Why Is Extreme Cold Causing Chaos in England and Power Outages in the US?

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In summary: I've got an electric blanket, it would be a good excuse to need to stay in bed all day :tongue:It's always summer in Los Angeles :P Same with Darwin, Australia Actually, I had to deal with temps in the minus-30's frequently when I was a ski patrol member on a very windy mountain in northern Maine.In summary, it's cold outside and people are having problems with the heating.
  • #1
wolram
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For England that is, it is not often we gets this brass monkeys, looking out at the jack i saw one poor tin lid fall on his queen mum, it is minus 10c and jack has layed a carpet about 1/4 inch thick every where, dad had a minor operation canceled because of an influx of accidents, and a local farmer told me he is having to strap hot water bottles to the cows udders before he can milk them, so what the bell's happened to the peoples heating?
 
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  • #2
Only -5 here now, but -18 at night. Day before it was even colder.

It is getting cloudy and windy, and it blows from the west, so it may bring warm Atlantic air.

edit: deg C that is. -18C means 0F.
 
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  • #3
It got down to -1C in Tucson AZ tonight.
 
  • #4
wolram said:
For England that is, it is not often we gets this brass monkeys, looking out at the jack i saw one poor tin lid fall on his queen mum, it is minus 10c and jack has layed a carpet about 1/4 inch thick every where, dad had a minor operation canceled because of an influx of accidents, and a local farmer told me he is having to strap hot water bottles to the cows udders before he can milk them, so what the bell's happened to the peoples heating?

I have a difficulty to understand wolram's English
 
  • #5
Don't feel alone, his rebuses are famous between PFers.
 
  • #6
wolram said:
. . . , so what the bell's happened to the peoples heating?
It's called 'Winter'. :biggrin:

We had snow last night, then sleet, then rain. It's all a sheet of ice now (1/2 inch, 1 cm), and we have sleet and freezing rain at the moment.

The temperature is about 30F (-1C), but it may increase a little during the day. It may go up or down overnight depending on which way the atmosphere moves.
 
  • #7
wolram said:
... looking out at the jack i saw one poor tin lid fall on his queen mum, ...

Personally, I like it better when the person almost falls, but barely recovers, then tries to move on nonchalantly like nothing happened. It reminds me of the Teabury shuffle commercials.
 
  • #8
bobg said:
personally, i like it better when the person almost falls, but barely recovers, then tries to move on nonchalantly like nothing happened. It reminds me of the teabury shuffle commercials.


lol.
 
  • #9
Currently 17deg F (about the high for the day) and snowing. We could get about 10" before tomorrow morning, so I'll clear it then. Hoping for a calm after the storm so I don't have to have the light fluffy snow blown back into my face every few seconds. BTW, the wind is out of the East, indicating that the storm's center has passed to the East of us, and is sweeping moisture off the ocean and dumping it back inland. Some of our biggest "surprise" snowfalls have resulted from such classic Nor'Easters. Fingers crossed that it moves NE quickly and plagues the Maritimes instead.

(sorry george!)
 
  • #10
It's always summer in Los Angeles :P
 
  • #11
Astronuc said:
It's called 'Winter'. :biggrin:

And perhaps Russia's cut off your gas supply?
 
  • #12
Crazy Tosser said:
It's always summer in Los Angeles :P
And in San Diego, too. My nephew's home port, and where his wife and daughter live. He has recently been commissioned as a Warrant Officer, and when he completes his training in his new specialty, he and the family will have to move to the chilly climes of Hawaii, probably until he and his wife retire.
 
  • #13
physics girl phd said:
And perhaps Russia's cut off your gas supply?

It's Ukraine, not Russia...
The government there has gone completely crazy because of the economic depression.
 
  • #14
Crazy Tosser said:
It's Ukraine, not Russia...
The government there has gone completely crazy because of the economic depression.
It's Russian gas, which they sell to Ukraine's Naftogas, and other E. European countries. When Russia cut off Ukraine, they cut Europe as well.

Time to look for an alternate energy supply.
 
  • #15
turbo-1 said:
And in San Diego, too. My nephew's home port, and where his wife and daughter live. He has recently been commissioned as a Warrant Officer, and when he completes his training in his new specialty, he and the family will have to move to the chilly climes of Hawaii, probably until he and his wife retire.


I would settle for (chilly climes), even the most robust oldie feels the cold.
 
  • #16
Astronuc said:
Time to look for an alternate energy supply.
I've got an electric blanked, it would be a good excuse to need to stay in bed all day :-p
 
  • #18
-40 here

Do I win?
 
  • #19
Pythagorean said:
-40 here

Do I win?
For today...

Actually, I had to deal with temps in the minus-30's frequently when I was a ski patrol member on a very windy mountain in northern Maine. We had to wait until the temps soared to the minus-20's before we could pre-ski the trails and dispatch groomers to bust drifts, cover ice, etc, to the trails would be safe for paying customers. We very rarely get -40 in Maine.
 
