Extreme temperatures colder than Antarctica grip parts of the US

[David48atTD]

Temperatures in Buffalo dipped down to -19C


A deadly deep freeze has swept across the US Midwest, plunging temperatures to lower than those in Antarctica and prompting authorities to warn of almost instant frostbite.

Key points:

• The mercury in parts of the Midwest dipped below -31.7C, the temperature recorded at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station
• In northern Illinois, wind chill made the air feel like -49.4C
• At least six deaths have been linked so far to the weather system

As of Wednesday morning local time, more than seven in 10 Americans were experiencing below-freezing conditions, and the icy weather triggered widespread closures of schools and businesses and the cancelling of more than 1,600 flights from Chicago.


Whiteout conditions kept many indoors.

At least six deaths have been linked so far to the weather system, and authorities urged people to stay inside during what experts have described as "the coldest air in a generation".

The bitter cold is the result of a split in the polar vortex that allowed temperatures to drop much farther south than normal.
That meant temperatures in parts of the Midwest were lower than in Antarctica, where the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station hit -31.7 degrees Celsius — balmy compared to Fargo, North Dakota's -35C and Minneapolis' -32C, according to the National Weather Service.


Morning commuters battle through cold weather in Chicago.


Snowploughs were idled overnight because of the cold in south-western Minnesota, where temperatures dropped to -34C. In Chicago, temperatures were still dropping after plunging early on Wednesday to -28C, breaking the day's previous record low set in 1966 — and colder than the weather in Barrow, Alaska, the most northern town in the US.

And that does not include wind chill, which in northern Illinois made the air feel as cold as -49.4C.
The National Weather Service warned a wind chill of -45C "can lead to frostbite on exposed skin in as little as five minutes".

Officials throughout the region were focused on protecting vulnerable people from the cold, including the homeless, seniors and those living in substandard housing. Some buses were turned into mobile warming shelters to help the homeless in Chicago.

"These [conditions] are actually a public health risk and you need to treat it appropriately," Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said.
"They are life-threatening conditions and temperatures."


(where is DJPat ... he would would have liked this one)
Authorities in Chicago used gas-fired switch heaters on train tracks to stop them freezing over.


(But the worst thing) ...

The cold weather was even affecting beer deliveries, with a pair of western Wisconsin distributors saying they would delay or suspend shipments for fear beer would freeze in their trucks.

[Chittychangchang]

DJPat is busy with his snow plough at the moment...

[SKkin]

The mercury in parts of the Midwest dipped below -31.7C, the temperature recorded at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station
In northern Illinois, wind chill made the air feel like -49.4C

Yeah it's colder than a welldigger's ass here, but I'm pretty sure those temps should have an F behind them and not a C. Not that it makes that much difference...

[Maanaam]

Yeah it's colder than a welldigger's ass here, but I'm pretty sure those temps should have an F behind them and not a C. Not that it makes that much difference...

Not much difference. -49F is -45C. -49C is -56F!

[VocalNeal]

Meanwhile in Canada. The beach volleyball season has started.

[Cujo]

[Cujo]

[SKkin]

Not much difference. -49F is -45C. -49C is -56F!

Either way it's damned cold...

But only for a few days. By Sunday it's supposed to be 57F here.

[David48atTD]

---

Meanwhile, in Australia which is experiencing an extreme heat-wave and accompanying water shortage ...

'Number one' never so surprising

Ms Richards was not so lucky.
She said she had become the "butt of many jokes" as the "story about the snake and my bottom had gone around the world".




Ms Richards did not notice what was coiled up in the toilet bowl when she sat down for a number one last Tuesday.
"It was in the afternoon, the toilet was a little bit dark and I didn't bother to have a look," she said.


"I was doing some ironing and went and sat down and felt this tap on my bottom and this sharp pain.
"It didn't hurt very much. I jumped up and thought 'what the heck was that?'

"I dispelled the frog theory. I turned around to see this ... it did look like a long-neck turtle, receding back down into the toilet."

