How y'all doin?

[Randy]

Been snowing every day here in Ohio. It hasn't been above 22 degrees for over a week. So far the new year seems brite, (the snow is blinding) and all is well here.

[mickeyobe]

Hi Randy,

You have pretty well described Toronto.
The cold weather alerts have been called off but it is still quite cold, well below freezing.
The snow is dry and light and easy enough to brush off the car. Although not to be measured in meters is still substantial and is not melting. Enough continues to fall to make the roads treacherous.
Lovely winter weather. I enjoy it. ;D
It sure beats a heat wave.
If I were a little younger I would go skiing or ice skating but I am afraid I am past that now.

Mickey

[John Parry]

Well after the floods... Now we have another problem. We have a 'maritime' climate here, but at the moment we have winds brewing up in Siberia, blowing westwards, turning sharp left and blowing all the way down the Scandinavian peninsular, gathering force across the North Sea, and hitting the depressions coming up from the Atlantic. So we're getting temperatures around 20F at night, 2 feet of snow, semi thaws, rain, re-freezing, snow, rain, re-freezing.

We're cool

Regards - John

ps We're having trouble with El Quaida - somebody needs to capture that El Nino sob and shoot him in the head!

[herron]

It's been cold for a while now. Snowing too, but just a dusting every day. They say there's a good sized storm coming that will pass south of us (into Ohio ... sorry, Randy).

I don't mind the cold and snow, as long as I don't have to be out in it. I've never been a winter sports enthusiast. My kids were, skiing, ice skating, etc. ... but two of them moved to Florida, and there's not much of that down there!

[PeterW]

Unlike Mickey I don't have any enthusiasm at all for snow or freezing conditions. I've long held the view that the only place for snow is on Christmas cards.

You may possibly have seen on world weather news that the UK is undergoing one of its periodic cycles of severe winters - well, severe for the UK anyway even if temperatures don't drop as low as in northern Canada and Russia.

The forecasters are predicting the coldest January and February for 20 years. Much of northen England is deep in snow as John said but, unusually, down in Kent we haven't had all that much. About six inches last week but the forecast is for severe snow and blocked main roads during the rest of this week and probably next week.

We're keeping warm enough indoors but my main concern is for my daughter in law Wendy who drives a big Hazchem box van for a firm that looks after safe environmental disposal of harmful chemical and clinical waste. Because the van carries a Hazchem (Hazardous Chemicals) sign she mustn't abandon it if it gets stuck or blocked in by stranded vehicles. She has to stay with it and wait in the cold till a recovery truck can clear the way for her to get going again.

She's a pretty good driver, so I don't think she'll get herself stuck, but if vehicles in front and behind her have skidded and blocked the road there isn't a lot she can do about it.

So far, this hasn't happened. We're keeping our fingers crossed.

PeterW

[alexkerhead]

Been below freezing in Alabama for a few days, and is predicted for another few. We ain't used to this!

Alabama has a high/low record of 100F temperature difference between the winter and summer seasons EVERY year!

I don't remember having a Fall season.

[Randy]

I remember the year that the Atlanta 500 was cancelled because the was 18 inches of snow on the race track. It was colder in Atlanta yesterday than it was here. The Weather Channel had Atlanta Georgia at 19 degrees and we had 26 here in northern Ohio.

They had the Ice Breaker out on Lake Erie today. Us Ohio guys are tough!

[mickeyobe]

PeterW,

Make sure Wendy has a cold weather survival kit.
It is easy to assemble and it does save lives.
Many sporting goods stores here carry them but DIY is just as good and often better.

***************************

Randy,

"Us Ohio guys are tough!"
Undoubtedly.
But also slightly demented.
Doesn't that naturist lumberjack know that trees don't grow in an ice covered stream?

*****************************

Al Gore,

Please explain this cold winter weather.



Mickey

[casualcollector]

30 degrees in Vero Beach, Florida this morning!!

[photax]

I am just freezing, looking at the pictured manually "Ice Breaker" !
1 degree C ( 33,8°F ) and about 4 inch snow in Vienna.
MIK

[John Parry]

The only thing this guy inherited from his father was a metal cash box with nothing in it. After opening it, he was so upset that he kicked it as hard as he could, and it ended in the river.

Years later, on an icy cold winter's day, he went to his old children's hidey-hole for old time's sake, and to his astonishment he found a note from his father. It said "Son - you always thought we were poor, but it wasn't always like that. In my youth I was a tearaway, and I got involved in a number of bank robberies. When I married your mother, she made me promise that I would never, ever, use my ill-gotten gains, so the $15 million dollars I had stolen got stashed away in a Swiss bank account. By now, I've no doubt you'll be using my old cash box for keeping your important papers in, but I have to tell you son, that on the bottom of that cash box I've written the number of that Swiss bank account..."

Regards - John

[Randy]

LOL!

[Rachel]

Heavy snow here in Norfolk, UK. Tried to start the car on Tuesday but battery too low so I've got it on charge at the moment ... not that I intend to go out on the roads No sign of the bad weather abating

[nikonbob]

The UK folks have my sympathy for what they are having to deal with. From here it does not look too bad but when you are dealing with a once in 30 years experience there is simply not enough of the the right type of equipment to deal with the road conditions nor the experience drivers need to cope with it. Even here it takes drivers a couple of snowfalls to remember the lessons from last winter. Mickey had a good idea about a winter survival kit being in the car. Once you are stuck it could mean the difference between being just uncomfortable and in extreme cases freezing to death. I hope the winter torture ends soon for you. You know the idea of snow only appearing on Christmas cards is not such a bad idea.

Bob

[Deleted]

Sunny here today--just above freezing. The temperature is supposed to drop again, however.