# 'Bout to get reeeaaaaal cold, who's ready?



## AnalogKid

Snow, high winds and negative temps enroute to the Northeast.  Local CT news is calling for record setting temp lows for Friday/Friday night.  

Only my 2nd year with my insert.  Plenty of good dry, seasoned wood just outside the door and about a day-and-a-half worth inside at all times.  Curious to see if my stove can keep up.  Haven't had to turn the heat on at all this year, we'll see if we can continue that trend.


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## Todd

Kind a getting use to it in this area. Monday looks to be the coldest day I've seen in some time with a high of -13 and low of -25!


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## lopiliberty

I'm all ready.  Supposed to get down to 0 here tomorrow night.  I've had tomorrow wood stacked to the side for three days about 7 large pieces of locust.  Next Monday calling for a high of 13 and a low of -5 so I have a feeling I will be running the blower on my stove around the clock for the first time ever


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## Kevin Dolan

lopiliberty said:


> I'm all ready.  Supposed to get down to 0 here tomorrow night.  I've had tomorrow wood stacked to the side for three days about 7 large pieces of locust.  Next Monday calling for a high of 13 and a low of -5 so I have a feeling I will be running the blower on my stove around the clock for the first time ever


We are ready , it is around -25 c and we have lots of seasoned wood on hand. I am finding that bringing a load in to sit by the stove a few hours before loading really helps it to get going especially when it is this cold.
Stay warm .


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## begreen

Gentlemen, start your engines. Winter has arrived. 

Out here it is still odd weather. Our cold snap has passed but still moisture levels are low and the ski resorts are hurting. There's no snow at the lower elevations still.


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## firebroad

I have bronchitis, but I'm ready.  Bring it on!!


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## Swedishchef

-44 C this morning with the wind.
I am ready. The stove is firing, 4 days worth of wood in the basement.  I plugged in my vehicle, I have lots of food and the fridge is full of beer. What else can I do?!?

Andrew


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## northwinds

Crazy cold coming up.  Hats off to the folks in Alaska used to this, but negative 19 F tonight just sucks.  It's going to be a two stove night.


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## lopiliberty

Kevin Dolan said:


> I am finding that bringing a load in to sit by the stove a few hours before loading really helps it to get going especially when it is this cold.


 I do too.  I tell everyone that warm wood seems to get going faster and you should see the look they give me


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## firebroad

lopiliberty said:


> I do too.  I tell everyone that warm wood seems to get going faster and you should see the look they give me


+1.
I always thought it was because the condensation dried out faster inside.


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## lopiliberty

firebroad said:


> +1.
> I always thought it was because the condensation dried out faster inside.


 That is exactly right.  As the my wood warms up and dries out beside the stove it cracks and pops


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## Ashful

I'm real interested to see how the exposed piping and water heater in our unfinished (and unheated) 3rd floor attic hold up, as well as the plumbing and sink in our attached garage.  Previous owner claims he never had trouble with either, but I don't know exactly when either item was added.  This will be the first time we've seen temps below 10F in my two years in the house.

Still have two cords of wood left for this year, so we'll be warm this weekend, but I've burned thru 3.5 cords already.  We'll be switching back to 100% oil heat before February is done, at this rate.


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## rideau

Even my dog has more sense than to be out in this. 

Wind off the lake, bitterly cold.  -26 C and winds about 25 kph off the lake.  I just went out, well bundled, to get firewood.  Only brought in enough for one more fire...it's COLD.  Not supposed to get ANY warmer until sometime Saturday.  I THINK I have enough firewood inside to last until then at this point.   Not too sure.  The stove is eating wood with this combination of cold weather/high wind.  My draft is outrageous to start with.


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## dafattkidd

I'm ready. We have plenty of wood in the garage. I'm curious to see how my house feels in the terrible cold. We made some significant improvements in the house this year.

 We're supposed to be in the teens with 30 mph gusts tonight and tomorrow. Friday night is a low of close to zero with wind chills below zero. I can't imagine how we would have made it n this house without the insert and all the improvements I've made I've the years.

Joful, you're almost out of wood? That's too bad. I wish I were closer I'd set you up with another cord.


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## jharkin

Im all set, started digging into the Hurricane Irene Black Locust stash for the occasion... though I found I have to be careful with that stuff, its like loading the stove with dynamite!


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## Coach B

Somebody up there must be sending the cold down this way.  Supposed to be close to 0 Mon and Tuesday night in Nashville. Hopefully we get a little snow to go with the cold. I probably have three weeks worth of wood on the covered back porch. I don't remember snow laying on the ground for more than a couple of weeks at a time so three weeks worth ought to be plenty for now.


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## Ashful

dafattkidd said:


> Joful, you're almost out of wood? That's too bad. I wish I were closer I'd set you up with another cord.


Two cords left, but I can go thru that pretty quick with two stoves burning 24/7 in a very lossy house.  I might actually try to find some eco bricks or similar, to augment the wood I have left.  The wood I'm burning this year is only 14 months CSS'd, so that might work out well with eco bricks... if I can figure out where to find them this time of year.


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## dafattkidd

jharkin said:


> Im all set, started digging into the Hurricane Irene Black Locust stash for the occasion... though I found I have to be careful with that stuff, its like loading the stove with dynamite!


 
I wish I pulled out my black locust last night. I have a 1\4 cord stacked and covered. If it's not ridiculously snowy and blizzardy when I get home I might dig out a couple tubs worth and keep them inside for the next two overnights.

Days like this I love having the oversized firebox capacity. I'll be packing it to the gills tonight.

I will also be running my boiler for short bursts just to keep the pipes from freezing.

Just to clarify: the only pipes that would freeze are the heating pipes that run in the crawl space and are rarely used. The Oz has had no problem keeping our house warm at any temps we've seen thus far. My concern is not using the boiler makes those pipes far more vulnerable.


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## jharkin

Yeah I cheat and let the boiler kick in overnight to help.

Joful, at this rate I'll also be out of dry wood by the Superbowl if that's any consolation..


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## Badfish740

This is my favorite time of the heating season.  The Englander is really oversized for my house, which is barely 1000 SF, but you can't go much smaller as far as add-on furnaces go.  It really shines when we have single digit nights, plus I have some 3 year seasoned pin oak just for the occasion   We have a 1960s-era house but no pipes in exterior walls, so we've never had that problem thank goodness.  The furnace throws off a ton of radiant heat in addition to what it puts into the ductwork so the basement stays just as toasty as the upstairs.


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## PapaDave

Swedishchef said:


> -44 C this morning with the wind.
> I am ready. The stove is firing, 4 days worth of wood in the basement.  I plugged in my vehicle, I have lots of food and the fridge is full of beer. *What else can I do*?!?
> 
> Andrew


Make some nachos or something.
They'll go well with the beer, and may help keep you warm too.


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## Warm_in_NH

I was second guessing the size of my stove (first year with Hearthstone Shelburne) as I'm usually trying to keep a small clean fire going instead of a larger hotter fire to keep from cooking myself out of my living room. With a high of 7 today, no sun, snow, getting breezy, I'm finally getting a good chance to really let her get up and running. Any smaller I think I would  be kicking the propane back on to keep it in the mid 70's. One of the few times I appreciate being a carpenter with next to nothing to do in the winter but tax paperwork, now I get to feed the stove which breaks up the monotony of Excel, and I can rest easy knowing I have plenty of wood and have used so little propane that there won't be another heating bill for me this year.

Sub zero nights, 18" of snow stacked up in the yard, all essential point of interest in the yard have 30" snow blower paths to get there, yep, winter is here.


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## laynes69

Our home is getting much tighter, but being a 160+ years old it has it's limitations. It's currently 17*F, but getting hit with 30 mph winds, it goes thru the house. The future forecast is calling for lows at -15* with windchills of -40*f. I don't know what we are going to do. Hasn't been that low since 94'. Hopefully I can keep the propane furnace off, but only so much I can do with this 3.5 cu ft firebox. This weather is where the old smoke dragon furnace would eat and smile.