She described it as "this great big thing with beady eyes looking up at me".
"I had to contain it, so I closed the lid carefully and put a couple of pot plants on top," she said.


Ms Richards called a snake catcher, deciding against trying to get it out herself.
"Have you ever tried to flush a turd that big down the s-bend," she asked.

[fishlocker]

"I had to contain it, so I closed the lid carefully and put a couple of pot plants on top," she said.

Pot plants? Use 'em if you got 'em I guess.

Maybe she could have calmed the thing down a bit if she'd have lit a bud and dropped it between the lid.

Having never seen the woman though I can just imagine what the poor beast thought as a big harry ass bore down on it.

[fishlocker]

Oh, as for the weather it has been a bit cold -20f now. I was thinking about doing some ice fishing soon now that I know the pond is finally froze.

True the homeless shelters are not turning anyone away from what I heard. If your outside and not dressed properly it'll kill you pretty quick. Figuring in the wind chill factor they said it was like - 50*F the other day.

[fishlocker]

I just checked, the crapper isn't froze over.

Oh shit, didn't see the snake on the tank. Got lucky I guess.

[fishlocker]

http://www.milwaukeeindependent.com/...r-bear-plunge/

Hows that for a start of the new year.

[buriramboy]

Ain't global warming a bitch.

[harrybarracuda]

I turned around to see this ... it did look like a long-neck turtle, receding back down into the toilet.

Yeah, I've had that. Another one looked like a chocolate Graf Spee, slipping its way to Davy Jones locker.

[Klondyke]

I was some 20 years ago in these days to Chicago for few days, not a record winter temperatures but terrible anyway. Having a ticket to Colorado on the way back to Thailand, however, after learning how the power outage looms everywhere, better changed it directly to California and hurry back to the warm Thailand.

[David48atTD]

Lake Michigan?s freezing waves wallop participants at 2019 Polar Bear Plunge | The Milwaukee Independent

Hows that for a start of the new year.

Miss red knickers ... I would

[Cujo]

[fishlocker]

It allways happens when the conditions are their best.

So last night about midnight I feel it getting cold. Outside sure, but in my living room? Not cool.

So I go downstairs to check the furnace. Sure enough it's out. It had been firing regularly but now LOI.

With the temp upstairs down to 63* Fahrenheit nothing one could do but light the wood burning stove to get us through the night.

After breakfast I called around locally and no one had the proper ignitor. I finally found one in the brew town for 43usd. So I was off to get this much needed device.

Stopped at a few places on the way back for a few supplies and am happy to say upon my return the house is 80*F via the wood burning stove.

Now I just have to put this bad boy in so I can get back to my sweet spot of 74*F.

What sucks is I could have been ice fishing. It's a steamy 15*f, clear skys and crisp clean air and no wind but that's life. Deal with it.

Fish

[fishlocker]

Bam, back in the game!

[David48atTD]

US counts the cost as polar vortex retreats, with temperatures to rise by 30C



Dangerous freezing conditions that hit the northern US this week have retreated, but not before exacting a human toll: more than two dozen weather-related deaths in eight states, and hundreds of injuries, including frostbite, broken bones and heart attacks.

Key points:

• Temperatures will become "spring-like", according to weather experts
• There are concerns the rapid shift could lead to bursting pipes, flooding rivers and crumbling roads
• Meteorologists linked the brutal cold to a cap of icy air that usually swirls over the North Pole

Twenty-six people are known to have died from weather-related causes, including a motorist who died during a snowstorm on Friday and others who died in unheated homes or while shovelling snow.

In Illinois alone, hospitals reported more than 220 cases of frostbite and hypothermia since Tuesday, with overnight temperatures in affected areas plunging to -34 degrees Celsius or lower, sending the wind chill down to -45C or worse in some places.

"I definitely saw more frostbite than I've ever seen in my entire career just in the last three days," Andrea Rowland-Fischer, an emergency department physician working in Minneapolis, said.