I'm ready for it, got my heavy winter gear out and sitting between the door and the wood stove. Wood's already stacked in the hopper and stocking up on the veggies today. Warm, wet, windy ski down to town but I'll fill up the sled and be back by dark and then hibernate for the duration. Should get around -35F to -50F (night-time temps and maybe -1F for the daily highs) or colder by Thursday. No big deal here, happens a few times just about every winter.

For everyone else, bundle up and stock up on whatever you need for a few days!

Of course, it's not common for us to have 0 degree or below temps in the valleys.

it still sucks. On the bright side, subzero temps keep the creepy-crawly population down. There's only so far south I'm willing to move, mainly because of bugs.

Winter should really begin earlier than the middle of winter. Other cultures used the cross-quarter days for season demarcation, a closer fit to be sure. On that schedule, winter is Halloween to Valentine's Day, more or less. This fits the length of the day better, and June would be Summer instead of Spring until the solstice.

What are you talking about? That's barely cold enough to put away my flip-flops yet

i'm in the northern part of colorado and the freeze is not unusual, but it doesn't generally come until after christmas.

and hope for measurable rain.