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## dafattkidd

laynes69 said:


> Our home is getting much tighter, but being a 160+ years old it has it's limitations. It's currently 17*F, but getting hit with 30 mph winds, it goes thru the house. The future forecast is calling for lows at -15* with windchills of -40*f. I don't know what we are going to do. Hasn't been that low since 94'. Hopefully I can keep the propane furnace off, but only so much I can do with this 3.5 cu ft firebox. This weather is where the old smoke dragon furnace would eat and smile.


 
Maybe just run the propane for 20 minutes every few hours. It will help even out the heat in the house and keep you from over coaling.


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## laynes69

dafattkidd said:


> Maybe just run the propane for 20 minutes every few hours. It will help even out the heat in the house and keep you from over coaling.



Unfortunately, I'm waiting on a 20.00 part for the furnace. Haven't needed the furnace yet, but that may change when it's -15 with a heavy wind. I just brought in some hickory, and the next stuff in the pile is mostly locust, so hopefully I'm good.


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## Backwoods Savage

Todd said:


> Kind a getting use to it in this area. Monday looks to be the coldest day I've seen in some time with a high of -13 and low of -25!



We are so very thankful for that big pond between us. It does tend to moderate the temperatures and that is good.


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## Todd

Backwoods Savage said:


> We are so very thankful for that big pond between us. It does tend to moderate the temperatures and that is good.


Unless it freezes over and with these temps it may not take too much longer.


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## Backwoods Savage

Sad, but I fear you are right Todd.


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## Swedishchef

PapaDave said:


> Make some nachos or something.
> They'll go well with the beer, and may help keep you warm too.


 
I was going to make some for supper but someone finished the bag of nacho chips and didn't tell me (wonder who that could have been considering we are 2 adults and 2 infants..)


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## Swedishchef

Joful and Jharkin: don't worry....where I live we can get snow in April. And considering I only started burning in mid-November and have currently burned 1/3 of my stash it may be a cold month of March/April inside our house..Ha!

My FIL can't keep his house warm with his stove. It is too small and it eats wood (dragon). The problem is that he has an electric/oil furnace. It was a deal with our utility company: anything warmer than -13C and pay $0.05/KWh. Anything colder and pay $0.21/KWh. So the furnace switches to oil at -13C. BUT he disconnected the chimney and hooked up his wood stove.

On another note, my neighbor called me today asking for 40 pieces of wood.   Her son was going back home and he has a fireplace in his apartment. 5 less fires for me this winter  I hope Eco Bricks go on sale soon..She told me to let her know what she owed me and I couldn't charge the lady. It's the coldest day of the year and her son wants some ambiance in his apartment...


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## jeff_t

laynes69 said:


> This weather is where the old smoke dragon furnace would eat and smile.



Yessir, the old Hotblast would make a ton of heat. If I didn't get up in the middle of the night, I would wake up to a 60° house. That thing would get it back up to 70ish in an hour or so, in subzero weather. I still have it, with the ductwork disconnected. Weather like this, I'll burn a good load in it to warm up the basement. Takes some load off the stove, and feels good on the tootsies.


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## jharkin

I hope you don't mean you split that wood today........


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## jharkin

Then I hate to be the bearer of bad news but none of that will be dry enough to burn decent... If at all.  Where I live splits that big would take 3 years + to be burnable.


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## eclecticcottage

It's 75 in and 10 out, supposed to head to below 0 but with the giant heat sink in the yard (the lake) we might manage to stay a bit warmer.  The republic has about all it can handle in this weather since we haven't finished weatherizing yet.  The VF has kicked on some.  Burning pine/box elder right now and will have to get up some time tonight to reload with this type wood, which is basically it for what we've got available.  Might think about buying some hardwood for the future.


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## mass_burner

12-18" coming tonight in whiteout conditions. Worst overnight, may need to stay awake late to feed the stoves. High of 9 tomorrow, that's cold for SE Mass.


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## Dix

It's here.

Both stoves cranking.


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## Swedishchef

Good luck. I hope it loses some punch before making it's way here....12 inches is forecast for Monday.


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## Swedishchef

jharkin said:


> I hope you don't mean you split that wood today........


 
HA ha. No no no. It's already 2-3 years old. It's the stuff I am burning this winter.


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## jharkin

Swedishchef said:


> HA ha. No no no. It's already 2-3 years old. It's the stuff I am burning this winter.



No chef not you. I was responding to another poster who put up a picture of fresh split wood.  But then he deleted two posts so now it reads like i was talking to myself


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## Ashful

I don't know what you folks are complaining about.  I just looked out the front door to what might be the most picturesque of scenes I've seen in the few years I've been living here.  It's coming down good (we're probably at 4" right now, scheduled to continue thru 9am), but I can still see the lamp post at the end of my driveway, 350 feet away.  There's a nice 3" layer of white fluff atop every bush, with the Christmas lights shining thru.  I'm tempted to head out and take some pictures, if I weren't already in my PJ's and babysitting two just-loaded stoves.

Okay... here's one from a similar night last year.


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## Swedishchef

I want a picture of your PJs, not the house.


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## jharkin

Not complaining here... -1F outside and 74f inside with a full load of locust in the stove and a roaring fire in the den fireplace  No work til Monday, I was hoping for moe snow!


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## jharkin

Swedishchef said:


> I want a picture of your PJs, not the house.


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## Ashful

Swedishchef said:


> I want a picture of your PJs, not the house.


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## Swedishchef

Joful said:


> View attachment 122588


Lol.


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## Warm_in_NH

8" of fresh powder, 1 below out there,  78 in here, life is good.


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## Swedishchef

Joful: http://snugasabug.com/adult-footed-pajamas


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## bag of hammers

Crazy cold winter so far.  Just took the pup for a quick walk down to the shore.  Million stars, you can hear a pin drop, and closing on -28 C.    3 layers of ice mounds  along the shore, farther out the bays are frozen over / snow covered as far as the eye can see.  It's been years since the waters in front of my place have frozen over by new years day.  Stove is eating big yellow birch knots and uglies tonight.


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## Swedishchef

Eeeee...-31c here right now.


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## rideau

Swedishchef said:


> Joful: http://snugasabug.com/adult-footed-pajamas



Those are warm sleeping bags.  Well made.


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## dafattkidd

Here's my front door during the last snow fall a couple weeks ago.  The other is tonight's overnight.  NS load of mostly black locust, couple pieces of oak, and one piece of silver maple.  (If you read my prior post I did pull a couple tubs full of locust out from the pile when I got home from work at 8:00pm)  16* outside, -2 with wind chill, wind gusts 40+, 600* stove top, mid 70s in the living room, 72 in the hall, 68 in my bedroom.  I have to admit, I kinda love when it's cold like this.  

Very thankful for wood heat.  We'll see how things go tomorrow when it gets even colder!


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## Badfish740

Morning all-14 degrees here and about 8 inches on the ground-no work for me or wifey so it'll be a nice day of playing in the snow.   A little pallet wood for a quick warmup fire:


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## Ehouse

Joful said:


> View attachment 122588





PJ selfies!  Noooooooooo..........!


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## ironpony

3 degrees this morning, expected to go lower. We are warm though.


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## jharkin

We got to something like -3F last night, right now its 3 above - but didnt get the snow I was expecting, maybe 8 inches or so.

I had the stove cranking and the fireplace in the den roaring and the gas still hd to come on a couple times overnight to maintain 70.  Got a full load of locust and oak in now, back up to toasty warm in here.

Time to go start the snowblower!


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## PapaDave

Just for the record, I got up about 4:30 this am, and the outside temp was -16°.
I went back to bed.
-14° at 8, so I stayed up with a heat wave like that.


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## northwinds

Two stoves did the trick for me overnight.  71 F inside, 14 below outside at 6 a.m.    Isle Royale back on solo duty.

