Tuesday, January 07, 2014

Baby it's Cold Outside

Since my last post it got COLD.  A polar vortex (yes, everything has a name these days doesn't it) swung down from the Arctic. Climate change is causing this apparently. Normally, that big old vortex (like a big hurricane) swirls around and around the arctic undisturbed, but when warmer air hits the vortex then it breaks apart and a smaller hurricane/vortex swirls off in different directions. In our case it swirled off to the northern USA. We didn't get it anywhere near as bad as Minnesota or the Dakotas but we did have a low of -7 F (-22 C) last night with a wind chill of - 40 F (-40 C).

Schools were closed. The Ohio State University was closed. You couldn't let your dog out for a wee without having a blast of ice hit your throat. Friends did cool things on Facebook like make coloured balloon ice balls and throw water up in the air to make a snow cloud. My car was stuck to the road with ice. Both cars have struggled to start. Our windows were encased in ice inside our home (reminded me of the film "The Day After"). We stayed indoors and did our best not to kill each other. There were moments though I can tell you.

All in all it was very cool so I'm not going to pretend it was terrible   - Craig and I got two extra days off work and the weather was so crazy it was amazing to experience. Actually, it was the coldest temperature I have experienced in my 44 years on this earth.

Now we also did our bit for other people. We gave blankets and coats etc. to a local resource center that helped local homeless people. We also helped neighbours with child care. And we took good care of our animals. One of the heartbreaking parts of this crazy Arctic storm the last few days has been me thinking about all the homeless people, all the poor people with no heat and all the animals left outside. That shit bothers me constantly it really does.

But back to our family. When I took this picture yesterday it was it a windchill of -35 F. We ran outside and did it then ran back in, laughing at how stupidly cold it was. A true Englishman!

Craig: Wear shorts till hell freezes over

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