  • #20
turbo-1 said:
For today...

Actually, I had to deal with temps in the minus-30's frequently when I was a ski patrol member on a very windy mountain in northern Maine. We had to wait until the temps soared to the minus-20's before we could pre-ski the trails and dispatch groomers to bust drifts, cover ice, etc, to the trails would be safe for paying customers. We very rarely get -40 in Maine.

It's the norm here, in the winter. Then we get 80 degree summers. A good 120 degree temperature difference.
 
  • #21
Pythagorean said:
-40 here

Do I win?

You win, but i would rather not be a competitor :smile:
 
  • #22
Pythagorean said:
-40 here

Do I win?

-40 of what? :wink:
 
  • #23
Borek said:
-40 of what? :wink:
OK, a little scale-convergence humor from the Pole. :devil:

Edit: Not bad for an ectomorph...
 
  • #24
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  • #25
Borek said:
-40 of what? :wink:

Curse you, Borek! That's two jokes that I was going to post this week, and you beat me to both of them. Don't you ever sleep?

:biggrin:
 
  • #26
moose said:
It got down to -1C in Tucson AZ tonight.

Yea but 23C during the day (predicted for tomorrow).
 
  • #27
Jang Jin Hong said:
I have a difficulty to understand wolram's English
As Borek also alluded, Wooly uses fun words sometimes. If any look confusing, just search as strings (in quotation marks), along with either british, aussie or "cockney rhyme". example - http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-bra1.htm" ..
and http://www.dagree.net/aussieslang/slang_t.html" ..(look down that page).
 
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  • #28
Not cold enough here. Apparently the weather got a bit too warm near Tacoma, WA.

Melting snow causes heavy flooding in Wash. state
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090108/ap_on_re_us/winter_weather
SNOQUALMIE, Wash. – Rain and high winds lashed Washington state Wednesday, causing widespread avalanches, mudslides, flooding and road closures as the heavy snowfall that has buried parts of the state began to rapidly melt. More than 30,000 people were told to leave their homes in a flood-endangered valley southeast of Tacoma, as authorities warned of heavy flooding.

"This is going to be a memorable flood event," said Andy Haner, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Seattle.

Fire trucks rolled through Orting, about 10 miles southeast of Tacoma, with loudspeakers advising everyone to leave the town and surrounding valley, home to about 26,000 people. Sandbags were placed around many downtown homes and businesses as the Puyallup River neared record levels.

"They expect the town of Orting to go under water," Pierce County sheriff's Detective Ed Troyer said, adding that the flooding could be the worst in more than a decade.

. . . .
 
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  • #29
Astronuc said:
Not cold enough here. Apparently the weather got a bit too warm near Tacoma, WA.

Melting snow causes heavy flooding in Wash. state
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090108/ap_on_re_us/winter_weather

I work in Tacoma, and (obviously) live nearby. Yes, I can confirm that it's been extraordinarily wet here...and coming from Western Washington (rainy Seattle), that's saying a lot!

I love the sound of rainfall, but I had to put in earplugs to get to sleep last night, it was so loud.
 
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  • #30
Jeez, Woolie, but you are a whiney little bloke. :-p
I have no tolerance for cold weather, and was strolling around outside in my T-shirt and sweat pants today because it went up to -14° C. That's picnic weather in Alberta. :rolleyes:
 
  • #31
That's great ! Lakes are frozen in Belgium. It's nice to go right at the middle of it and remember summer when you were on the edge, watching the exact point you're now standing on.

The last time we could walk on the lake was 7 years ago, and since this is a "student-city" (not really a campus actually), it's pretty new to everyone and quite amazing... ;-)
 
  • #32
Its -11 C here tonight, and up to 12 more inches of snow expected.
 
  • #33
In winter of Korea,
snow falling day is warm and sun shining day is cold,
because of dry continental high pressure in Mongolia and Siberia.

Yesterday night, temprature was -10 C.
Because of gale, sensory temperature was -20 C.
Feeling of winter coldness is described as
"coldness such as tearing skin by knife." in Korean language

but sky is clean, and sun is shining bright.
so it is not glooming day.
 
  • #34
Jang Jin Hong said:
In winter of Korea,
snow falling day is warm and sun shining day is cold,
because of dry continental high pressure in Mongolia and Siberia.

Yesterday night, temprature was -10 C.
Because of gale, sensory temperature was -20 C.
Feeling of winter coldness is described as
"coldness such as tearing skin by knife." in Korean language

but sky is clean, and sun is shining bright.
so it is not glooming day.

Wow, that's like beautiful poetry! Wonderful - thanks!
 
  • #35
I think Michigan should adopt the whole "coldness such as tearing skin by knife" motto. It really describes winters here too.
 

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