We're going to have a brief warm-up and then plunging to minus 20 on Sunday night.


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## Warm_in_NH

Gentlemen,  start your engines!

I'm not a nascar fan but it really is good advice. since I'm semi unemployed all winter and my gf's car gets 40 mpg, my truck has sat since Tuesday with a phone charger and gps plugged in. Needless to say, gf is at work and truck is dead. Now it's gonna cost me some beer to get a  friend to stop by for a jump. 

So save your beer, unplug your chargers, and start your vehicles every so often in this cold weather.


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## lopiliberty

Woke up this morning at 6:30 to 9 degrees outside and a toasty 82 inside with a load last night at 11:30 of 7 pieces of mixed ash, locust and oak


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## firefighterjake

How cold is it here . . . well it's balmy down here now . . . but up in The County . . . coffee can vaporize.

http://bangordailynews.com/2014/01/...-continue-to-freeze-state-as-snow-winds-down/


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## Warm_in_NH

Just spent 15 minutes outside loading tools in the truck to take to the fiancé s house for a remodel. (Take down a bearing wall to open up room with the stove to the rest of the house). 5 below zero, windy, holy cow that's cold! Even the fearless dog was waiting at the front door holding up a foot at a time waiting to be let back in.
In doors,  stove keeping up nicely with temps in the upper 70s. Makes me dread leaving for a couple days and letting the propane take over.


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## eclecticcottage

It's -8 right now w/o a windchill.  I don't remember it ever being that cold...


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## firefighterjake

We saved a cat tonight . . . saw it hanging around our house last night . . . seemed to be eating sunflower seeds near the bird feeder.

It was hanging around again today and meowing . . . set a trap . . . brought him inside . . . he is now snuggled up in a blanket in a cat bed after having wolfed down a can of cat food and half a bowl of hard cat food. We're not sure if he has any frostbite yet.


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## eclecticcottage

firefighterjake said:


> We saved a cat tonight . . . saw it hanging around our house last night . . . seemed to be eating sunflower seeds near the bird feeder.
> 
> It was hanging around again today and meowing . . . set a trap . . . brought him inside . . . he is now snuggled up in a blanket in a cat bed after having wolfed down a can of cat food and half a bowl of hard cat food. We're not sure if he has any frostbite yet.



Poor guy-good job!

We stopped to try to help some people get their car out of a ditch but they said AAA was on the way.  Would have come home to get the big truck if they didn't, -6 is too darn cold to be in a ditch!!


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## firefighterjake

Here's the cat . . . tempted to keep him . . . but that would make #7 and would officially put me solidly into Crazy Cat Guy territory.


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## TradEddie

9F outside and falling, 77F inside and rising. 
My propane furnace thermostat is at the opposite end of the house to my insert, and it's kicking in occasionally to keep that room at 70, I don't mind, it helps even out the heat throughout the house. It's nice to get weather where I can let that stove burn the way its supposed to, normally I'm trying to keep it from overheating the kitchen.

A daytime high of 14F today, I don't ever remember a day that cold here before, but to make things worse, I spilled carb cleaner on my bare hands while cleaning my snow blower.... that was #####-ing cold!

TE


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## Elusive

TradEddie said:


> 9F outside and falling, 77F inside and rising.
> My propane furnace thermostat is at the opposite end of the house to my insert, and it's kicking in occasionally to keep that room at 70, I don't mind, it helps even out the heat throughout the house. It's nice to get weather where I can let that stove burn the way its supposed to, normally I'm trying to keep it from overheating the kitchen.



My thermostat is in the same room as the stove.  I have a large old house so i really need to relocate it further away from the stove since the stove can't heat the entire house.  Might be a good inside project for this weekend!


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## legrandice

firefighterjake said:


> Here's the cat . . . tempted to keep him . . . but that would make #7 and would officially put me solidly into Crazy Cat Guy territory.



That's a great thing you did for that cat! I am sure it's quite happy to be in the warm house.  

Inside it's 71 and rising...just hit 0 outside.  Got about 1.5 hours until I put in the overnight load and run the heat a bit to circulate the water.


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## TradEddie

Elusive said:


> My thermostat is in the same room as the stove. I have a large old house so i really need to relocate it further away from the stove since the stove can't heat the entire house. Might be a good inside project for this weekend!



I'm tempted by those remote wireless thermostats that you can move from room to room. They would be a great way to ensure the bedrooms are warm and that would keep the wife happy! Too expensive, and they would result in more propane use, which is not my goal.

TE


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## eclecticcottage

firefighterjake said:


> Here's the cat . . . tempted to keep him . . . but that would make #7 and would officially put me solidly into Crazy Cat Guy territory.



Awwww...but look at his face...wish my dog wasn't morally opposed to cats.  I miss having a couple fur butts around.


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## Warm_in_NH

That's my cat!  Kidding. Looks very content, think you're officially "that guy" now sorry. It's already done. Just call him 7.


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## BrotherBart

firefighterjake said:


> Here's the cat . . . tempted to keep him . . . but that would make #7 and would officially put me solidly into Crazy Cat Guy territory.



Aw come on Jake. There are lots of President's names left.


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## Cynnergy

firefighterjake said:


> Here's the cat . . . tempted to keep him . . . but that would make #7 and would officially put me solidly into Crazy Cat Guy territory.



I don't know, 2 is fine, 3 is on the edge, and 4+ is crazy cat guy in my books.  You already have the moniker, may as well keep him and call him Frosty.

Good thing we only had one when my mom brought home 4 kittens from the SPCA once!  Anyone that keeps a trap on hand also fits the crazy description (confession - I have a trap too, but only one foster cat ATM).


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## Ashful

I have a trap for catching groundhogs... but I catch my own two dogs in it far more often than groundhogs.

Jake... time to start building a dairy barn.  My family used to own a dairy farm... always had lots of cats living in the barn.  They just seem to go together, somehow.


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## begreen

firefighterjake said:


> Here's the cat . . . tempted to keep him . . . but that would make #7 and would officially put me solidly into Crazy Cat Guy territory.



That's one lucky feline. Kudos for the rescue. People need to remember to bring pets inside during this weather.


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## Ashful

Both stoves cranking, but I've seen our living room temp drop 2 degrees in 2 hours (from 70F to 68F) in the older part of the house.  Meanwhile, the big 3.0 cu.ft. Firelight in the adjacent room has been holding a steady 600F, but it just can't keep up.

The new part of the house, with a second Firelight, has been holding 70F.  Normally it would be 72 - 74F with that stove set where it is, but I'm happy with 70F.

I expect the old part of the house will be very cold by the time I wake up at 7am.  Last re-load was 10pm, and I don't expect to do a middle of the night reload.  Currently 0F outside, headed to -2F in an hour, where it will hold till dawn.


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## WiscWoody

Up here in northern Wisconsin the forecasted low for Sunday is -40F with a high on Monday of -15. Wood up here is free if you do ask around.


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## Ashful

Woke up later than anticipated (7:45am ) to 62F (thermostat setting) in new house, and 65F in older/larger part of house.  Both stoves below 200F, which was a surprise to see them go thru a full load in less than 10 hours, even with the higher air setting.  Cold weather, stronger draft.

I did find ice on my inside door handles, which was a first.  This handle is all black, the white is ice.







Of course, this is a very old basement door, which is less than ideally sealed to its natural stone threshold.  That's daylight peeking in below .


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## firefighterjake

BrotherBart said:


> Aw come on Jake. There are lots of President's names left.



I know . . . I know . . . woke up this morning to find my wife was thinking of calling him either Link (Lincoln) or Jeff (Jefferson). I'm still resisting and have mentioned calling the ACO . . . she says we should bathe him first. She doesn't seem to be in much of a rush to do this though.


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## Doug MacIVER

interesting article http://apnews.myway.com/article/20140104/DAB3UT982.html


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## begreen

_"If you're under 40 (years old), you've not seen this stuff before."_

Yup. I remember -20F nights during a cold snap in the early 70s in CT when I struggled to keep warm and there was another one earlier that I now have forgotten when (1961?).


