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Just got a call from an observer in Thornhult Minnesota, northern Minnesota north of Bemidji....-40F this morning. They were out at 4 am unthawing their propane heater. I work for the NWS Office in Grand Forks ND
Good god! -40??????? I wouldnt go out in anywhere near that cold unless it was a medical emergency and it better be brief cause I have less than a minute before I freeze at -40! How could those people go out? Wear some sort of special high tech termal suit? Its not everyday you see -40 so yes that is a very strange arctic cold front!
Good god! -40??????? I wouldnt go out in anywhere near that cold unless it was a medical emergency and it better be brief cause I have less than a minute before I freeze at -40! How could those people go out? Wear some sort of special high tech termal suit? Its not everyday you see -40 so yes that is a very strange arctic cold front!
It's not too horrible if you walk quickly for your heated house to a heated car.
When I was a kid in 7th Grade I was forced outside for 50 minutes after lunch with windchills at -40 F, afternoon high at -30 F. The TV warned exposed flesh can freeze in 12 seconds.
But I wore 3 pairs of pants, 3 shirts, maybe snow pants on top, a thick winter coat, thick gloves, put those thick gloves into my coat pockets, wore a thick winter hat and tied a thick scarf around my face only leaving a small opening to see, like the Muslim women in the Middle East.
I handled 50 minutes of those horrible temps well enough. No injury, just a lot of goosebumps.
That was before I became extra sensitive to cold, but I thought you might want to know HOW people can handle it.
If you dress properly it is easy to handle very cold temps for short periods of time. Thermal underwear, layers of materials (silk is a great material for layering warmth), polar fleece (the wind resistant kind is great), Gortex keep you dry, good boots, and don’t leave any skin exposed. It is much easier to keep warm with today’s materials like the fleece and Gortex!
I agree that this isn’t strange at all, just winter. We are used to cold snaps. The good thing is when it gets unusually cold, it doesn’t last forever.
So if you lived in Oil City, what would your Themostat be set at now???
So NAH, if you lived in Oil City now, what do you think your thermostat would be set at now????
As others have said, these cold snaps are part of a normal weather pattern. In general this has still been a mild winter for the most part. First really cold weather many places have seen. Is why many people come to Florida and put up with the hassles of the natives.
It is really why you must have excellent insulation in a northern climate. Without it, you would freeze no matter what the thermostat is set at, plus your fuel bills would be out of sight. What do you think of the idea of setting the thermostat to 50F and trying to live there now???
Will this change your views on what to look at when buying a house?? It is not only insulation but quality of doors, windows and the entire air tight envelope around a particular house.
Do you still want an old house??? Do you expect it to be super air tight??? How will you inspect to ensure it is???? Do you still want some super big old barn that you must heat. Remember the bigger the house the better. Do you think shutting off a few rooms would be a good solution??? Remember it is now the real World.
Nothing like a dose of reality to see what the real World is like. My sister says it is -3 F in Columbiana but with a good house it hasn't been too bad. School has been cancelled for the past few days. Lot of watching TV.
I am still in Florida. Have gone to long sleeve shirts, getting ready to head home in a couple of weeks, hoping that heat wave is over in Ohio by then, maybe get in playing some basketball today. BTW my thermostat in Ohio was set at 53 F but all the water had been drained, hoping things didn't get too bad. Should have been Ok. You really have to know what to do in a cold climate based on experience.
You should also note on that map, it is not just how far North you are but the location of those wavy lines on the map. SE Ohio can be a lot warmer than the rest of Ohio. Usually like 15 - 20 degrees. The details count when it gets cold.
I would expect if you ever get your own house a lot of this type reality will rear its ugly head on many occasions. Expecially if you get some ancient Ark in some very dense neighborhood. Lots of ways to get burnt by events where you never realized things are different on the ground than on paper or in theory.
Super cold with lots and lots of snow could be how a new dude pays his dues in going to the North country. You have to really understand what is involved. Also don't put too much faith in them reports of temperatures for exact locations, it can be off a lot depending on exactly where you are trying to get data on. The data is from a particular weather reporting location.
This morning I walked to the ‘el’ about ½ a mile from my house in -8F weather with a bit of wind (according to the paper wind chills were in the -20° to -30° range). I was pretty bundled up (long underwear, wool socks, hat scarf, gloves, down coat) and my feet hurt a bit with cold and my scarf (the part by my face) was frozen by the time the train came, but that has pretty much described my morning commute for the past few days. Thankfully it isn’t as cold here as those far northern Midwest temps.
