Cold weather in the US south

I was not sure where to put this post so here it is. Today is the 3rd day in a row that it won't get above 30 degrees. Tonight, down to 12. Tomorrow back up to 40 and 55 and sunny by the weekend with an above freezing low.

My hat is off to you folks who live through colder weather than this all winter. Granted, this does not happen here often and it would be difficult to prepare for it but what a pain. I am having to water our animals 4x a day and had to abandon watering devices that usually last a week. My wife won't come out of our dwelling and my kids are telling me their fingers are not working when they are outside. I had to put our outside water filter device in front of the wood stove in the barn, with the wood stove door open, so it would thaw enough to provide water at the spout. I have a 5 gallon bucket that is half full of water and has pint mason jars in it that I did not get to washing and they are frozen in the ice. I just shut our water off at night and drain the pipes so I don't have to worry about bursting pipes.

I would guess part of this is just preference to be somewhere warm/hot most of the year. It is like a blast furnace here in the summer and besides evaporation, water stays in liquid form. I grew up in zone 6a and am now in 8a. I just can't imagine this for weeks or months in a row and I know if is not even that cold compared to some of you north of the border.

Again, you cold weather dwellers have my thoughts/prayers/respect.

If any of you wonderful permies ever want to snowbird here (just ignore the last 3 days of weather we had), I have full hookups on concrete for an RV.

It was -28F when I got up this morning. On a day like this, I'm just glad it's not -38! But honestly, I'm useless if it's above 75F outside, so I guess we each live where we belong. :)

Christopher Weeks wrote:It was -28F when I got up this morning. On a day like this, I'm just glad it's not -38! But honestly, I'm useless if it's above 75F outside, so I guess we each live where we belong. :)

I can't imagine. I know you acclimate to some extent but I just can't imagine ha!

I am sooooo glad precipitation is non existent this go around. The roads remain clear.  There is bread and milk at the grocery store, and my workplace is still getting customers. I'll get paid next week!

Christopher Weeks wrote:It was -28F when I got up this morning. On a day like this, I'm just glad it's not -38! But honestly, I'm useless if it's above 75F outside, so I guess we each live where we belong. :)

I'm much the same -- I can deal with cold (still a PITA) but too much heat and humidity knocks me flat.

-28F (-33C) is what  we refer to as "mighty fresh out there" in my household.

I have a daft theory that rugged individualism declines in a gradient north & south of about 37 degrees latitude.
South, the libertarians die of heat & thirst.  North, they freeze to death in winter.
:)

Douglas Campbell wrote:....
South, the libertarians die of heat & thirst.  North, they freeze to death in winter.
:)

 
And as if the plagues of summer mosquitoes aren't enough near the Canadian border, I've been swatting one or two in our house over the past several weeks.  Explain that one!  Maybe it won't be freezing or bird flu to get me here in northern Minnesota, but rather a winter mosquito carrying Dengue or West Nile Virus... lol  :-?  

I just thought I would add this in for context.  

I grew up in the plains of Central Illinois.  On the surface, it looks pretty boring.  But the temperature swings are pretty wild.  The summer highs easily get to and too 100 degrees Fahrenheit.  And oh, the suffocating humidity!  But somehow, even though no one likes it, we get passingly used to it.

The winters are another matter altogether.  It seems like every year growing up that we would get at least two nights where the low got at least as low as -20 Fahrenheit.  And that was based on a thermometer attached to the house right outside a window where I am sure that it was a little warmer due to heat escaping from the house.  For anyone doing the math, the temperature difference between the summer highs and winter low was about 120 Fahrenheit and could go even greater!

Where I live now, we definitely get more heat and humidity but nowhere near as much cold.  But personally I like the cold and miss it.  My hats off to all of you who can function so well in the extreme heat!

Eric