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## UncleJoe

Joful said:


> Both stoves cranking,



I broke down and decided to fire up the FP insert to supplement the box stove. But before I could do that I had to get up on the roof and remove the rubber cap I put on the chimney liner for the '12-'13 season.  So now we'll have them both running at least until the sub-zero temps move out.


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## Swedishchef

begreen said:


> _"If you're under 40 (years old), you've not seen this stuff before."_
> 
> Yup. I remember -20F nights during a cold snap in the early 70s in CT when I struggled to keep warm and there was another one earlier that I now have forgotten when (1961?).


 
I have never seen it this cold


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## Mrs. Krabappel




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## yooperdave

begreen said:


> _"If you're under 40 (years old), you've not seen this stuff before."_
> 
> Yup. I remember -20F nights during a cold snap in the early 70s in CT when I struggled to keep warm and there was another one earlier that I now have forgotten when (1961?).




Never seen this stuff if you're under 40?   99 and I heard this today and are still laughing!  We get this EVERY year!


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## BrotherBart

yooperdave said:


> Never seen this stuff if you're under 40?   99 and I heard this today and are still laughing!  We get this EVERY year!



I saw this post and am still laughing. I don't live in the UP. ANY year.


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## arbutus

The cold is normal here,  just a little earlier this winter.

Today's balmy 26 degree high saw me outside trying out a set of gift snowshoes.  They didn't work well, the cold temps caused the snow that has fallen to have a very powdery consistency, and there is no hard crust or packing at all.  I was sinking nearly a foot rather than just a couple inches.


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## Swedishchef

arbutus said:


> The cold is normal here,  just a little earlier this winter.
> 
> Today's balmy 26 degree high saw me outside trying out a set of gift snowshoes.  They didn't work well, the cold temps caused the snow that has fallen to have a very powdery consistency, and there is no hard crust or packing at all.  I was sinking nearly a foot rather than just a couple inches.


 
We received 24 inches of powder last week that has settled (due to the cold) to 12 inches of cement. Last week I was up to my hips and today I was up to my ankles. It doesn't help that nearly all snowshoes today are made for groomed trails...not powder.

Andrew


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## northwinds

arbutus said:


> The cold is normal here,  just a little earlier this winter.
> 
> Today's balmy 26 degree high saw me outside trying out a set of gift snowshoes.  They didn't work well, the cold temps caused the snow that has fallen to have a very powdery consistency, and there is no hard crust or packing at all.  I was sinking nearly a foot rather than just a couple inches.



I've been snowshoeing a lot this year.  It's a great way to stay active even if it's really cold.  But I tend to ski on trails so the powder isn't a problem.  The Ice Age Trail is just a hop, skip and a jump from my house. 0.7 degrees here.  Real cold is still coming.  Schools are closed tomorrow already.


----------



## Doug MacIVER

interesting articlehttp://apnews.myway.com/article/20140104/DAB3UT982.html this says it all


----------



## toddnic

Really weird weather overnight and this morning.  It warmed up from the 20's yesterday to the mid-40's overnight.  It is going to be back in the low 20's tonight and -9 on Monday night. 

I let the stove cool down with the warmer temps.  It gave me a chance to clean the stove again.  Glass, screen, and catalytic convertor are all clean and ready to go.


----------



## WriteNoob

toddnic said:


> Really weird weather overnight and this morning.  It warmed up from the 20's yesterday to the mid-40's overnight.  It is going to be back in the low 20's tonight and -9 on Monday night.
> 
> I let the stove cool down with the warmer temps.  It gave me a chance to clean the stove again.  Glass, screen, and catalytic convertor are all clean and ready to go.



Guess it's cold, all over. Was wishing I was in your part of the country, quite a lot, this winter. Stay warm.


----------



## WiscWoody

Tonight the temp will be down to -38 or so. That should be a good test to see if the stove will keep the house warm.


----------



## WiscWoody

Joful said:


> I'm real interested to see how the exposed piping and water heater in our unfinished (and unheated) 3rd floor attic hold up, as well as the plumbing and sink in our attached garage.  Previous owner claims he never had trouble with either, but I don't know exactly when either item was added.  This will be the first time we've seen temps below 10F in my two years in the house.
> 
> Still have two cords of wood left for this year, so we'll be warm this weekend, but I've burned thru 3.5 cords already.  We'll be switching back to 100% oil heat before February is done, at this rate.


some up here will let their water drip over night on the really cold nights. With the water molecules moving they won't freeze up as easily as just a water filled non running pipe will.


----------



## eclecticcottage

hermancm said:


> some up here will let their water drip over night on the really cold nights. With the water molecules moving they won't freeze up as easily as just a water filled non running pipe will.



We did this for years in our old house, picked the furthest faucet and let it drip/almost run when it was cold.  Now it's got heat tape on it.


----------



## WiscWoody

Swedishchef said:


> Joful and Jharkin: don't worry....where I live we can get snow in April. And considering I only started burning in mid-November and have currently burned 1/3 of my stash it may be a cold month of March/April inside our house..Ha!
> 
> My FIL can't keep his house warm with his stove. It is too small and it eats wood (dragon). The problem is that he has an electric/oil furnace. It was a deal with our utility company: anything warmer than -13C and pay $0.05/KWh. Anything colder and pay $0.21/KWh. So the furnace switches to oil at -13C. BUT he disconnected the chimney and hooked up his wood stove.
> 
> On another note, my neighbor called me today asking for 40 pieces of wood.   Her son was going back home and he has a fireplace in his apartment. 5 less fires for me this winter  I hope Eco Bricks go on sale soon..She told me to let her know what she owed me and I couldn't charge the lady. It's the coldest day of the year and her son wants some ambiance in his apartment...


Last winter we had snow until mid May! And a winter storm that dumped 22" on May 8th of all things! just us fools up here! I'm sure Kabeck can have the same Misery happen.


----------



## WiscWoody

firefighterjake said:


> Here's the cat . . . tempted to keep him . . . but that would make #7 and would officially put me solidly into Crazy Cat Guy territory.


Up here a neighbor had a good many outdoors cats that stayed in out buildings. We liked to set food out for them and they came by often for the meals until my next door neighbor shot them all he came up here  a year before that and told everyone that he didn't want anything to do with neighbors but he did like his barfly friends coming by so he could tell them how he got rich with his Milwaukee restaurants. We live way too close since we are on a lake and the lots are long and narrow. And of course he said he would shoot my dogs when they were jest pups and got over to place a few times. They don't any longer good thing! I just had the vent I guess...


----------



## Doug MacIVER

some good stuff in this tweet, end says it all, what a tough business. http://www.wsi.com/blog/uncategoriz...e-outlook-through-the-front-half-of-february/


----------



## Swedishchef

hermancm said:


> Last winter we had snow until mid May! And a winter storm that dumped 22" on May 8th of all things! just us fools up here! I'm sure Kabeck can have the same Misery happen.


 
One time, April 2007, we got 102 CM of snow between the 3rd and the 5th. Ick. It happens. And when it does, there's a rush at the psychologist's office.


----------



## Backwoods Savage

If it ain't cold now, it probably will be soon. This week will tax a lot of systems.


----------



## Coog

Supposed to be 20 below here tonight and until noon tomorrow morning with 25 mph winds.  Never had temps this low with the stove before.  I anticipate the forced air will supplement.  Almost hope it does.  Been in the house for about 7 years and have never been tested this cold yet.  Basement stays about 55 - 60 on normal days.  Will likely dip into the 40s tonight with the winds.  Forced air should keep it in the 50s though.  No frozen pipes. 

It is the winds that are concerning. I have seen -30 here before just not with the heavy winds like this.  It is what engineers design the bottom end of a system at. Like Backwoods said, will be quite testing. 

Except for you Alaskan folks.  Your probably laughing at me right now.