I'm probably going to have virtual tomatoes thrown at me... but it was in the 80s here today. A friend who recently relocated here from Boston said, "Out here everyone complains about the traffic, because they can't complain about the weather." That made me pause to think, but she's right. While weather this warm is atypical even for L.A. at this time of year, I am grateful to live here at this moment, other issues notwithstanding.
It's really frustrating to realize that if I were still in high school, I'd be having a 2-hour delayed start to class every morning this week due to the
-20 wind chills! Now that I'm in college, we aren't afforded that luxury of getting to sleep in so that it could warm up a whopping five degrees outside. I guess it's time to say "Welcome to the REAL world!" LOL! If I heard correctly, I believe the schools in Ohio actually closed today due to the cold, and it was just as cold here as it was over there! All I know is that I still had to practically make love to my little Ford sedan this morning to get it to start so that I could head downtown to take a killer Accounting exam on Form 20-F and Foreign Currency Translations. BLECH! LOL!
It's times like these I wish I had someone in my life to help keep me warm at night down near the fire! (Sniffle, sniffle! )
I checked the weather yesterday and I think it got to -5 in Oil city(Franklin weather station) this was an unusual cold snap. The average low is 16 degrees for Oil city accroding to weather.com so thats not bad unless you get one of those brief cold spells. I would stay inside if it was 10 degrees or below and besides the car probably wouldnt start unless you heated it.
Lots of snowbirds to FL and CA in the winter. But those that stay develop tolerance to cold. Coldcanadian was outside in -30 and stayed warm by wearing 3 layers of cloth and huddling/shivering to conserve heat. Every inch was covered except slits around the eyes so he can see. Oil city gets nowhere near -30 so I wouldnt have that problem.
50 degrees is not bad, many northerns go outside in shorts and tshirt in this weather. I would be worried about the pipes though. I know 60 degrees no problem except the bill but still it shouldnt be high, one guy was selling a nice big 3800 square feet house for $135k and his heating bill was only $220 a month. Those cheap $50k houses of say 1800 square feet would see bills of about $150. I will make the house airtight if it isnt already when time comes to purchase it. Old houses are just fine, most of them have been modernized and are just as good as a new house for much cheaper.
Good idea to drain the water as a safety precaution. This is what I would do if I leave the house for an extended period in a northern winter.
weather com is a great website to check the average temperatures. Woodsfield, OH is only about 3 degrees warmer than Oil city, PA. Theres some areas in souhern WV that are like 10 degrees milder than Oil city, PA.
By the way, is it true that OH has a high tax burden? Ive been told to choose WV or PA for the lower taxes.
I actually want a four season climate, just not something extreme cold like MN or ND. Oil city is the coldest ill deal with. FL has the same problem but with heat and im sick and tired of the heat! Many other reasons I want out of FL. Take care
For the last time...THESE COLD SNAPS ARE NOT "UNUSUAL". They happen SEVERAL TIMES each winter. Oil City is exposed to arctic airmasses just like most of the Northeast/Mid Atlantic. These snaps tend to happen about 5 times per winter. In between you have the more average 20's and 30's. To call the snaps unusual is just blinding yourself. They're not. They happen several times per winter.
Average temperatures are nice, but don't follow them too closely. Heat waves in summer and cold snaps in winter make the averages seem better then they are. Let's say the avg. Oil City temp in July is 82. Well for about 10 days in July you'll probably be at around 95 degrees each day. It wouldn't seem that way from the average. Same for cold -- the avg. temp in January may be 20 but you'll be below that several times due to snaps. They're not unusual.
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I wouldnt go out in anywhere near that cold unless it was a medical emergency and it better be brief cause I have less than a minute before I freeze at -40! How could those people go out? Wear some sort of special high tech termal suit? Its not everyday you see -40 so yes that is a very strange arctic cold front!
So if you lived in Oil City, what would your Themostat be set at now???
A friend who recently relocated here from Boston said, "Out here everyone complains about the traffic, because they can't complain about the weather." That made me pause to think, but she's right. While weather this warm is atypical even for L.A. at this time of year, I am grateful to live here at this moment, other issues notwithstanding.
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