Thanks, Bill, Sean, and Rush for keeping me informed!

or should that be brian wahsing???

Just thinking about that is giving me the chills... NO, really.

Cold snaps like this are rare. . .keep kerosene in the house, food easily prepared, spend a little time to warm up your car and keep that hot water heater insulated and there won't be a problem.

Make sure the fire doesn't go out too. We used a coal stove to heat the house when I was a kid.

We went through this about 20 years ago, when I still lived in Ohio. The kids missed two entire weeks of school, the ground stayed frozen and scores of people were in area ER's with broken bones and head injuries from falling on the ice. It never got above around -10 F during the day the entire two weeks, so you could imagine the nights. I worked nights back then so we wouldn't need to pay a sitter. I dealt with it, but it was really hard. I was just there the middle of December and I thought I would freeze to death and it never got down to anything like this. I think I've been in California too long, can't take the cold anymore. Or maybe I'm finally getting old. I do hope it's the former.

It was 17 degrees F here this morning just north of Tokyo, and I was feeling cold. Brrrrr. I had to soak in a Japanese bath for a half hour or so to get warmed up. Fortunately, Japanese baths have a heater that can warm up the water when it gets too cool.

I so want a bathtub and I will probably never have one. Around here people scream if you waste water. I will be stuck with a shower the rest of my life, unless I leave the city...and even than, in California its hard to find a place with a bathtub any more. People scream YOU ARE WASTING WATER.... than why aren't they RUNNING OUT OF WATER IN JAPAN??? ...

bleh.

Mine is kind of like this one. The panel above the tub is for controlling the water temperature, among other functions.
気持ちいい。。。

Just freezing, not making commentary about science, and looking for warmer places to vacay.

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Not saying global warming is a good thing...plus the toon is wrong because aerosols affect the ozone layer and it's CO2 that's responsible for global warming...but it's funny just the same for those of us living in cold climates.

It's slowly inching closer to Dayton, OHIO. I'm in the country about 30 miles NW.

Still 34degrees F. Supposed to get 7-10 inches of wet snow mixed with possibly some rain. I think the rain will be S of Dayton.

That's just what we need. A mixture of rain and snow then below zero temps for a few days.

I'm glad we don't have to go anywhere for the next week. My wife went to town today to take care of some shopping and other things. She said the stores were almost out of milk and bread and store personnel in a couple of stores said they weren't this busy on Black Friday. One store (ALDI) that was out of bread said they just got a shipment at 10:30am they were also out of milk. My wife was there at noon. She went to Krogers and they were low on bread and only had 1% milk.

At least she didn't have to go to Sprawlmart.

So we're stocked up on people and cat food for our fur babies for at least the next week.

As long as the power doesn't go out, we're good.

Stay warm and safe everyone that's in the path of this storm. Don't forget the outside pets.

One of our neighbors built a shelter shelter for some neighborhood stray cats with some insulation and a heat lamp borrowed from us.

But it would be nice if Trump's mouth froze permanently shut

like possoms.

The migration of and infestation by parasitic beetles and insects is a consequence of global warming. Insects can shift habitat faster than trees can and faster than habitats can change to adapt to invasion.

hitchiking, in the case of emerald ash borers, zebra mussels, spiny water flea and others. Invasive plant material was mostly introduced on purpose, many times as an ornamental plant. Native species migrating, such as oppossums, could be the result of milder winters.

this cold snap should do it pretty good.

the over all trend for the month of January will be WARMER .. even with this cold stint ...

right back to above average temps in my area within the week it looks like

in Canada. Stay inside in extreme cold weather. Remember if the temperature is very low, cars may have trouble starting up.

Exposed skin (cheeks, ears) freezes quickly.. cover up; if nothing else put several pairs of socks over your hands.. Cover ears, cheeks and head with anything..to keep warm.

You want to create a space for breathing warm air, as in wrapping your scarf around your face so you breathe into a space that is somewhat warm, rather than breathing the freezing air directly into your lungs. (if you have to go outside)

Inside a home, to prevent water damage from frozen water piping, drain water from the outdoor hose after turning off the water connection to that outdoor water tap.

In my older home the basement is not insulated. Our forced air heating has vents to the basement that I insured were open to keep the furnace warmer.. and the water pipes. I gently placed cardboard between water pipes that were close to outdoor walls and the wall to prevent them freezing in the extreme cold.

My Dad used to allow the cold water taps in the kitchen and bathroom sinks to drip occasionally into a sink, in extreme cold weather, to help prevent the cold water in the pipe from freezing. Insure the drain is open if you do this.

Good luck to all...

Preparing for draught year already.

And drafty (draughty in English English) means more difficulty fighting wildfires.

Drought (lack of rain) can be a problem too.

Any wood heating: use a Carbon MONOXIDE detector. Don't burn anything else.

Do not burn charcoal or anything else inside an enclosed structure: it will generate Carbon Monoxide. You can burn coal in specially designed coal heaters with proper exhaust and proper cleaning of the exhaust flues.

Make sure your wood fireplace draws well. Do not burn wood in anything except a properly designed and maintained wood stove or fireplace. Even then make sure your Carbon Monoxide detector has good batteries and tests properly.

Do not run a generator inside a enclosed structure with humans, not even a garage. The exhaust contains deadly Carbon Monoxide.

Carbon Monoxide kills with no warning. You lose consciousness without realizing it and then there is no hope; you are dead and gone. It has no smell. It is colorless. It only takes very small quantities measured in parts per million to kill (OSHA limits exposure to 50 ppm).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_monoxide_poisoning

Uncleaned chimneys contain a coating of flammable wood volatiles (looks like tar) that can catch fire if it gets thick enough. This superheats the chimney bricks and usually leads to ignition of the surrounding walls or roof.

....we're predicted to get down to -7 by Tuesday morning. Much colder on the ridges and mountain tops. BUT, by next Saturday, we rocket into the low 50's! It simply increased weather variability as the climate adjusts to a new, warmer normal.

That was Sat. Banked the corner of the house where all the plumbing is with straw bales wrapped in plastic yesterday.

Moved all of my goats out of various pens and into pens bedded down with straw in the barn.