Although barrow Alaska is going to be a "balmy" -6 tonight.


----------



## Badfish740

I almost sweat my cahones off bringing in the wood this afternoon in preparation for the next blast of cold air (should arrive in New Jersey Tuesday night)-right now it's damn near 40 and will hit 50 tomorrow.  I let the fire burn out in the Englander for the first time in five days.  Weather report says we're supposed to get thunderstorms tonight-can't make this stuff up...


----------



## BrotherBart

Gonna be the coldest we have had since 1994. And I remember that night well.


----------



## Dix

Yep, temp drop tomorrow from 45F to 0F here tomorrow night to the next morning.

Loaded the house


----------



## Ashful

Doing The Dixie Eyed Hustle said:


> If the broom fits, ride it.




Almost bizarrely warm out there tonight, considering what we've been thru the last 3 days.  Everything is sweating and dripping, like a warm and rainy spring evening.  Current temperature = 36F, which is too cool for spring, but too warm for a January night.


----------



## Dix

Joful said:


> Almost bizarrely warm out there tonight, considering what we've been thru the last 3 days.  Everything is sweating and dripping, like a warm and rainy spring evening.  Current temperature = 36F, which is too cool for spring, but too warm for a January night.



Let it melt. We're going to need melting tomorrow !


----------



## WiscWoody

I have -22 now it will drop another 15 degrees yet tonight.


----------



## begreen

Brrrrrr!


----------



## BrotherBart

Ouch. We will see 0 for the first time in twenty years tomorrow night. I remember the last time. Me and my neighbor were down at the end of my driveway out in it at midnight with strong wind trying to clear snow. He went to his truck and came back drinking a beer, with ice on his stubble, and when I gave him a look he said "Either you are a beer drinker or you're not!".


----------



## begreen




----------



## Ashful

We hit -2F on Friday, which is cold for us, but not entirely uncommon.  Memory is a funny thing, but I seem to remember slipping below 0F a few nights most years in the past.

I do remember showing up at elementary school one day and it was -6F when the school bell rang in the morning.  They huddled us all in the gymnasium, since the boiler had gone out, and sent us home after an hour.  I lived a mile from school, and so there was no bus serving my neighborhood, my brother and I walked.  We weren't dressed for it, as being that damn cold, mom had driven us to school that morning.

We walked the mile home, and found mom must've gone to do her shopping after dropping us off at school, as the house was locked and no one was home.  Me at age 7 or 8 and my brother two years younger, stuck outdoors at -6F.  Several other kids got dropped back off at their bus stops, and found their parents not home as well, after the bus had pulled away.  Man... the principle caught hell from the parents on that day!


----------



## Mrs. Krabappel

Doing The Dixie Eyed Hustle said:


> Yep, temp drop tomorrow from 45F to 0F here tomorrow night to the next morning.
> 
> Loaded the house
> 
> View attachment 123042


 
Same situation here.  45F today and 0F tomorrow night.  The boy and I moved a lot of wood today.  And cleaned out the ecobricks at tractor supply.


----------



## WiscWoody

BrotherBart said:


> Ouch. We will see 0 for the first time in twenty years tomorrow night. I remember the last time. Me and my neighbor were down at the end of my driveway out in it at midnight with strong wind trying to clear snow. He went to his truck and came back drinking a beer, with ice on his stubble, and when I gave him a look he said "Either you are a beer drinker or you're not!".


I can remember glasses of beer in hand on a weekend night clearing the driveway. Ice on top of the beer. My neighbor across the street and I were sure some beer drinking fools back then, I did refrigeration work and I had a commercial beer Meister in the heated garage the I fixed for cheap, hence the neighbor was there quite a bit!


----------



## windchaser

Dropped to -5 where I am at - that seems so tame compared to what some of you facing tonight.  Keep the coals stoked everyone !


----------



## WiscWoody

Now its -30 and my propane pressure has dropped low enough that the furnace wont run. Its happened many times before but it was really tough before I got the wood stove put in!


----------



## velvetfoot

50°F here this AM!  Unbelieveable.  Cross country yesterday.  Today all the snow will be gone, or if not, totally messed up when the temps go below zero on Tuesday.  Ach, such is the Northeast.


----------



## eclecticcottage

hermancm said:


> Now its -30 and my propane pressure has dropped low enough that the furnace wont run. Its happened many times before but it was really tough before I got the wood stove put in!


 

I am wondering if this is what happened to our ventfree-it cut out on Friday night sometime, which is when it was reading -8 on our weather station.  It's just one 100lb tank so it might have been too cold and couldn't draw.  Either that or it ran out.  Until we finish getting the place sealed it's nice to have when it gets in the teens or lower. 

It's amazing with a stove rated for 1200-2000 sq ft that we even need it in our 700 sq ft, but it's just what we get for living in an old cottage I guess, lol.  I can say this-I am glad we've got seasoned wood this year the way the weather's been!!  I do wish we had a bit more hardwood though, so I wasn't up every night for a middle of the night reload (pine burns well, and for the most part I like it, but with these rediculous temps we just can't hold an all night burn and have house temps above 60 in the am).

Had a duh moment this am and will be loading up the sunroom with more wood when I get home, unless DH decides to do it during the day.  I've been looking for a spot for extra wood storage and although we've finished the room more than before we could still get away with temp wood storage in it...it's got more work needed before it's usable in the winter anyway.  -2 predicted without the windchill tonight, then by the weekend, 40's.  My head is killing me now, this is going to be a long week (migraines).


----------



## bag of hammers

Joful said:


> We hit -2F on Friday, which is cold for us, but not entirely uncommon.  Memory is a funny thing, but I seem to remember slipping below 0F a few nights most years in the past.
> 
> I do remember showing up at elementary school one day and it was -6F when the school bell rang in the morning.  They huddled us all in the gymnasium, since the boiler had gone out, and sent us home after an hour.  I lived a mile from school, and so there was no bus serving my neighborhood, my brother and I walked.  We weren't dressed for it, as being that damn cold, mom had driven us to school that morning.
> 
> We walked the mile home, and found mom must've gone to do her shopping after dropping us off at school, as the house was locked and no one was home.  Me at age 7 or 8 and my brother two years younger, stuck outdoors at -6F.  Several other kids got dropped back off at their bus stops, and found their parents not home as well, after the bus had pulled away.  Man... the principle caught hell from the parents on that day!



Good story.  I think we were a bit more bulletproof when we were kids.  I wish I still had some of that stuff, now that I'm an old(er) fart.  I used to spend hours out in the cold (street hockey, walking to the toboggan hill, etc.) and had to be dragged inside, and we did get some nasty cold winters (this year is kinda like what we saw 20 or 30 years ago).  Man, I'm out in this cold now, waking the pup around the block in the morning before work for 10 minutes, and I'm totally wimping out.  Granted, it's somewhere between -30 and - 40 with the windchills on the colder days, and nobody should be out too long in the deep freeze, but it does hurt a lot more now than it used to back in the day...


----------



## bag of hammers

eclecticcottage said:


> I am wondering if this is what happened to our ventfree-it cut out on Friday night sometime, which is when it was reading -8 on our weather station.  It's just one 100lb tank so it might have been too cold and couldn't draw.  Either that or it ran out.  Until we finish getting the place sealed it's nice to have when it gets in the teens or lower.



hermancm raises a good point.  I have a Rinnai direct vent propane unit - so far it's been working well - typically I run it on the lower settings so it doesn't have to suck as much gas which may be helping with low pressure issues up to a point.  But I noticed the furnace will actually make an intermittent / slight "whistling" sound in the low fire mode when the temps outside are  extremely cold e.g. @ -30.  The manufacturer issued a tech bulletin attributing this harmonic noise more typically to differences / changes in gas composition.  I believe the unit is more likely reacting to extreme temps with changes (decline) in the supply gas pressure.  They have a fix (minor air shutter and manifold pressure adjustments).  But it's mostly a nuisance and not a safety issue, and I'm not a gas fitter, no manometer etc. so I won't tinker with it.  Would have to pay a gas fitter 3 or 4 hours time to drive all the way out, adjust, test, etc.  Once I have the stove rolling, the furnace gets a break anyway.  

