures. The overnight low in Boston was at minus 5F (minus 21C), according to the National Weather Service.
"This morning is the worst of the worst in terms of the cold," Orrison said. "It'll be the coldest outbreak of Arctic air (so far this winter) for the Mid-Atlantic and the Northeast."
It has been more than 20 years since a similar Arctic blast covered a swath of the Midwest and Northeast, according to the weather service.
PHOTOS: Deadly deep freeze grips Midwestern U.S. »
The cold has caused at least 12 deaths since Saturday across the Midwest, according to officials and news media reports. Some died in weather-related traffic accidents, others from apparent exposure to the elements.
Videos this week showed boiling water freezing as it was tossed in the air in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and transit workers in Chicago setting fire to train tracks to keep them from locking up.
Even parts of the South, such as the mountains of Kentucky, Tennessee and upper Georgia, will be in the single digits, the weather service said.
More than 30 record lows were shattered across the Midwest. Some areas only saw a high of minus 10F (minus 23F) on Wednesday.
The lowest temperature recorded that day was minus 40F (minus 40C) in International Falls, Minnesota, just south of Canada. The city, dubbed the "Icebox of the Nation," saw temperatures drop another 5 degrees F early on Thursday.
U.S. homes and businesses used record amounts of natural gas for heating on Wednesday, according to preliminary results from financial data provider Refinitiv.
But the picture was set to change. By the weekend, Chicago, which experienced near-record cold of minus 23F (minus 30C) on Wednesday and minus 21F (minus 29C) on Thursday, was expected to bask in snow-melting highs in the mid-40s to low 50s Fahrenheit. So will other parts of the Midwest.
"It's going to feel quite balmy in comparison," Orrison said.
The weather caused hundreds of traffic accidents, including a chain-reaction collision of about two dozen cars in Grand Rapids, Michigan, during a whiteout on Wednesday, local media reported.
More than 2,500 flights were canceled and more than 3,500 were delayed on Thursday morning, most of them out of Chicago's O'Hare International and Midway International airports, according to the flight tracking site FlightAware.com.
General Motors Co suspended operations at 11 Michigan plants and its Warren Tech Center after a utility made an emergency appeal to users to conserve natural gas after extreme cold and a fire at a compressor station. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV also canceled a shift on Thursday at two of its plants
RE: IT'S COLD OUTSIDE - folken - 02-01-2019
General Motors Co suspended operations at 11 Michigan plants and its Warren Tech Center after a utility made an emergency appeal to users to conserve natural gas after extreme cold and a fire at a compressor station. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV also canceled a shift on Thursday at two of its plants
Cause I watch Detroit news this was huge around this area.
The fire caused a natural gas line to be shut and an emergency was put out by the gov for everyone to
turn their heat down to 65 or less << in the middle of the coldest days in decades >>
Fortunately the combination of extra gas from some other gas line; and plants and people turning down their use, a real crazy situation was averted.
Shows you how vulnerable we are to all the stuff that goes to make our homes comfortable.
Things back to normal now & line partially repaired. << now back to those water main breaks & pot holes >>
Folken
RE: IT'S COLD OUTSIDE - G.Elias - 02-01-2019
Have been reading and watching this crazy polar vortex thats affecting the US, sounds like something out of a sci fi movie but its horribly real.
I have worked in warehouse freezers down to -35 ( we do temps different here in the uk,not sure of other temp format and how low that would be on the old thermometer?), could not take your gloves off for more than 3-5 minutes before hand became painful, writing nigh impossible.
So having to cope with living 24/7 in -40 something is seriously dangerous if not prepared, something i bet many homeless folk had no way of preparing for it, lets hope folks rally round as i am sure they will and help those ill prepared for this polar vortex, people being told to stay indoors, but what if you have no indoors ?
Lets hope this passes quickly and the least amount of people are affected in any bad way, though i fear many may not survive something so intense as this.
Just wanted to say i hope anyone here who is in that polar vortex is safe and sound and is coping as well as they can, its only about - 5 at night here so nothing compared to whats happening in the US, stay safe everyone , time to put a little drop of whiskey or 2 into your coffee, just dont over do it, good luck.
RE: IT'S COLD OUTSIDE - Nobleone - 02-02-2019