I think the guy who installed the tank said something about -42 deg being the propane boiling point., so as the temps drop you could have some pressure related problems, to the point of failure when there's no pressure at all.


----------



## Dakotas Dad

But here in central Kentucky, getting a 70 degree delta doesn't happen often..




Just happy to be warm.. and spending no money to do it..

OK,OK, I know *some* money was spent.. gas and oil for the saw ain't free. 

But my meter ain't out there trying to pull itself off the wall from centrifugal force..


----------



## TradEddie

If the forecast is even remotely correct, we'll have gone from a low of -1F Saturday morning, to a high of 58F this morning, back to zero gain tonight. When they talked about climate change, I didn't realize it was all going to happen within 72 hours!
Stay warm.

TE


----------



## BurnIt13

These temps have been soooo strange.  It was -15F two nights ago and today it is 60F here in MA.  By 10pm it is going to be in the 20's with a low of 10F tonight.  Tomorrow wont get any warmer either.

In a sick sense I kind of wish I was experiencing the -30F temps....only to see if my Englander 30 could keep up!


----------



## WiscWoody

eclecticcottage said:


> I am wondering if this is what happened to our ventfree-it cut out on Friday night sometime, which is when it was reading -8 on our weather station.  It's just one 100lb tank so it might have been too cold and couldn't draw.  Either that or it ran out.  Until we finish getting the place sealed it's nice to have when it gets in the teens or lower.
> 
> It's amazing with a stove rated for 1200-2000 sq ft that we even need it in our 700 sq ft, but it's just what we get for living in an old cottage I guess, lol.  I can say this-I am glad we've got seasoned wood this year the way the weather's been!!  I do wish we had a bit more hardwood though, so I wasn't up every night for a middle of the night reload (pine burns well, and for the most part I like it, but with these rediculous temps we just can't hold an all night burn and have house temps above 60 in the am).
> 
> Had a duh moment this am and will be loading up the sunroom with more wood when I get home, unless DH decides to do it during the day.  I've been looking for a spot for extra wood storage and although we've finished the room more than before we could still get away with temp wood storage in it...it's got more work needed before it's usable in the winter anyway.  -2 predicted without the windchill tonight, then by the weekend, 40's.  My head is killing me now, this is going to be a long week (migraines).


Propane boils at -44. the colder it gets the lower the pressure it has and a large evaporation surface helps the gas vaporize in cold temps, which a 100lb tank doesn't have so that may be the problem for sure


----------



## WiscWoody

TradEddie said:


> If the forecast is even remotely correct, we'll have gone from a low of -1F Saturday morning, to a high of 58F this morning, back to zero gain tonight. When they talked about climate change, I didn't realize it was all going to happen within 72 hours!
> Stay warm.
> 
> TE


 Well that sucks ha? Not! and it is the Arctic here!


----------



## bsruther

NWS says it's 1F outside, supposed to get to -5 tonight, that's cold for us. Even when the temps are warm in here, you can feel the battle that's being waged with the cold.
Temps like these make it a lot easier to find leaks with the IR gun.

Taken a few minutes ago, on the mantel and on the wall in the hallway. I think my outside temp reading is off.


----------



## John-Eddie

BurnIt13 said:


> These temps have been soooo strange.  It was -15F two nights ago and today it is 60F here in MA.  By 10pm it is going to be in the 20's with a low of 10F tonight.  Tomorrow wont get any warmer either.
> 
> In a sick sense I kind of wish I was experiencing the -30F temps....only to see if my Englander 30 could keep up!



Same story here in NH.  It's over 50 right now, single digits tonight.  Weird.

-JE


----------



## jharkin

I think the temps bottomed out around -10F Friday night.  It had been about 74or so in the living room when I loaded the overnight load of my best black locust.  Usually a load like that will have the room steadily rising close to 80 before slowly cooling overnight.  Well not this time, temps just kept falling till the gas boiler  came on to start assisting around midnight.

Now this morning its in the mid 50s and the fog was so thick on the way into work that I couldn't see 15ft inside the parking garage!

And then we drop back again tonight, cold but not like last Fridays deep freeze.  Ive heard low teens.


----------



## Woody Stover

Bottom fell out yesterday afternoon; Went from 35 then, down to -5 this AM. Luckily, we got less than the 6-8" of snow that was originally forecast. I loaded in the wee hours on a pretty big coal bed, so not a lot of wood. I just got another load cruising now, nine hours later after burning down coals for a couple hours and getting the stove top back up to 340. With that long a time, and limited net heat off the stove, room temp has dropped from 67 to 63. It'll be interesting to see if I can recover room temp at the current level of weatherization, with the stove chock-full o' Pignut Hickory and a probable high of 2 degrees with 15-20 mph winds. She's just crested 500 and should level off around 530 or so, I think.
Like many other posters, I haven't yet tested this stove, with this dry of wood, under conditions this severe. This is fun  ....until I have to go outside for more wood! 
One more below-zero night is forecast. I think I'll load up on some BL tonight and try to get a more timely reload in the AM to keep the heat flowing better than I did this morning. 67 ain't too bad....63, and the pooches look at me, then at the stove, then back at me. 



hermancm said:


> Well that sucks ha? Not! and it is the Arctic here!


I lived in southern WI for thirty years, but that is a couple climate zones warmer than up there!


----------



## Jags

My high temp for the day is supposed to hit -11F.  Yes, minus. This weather sucks.


----------



## rideau

We had freezing rain last night, 24 F now, windy, going down to -9 F with strong wind.  Wind chills  tonight, tomorrow in the order of -30 to -35.

My yard and road are glare ice.  Can't walk on it.  I've resorted to ashes by the doors and to the woodpile and car, which I do reluctantly because of the mess.  But at least no one falls.  My road is 1000 feet long and with tight curves.  I'm not looking forward to driving out tomorrow morning.


----------



## Ashful

Jags said:


> My high temp for the day is supposed to hit -11F.  Yes, minus. This weather sucks.


Yikes.  I've seen daily low temps close to that here, but never a high temp!  I had always thought Illinois had a climate pretty close to PA, but your northern Illinois, and I'm southern PA.

... actually just confirmed.  Our lowest recorded daily high was +2F in Jan 1994, the year of the brutal ice storms.


----------



## Badfish740

rideau said:


> My yard and road are glare ice.  Can't walk on it.



I'll be getting as much wood as I can in tonight for this reason.  There's no way my soggy yard will dry out enough for it not to be a skating rink tomorrow morning.


----------



## Jags

Joful said:


> I had always thought Illinois had a climate pretty close to PA, but your northern Illinois, and I'm southern PA.


For the last 12 months Philly has had 4917 degree days.
Rochelle, IL (closest town to me) is at 7399.  A pretty good difference.


----------



## rideau

Wow, Jags, more than 50% more degree days. Sort of surprising.


----------



## Jags

rideau said:


> Wow, Jags, more than 50% more degree days. Sort of surprising.


Just for fun - Peterborough (not sure how close that is to you) is 8075.  There is less difference between you and I, than there is between Philly and I.


----------



## Mrs. Krabappel

I even spent some time crawling around the aptly named space under my house yesterday 

I always send the sheepdog in first


----------



## Ashful

Jags said:


> Just for fun - Peterborough (not sure how close that is to you) is 8075.  There is less difference between you and I, than there is between Philly and I.


Yeah, that is a surprise.  I'm in a suburb north of Philly, and we average almost exactly 5000 HDD's per year.  I had always assumed you guys were similar (or warmer) than us, because most of Illinois is actually south of Pennsylvania.  However, being more inland, perhaps you see less ocean moderation?

Looking at Peoria average highs and lows, I see the summer highs almost match Philly (within 1F), but Peoria winter highs are a good 7F lower than Philly.


----------



## Jags

Joful said:


> because most of Illinois is actually south of Pennsylvania



Mid to Southern IL is vastly different weather than the North boarder.  No ocean moderation (or any other kind) where I am at.
Another comparison - Madison WI. - 7702.  Only 300 degree days different than me. (a 3 or 4 % difference).


----------



## Jack Fate

Just fired 2nd stove NEVER did this before -11 with 35+ wind but the suns shining


----------



## Shari

Well......... it is 2:30pm and it is -42 windchill.  Tonight is forecast to be -46 windchill. 

I went out to start my truck (just to see if it would start) and it went grunt-grunt-splat.

Good thing I don't have to go anywhere.

Oh well, temps will be back up in the 20's-30's on Thrusday/Friday.  Sounds like hubby and I will be 'nesting' for a few days.

(Location:  Just outside of Milwaukee, WI.)


----------



## WiscWoody

Woody Stover said:


> Bottom fell out yesterday afternoon; Went from 35 then, down to -5 this AM. Luckily, we got less than the 6-8" of snow that was originally forecast. I loaded in the wee hours on a pretty big coal bed, so not a lot of wood. I just got another load cruising now, nine hours later after burning down coals for a couple hours and getting the stove top back up to 340. With that long a time, and limited net heat off the stove, room temp has dropped from 67 to 63. It'll be interesting to see if I can recover room temp at the current level of weatherization, with the stove chock-full o' Pignut Hickory and a probable high of 2 degrees with 15-20 mph winds. She's just crested 500 and should level off around 530 or so, I think.
> Like many other posters, I haven't yet tested this stove, with this dry of wood, under conditions this severe. This is fun  ....until I have to go outside for more wood!
> One more below-zero night is forecast. I think I'll load up on some BL tonight and try to get a more timely reload in the AM to keep the heat flowing better than I did this morning. 67 ain't too bad....63, and the pooches look at me, then at the stove, then back at me.
> 
> I lived in southern WI for thirty years, but that is a couple climate zones warmer than up there!


Anything less than 10 F Is cold but it is funny how you become acclimated to temperatures and then it warms up to 10 above and it feel nice. I dress for it up here now but when I lived in the Twin Cities (Minnesota) I didnt so much since I was in warm buildings most of the time.


----------



## bag of hammers

Mrs. Krabappel said:


> I even spent some time crawling around the aptly named space under my house yesterday  I always send the sheepdog in first



Speaking of crawls and dogs, an exposed drain line from my kitchen sink at the cabin froze solid this weekend (it's a straight / steep run under part of the cabin, into to a grey water pit).   This happened once before during a long deep freeze, but that time there was an issue with the pipe (the neighbour's dog ran under there and knocked the pipe off of a support, water started to collect a bit there and then gradually froze up).  

I fixed that (the pipe, that is, the dog still likes to tear around there ) and it's been ok - I thought I had it beat, at least until I'm able to get the reno's done and get this part covered / plumbed into the septic.   

But this year and many days of arctic air blasting around there nixed it again  -  little trickles of stuff (end of a coffee, etc.) going down the drain would freeze against the side of the pipe in layers about half way down.     Since it's all being replaced, my "fix" is a couple of Fernco couplings - can remove the offending section in @ 2 minutes, sit it end-up in a bucket inside to thaw, re-attach and good to go.  Insulation would likely end up in the mouse houses around the wood piles.


----------



## yooperdave

It "warmed up" to -43 windchill today...more of the same for tonight and tomorrow.


----------



## Retired Guy

Portion of a weather summary from the NWS for the next few days

*Lake Effect Snow Warning*
URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BUFFALO NY 338 PM EST MON JAN 6 2014 
JEFFERSON-LEWIS- INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...WATERTOWN...LOWVILLE 338 PM EST MON JAN 6 2014 ...LAKE EFFECT SNOW WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1 PM EST WEDNESDAY... ...WIND CHILL ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM MIDNIGHT TONIGHT TO 6 PM EST TUESDAY... * LOCATIONS...JEFFERSON AND LEWIS COUNTIES. * TIMING...THROUGH EARLY WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. * HAZARDS...HEAVY LAKE EFFECT SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW. * ACCUMULATIONS...*1 TO 3 INCHES THIS AFTERNOON*...MORE THAN *2 FEET TONIGHT*...*MORE THAN 2 FEET TUESDAY..*.*10 TO 20 INCHES TUESDAY NIGHT...AND 3 TO 5 INCHES WEDNESDAY *LEADING TO *STORM TOTALS OF 3 TO 5 FEET.* * WINDS...WEST 20 TO 30 MPH. * WIND CHILLS...AS COLD AS 25 BELOW ZERO AT TIMES. * VISIBILITIES...NEAR ZERO IN WHITEOUT CONDITIONS AT TIMES.


----------



## Backwoods Savage

Let's face it, when the outdoor temperature gets over 30 degrees below the normal or average temperature, it is cold no matter where you live.


----------



## HotCoals

Wow..it's colder in Kentucky then upstate NY!
10f here. the wind be a blow'n though!


----------



## Backwoods Savage

Just wait a bit HotCoals. It will come to you too.


----------



## Jeffair10

It's bloody cold here..
	

		
			
		

		
	





I have the little Magnolia cranking between 500 and 600 degrees, it helps at these temps but the gas furnace still kicks on. I need a bigger burner and a bigger supply of wood...


----------



## midwestcoast

That is a nasty mix of weather headed to Upstate NY Retired Guy.  Sure don't want to be caught out on a lonely road, stuck in 4' of snow in a whiteout with -25 wind chills. Not a fun way to die or live!
We had somewhere over a foot here (the tiny flake stuff that packs in heavy) followed by wind chills getting down to the -40's.  I love this weather as long as there's a warm house waiting for me.  This morning I was shoveling in -14 with WC of -38.  Had to take off my coat for a while when I started sweating.  My 75 Y.O neighbor came out to blow some snow & his wife was shoveling the steps.


----------



## Ehouse

9:30pm still holding at +13* in Central NY.  Nighty night.


----------



## Badfish740

The high winds just hit NW Jersey a little while ago.  It's whipping out there pretty good and the temp is dropping quick!  Time to go throw some oak in


----------



## Dix

Badfish740 said:


> The high winds just hit NW Jersey a little while ago.  It's whipping out there pretty good and the temp is dropping quick!  Time to go throw some oak in



I got lucky, just took the Murph outside, and the back deck is pretty much dry. With those winds coming in, that should finish it.

Most of the snow is gone, driveway clear, car close to the house, so I don't have to far to walk to far if everything is frozen in the AM.

Even dug out my  Yak Trax


----------



## Ashful

Killer winds here!  Gusts above 40 mph.  No troubles with weak draft tonight!


----------



## mithesaint

Wow.  It's not often it's the coldest here, but right now NW OH is taking the prize.  Currently -15 degrees, with windchills hovering around -40.  Good ol' fashioned snot freezing weather.  Had at one point today it was -13 outside, 73 inside.  Never had an 86 degree difference before.


----------



## TradEddie

We're burning propane tonight, the 75000Btu/h furnace seemed to be running about 80% of the time, tonight will be a great data point on my multi-year measurement of overnight heat loss. Now I wish I'd bought that hourmeter someone recommended before Christmas...
As an other example of counter-intuitive data, my basement is warmer tonight than usual, but although I have started insulating the walls, I believe this temperature increase is due to the furnace running so much. Hopefully I'm wrong and I'm getting early payback.

Our local NWS station just reported a -23 windchill, it's howling, I really hope we don't lose power.

TE


----------



## Ehouse

6:30am, +2*, school closed.


----------



## Badfish740

Joful said:


> Killer winds here!  Gusts above 40 mph.  No troubles with weak draft tonight!





TradEddie said:


> Our local NWS station just reported a -23 windchill, it's howling, I really hope we don't lose power.



Wind was really whipping here last night too.  Haven't heard wind like this in a long time.  I was thinking the same thing about power-central wood heat is nice, until I have to drag the generator out to run the blower


----------



## UncleJoe

-6F when I got up at 5:45. Up to -1F 2 hours later. 

Inside it got down to 65 overnight but we're back up to 75 now.


----------



## Ehouse

UncleJoe said:


> -6F when I got up at 5:45. Up to -1F 2 hours later.
> 
> Inside it got down to 65 overnight but we're back up to 75 now.




Your's is rising, mine's dropping.  Down to -1* at 08:10am.


----------



## Ashful

There is absolutely no way to describe this weather without the use of profanity.


----------



## Woody Stover

Woody Stover said:


> It'll be interesting to see if I can recover room temp at the current level of weatherization, with the stove chock-full o' Pignut Hickory and a probable high of 2 degrees with 15-20 mph winds.


Nah, not happening at all. 58 in the house now. When it's super-cold out, you can really feel where air is getting in. I've got a replacement window and some other construction that's not trimmed out yet. I think these are the two biggest losers. I need to button 'er up now. Got some warm weather starting tomorrow, but the way this winter has gone so far, I get the feeling we haven't yet seen the last of blasts, and these low room temps are not getting it. 



hermancm said:


> Anything less than 10 F Is cold but it is funny how you become acclimated to temperatures and then it warms up to 10 above and it feel nice.


When it's 58 in the house, that will acclimate ya too.


----------



## Seasoned Oak

Im maintaining 71 indoors with a 0 outside reading for the past 12 hours or so . I cant complain. Solar room is in the 60s ,not bad but struggling with 3 degrees outside and all the heat loss from 150SF of windows.


----------



## eclecticcottage

Woody Stover said:


> Nah, not happening at all. 58 in the house now. When it's super-cold out, you can really feel where air is getting in. I've got a replacement window and some other construction that's not trimmed out yet. I think these are the two biggest losers. I need to button 'er up now. Got some warm weather starting tomorrow, but the way this winter has gone so far, I get the feeling we haven't yet seen the last of blasts, and these low room temps are not getting it.
> 
> When it's 58 in the house, that will acclimate ya too.



It's 55 here and got down to 49 over night.  Oversized stove...not.  -25 windchills last night.  about -15 now.  We've got some serious weatherization to do.  

The lake is freaking beautiful though, I've never seen it steaming before.  Ice volcanos are active but I'm not walking down there to see them!!


----------



## Badfish740

Since today was my first day back at work since all this crazy cold began (we were closed Friday so I got to stay home) my oil furnace is likely kicking on at home  by now.  I have the thermostat set to 65, so hopefully only a little oil will be burned between now and when I stuff the firebox around 5:30 tonight...


----------



## Adios Pantalones

That's cold. Heck- to hear the news tell it, 45F is dangerous: http://mobile.philly.com/news/nation_world/?wss=/philly/news/nation_world&id=238710861


----------



## Dix

Joful said:


> There is absolutely no way to describe this weather without the use of profanity.



Damned straight


----------



## bag of hammers

eclecticcottage said:


> The lake is freaking beautiful though, I've never seen it steaming before. Ice volcanos are active but I'm not walking down there to see them!!



I hear ya.  Several ice volcano's on the shoreline here - haven't seen these built like this in several years.  Only got to about 8 or 9 feet high before things froze right over though.

The clipper that came through last Saturday broke up a lot of the ice on the lake and piled it along the shoreline.  Pics are on my wife's camera so technically it didn't happen I guess .  Huge clear-blue sheets of ice piled up like some giant just tossed them around.  Looks like the fortress of solitude down there.  Ice flowed back in from the big lake and things were frozen over again by Sunday.  Spectacular to look at, but hearing the ice crack miles out into the lake in the pitch dark will scare the bejeezuz out of you, and the wind along the shoreline will literally pick you up and carry you away.    Even the dog was hesitant to venture out there.


----------



## flyingcow

Just recently happened. Basically a 70 degree diff in outside temps inside of 24 hours. NUts weather. BTW, I fell bad for you guys in the South. Seriously crazy cold. Stay safe.......................How's Al Gore doing with the whole Global Warming thing???


----------



## Adios Pantalones

flyingcow said:


> Just recently happened. Basically a 70 degree diff in outside temps inside of 24 hours. NUts weather. BTW, I fell bad for you guys in the South. Seriously crazy cold. Stay safe.......................How's Al Gore doing with the whole Global Warming thing???


I think he understands what the terms "global" and "trend" mean, so I'm sure he's fine


----------



## Badfish740

7 Degrees here this morning.  My wife (high school teacher) has another 90 minute delay.  Her district owns their own buses instead of leasing new ones, so they're older-anybody who knows anything about starting old diesels in this kind of weather knows that it requires quite a bit of "persuasion"   They should have just them run all night...


----------



## eclecticcottage

bag of hammers said:


> I hear ya.  Several ice volcano's on the shoreline here - haven't seen these built like this in several years.  Only got to about 8 or 9 feet high before things froze right over though.
> 
> The clipper that came through last Saturday broke up a lot of the ice on the lake and piled it along the shoreline.  Pics are on my wife's camera so technically it didn't happen I guess .  Huge clear-blue sheets of ice piled up like some giant just tossed them around.  Looks like the fortress of solitude down there.  Ice flowed back in from the big lake and things were frozen over again by Sunday.  Spectacular to look at, but hearing the ice crack miles out into the lake in the pitch dark will scare the bejeezuz out of you, and the wind along the shoreline will literally pick you up and carry you away.    Even the dog was hesitant to venture out there.


 

I don't think the lake here ever really freezes.  We do get ice floating around, and we'll get ice frozen along the shoreline for 20-30' out.  I'm betting we get a LOT of it floating by soon from what blew over the ice boom by Buffalo and is currently jammed up in the upper river.  Every darn spring they let that thing go JUST as it's warming up here and it throws up back into colder temps for a few weeks while it works it's way through (I can leave work and it's 65/70 and get home to 40/45 degrees).


----------



## Benchwrench

last couple days forecast has stated wind chill up to 45º below, I'm sure it's possible to walk or even skate across our little lake. Even though it's supposed to snow today and tomorrow, at least it'll warm up to do that.


----------



## Seasoned Oak

Badfish740 said:


> 7 Degrees here this morning.  My wife (high school teacher) has another 90 minute delay.  Her district owns their own buses instead of leasing new ones, so they're older-anybody who knows anything about starting old diesels in this kind of weather knows that it requires quite a bit of "persuasion"   They should have just them run all night...


 A block heater would be a much cheaper option,besides diesel is expensive and i dont think its good for the motor to idle for hours on end.


----------



## Badfish740

Seasoned Oak said:


> A block heater would be a much cheaper option,besides diesel is expensive and i dont think its good for the motor to idle for hours on end.



In theory yes, but logistically challenging.  Let's say it's a fleet of 25 buses (I don't know the real number) which would be 25 block heaters drawing about 9 amps (That's what my old 7.3L drew) each = 225 amps.  Not to mention the mess of cords stretched all over the bus yard.  Idling diesels is common practice in very severe cold climates like the Upper Midwest/Canada, but it's usually only needed on older equipment.  There is also the risk of a phenomenon known as "wet stacking" where unburned fuel deposits accumulate on valve stems due to the cool running temperature at idle and the cold outside temperatures, but it has to be much colder than single (positive) digits for that to be an issue  Newer diesel technology, better glow plugs/intake heaters, and fuel additives help immensely.  LOL...she just texted me as I write this that she had to move her class across the hall due to a burst pipe...


----------



## Ashful

Just got up to 7 here, too.  Unfortunately, both stoves were left go cold.  Got in from work at 11pm last night, after two nights of less than 6 hours of sleep, was too tired to reload and wait out cat light off.  In a rush to get back out the door this morning, both stoves sit cold today.


----------



## woodgeek

Joful said:


> Just got up to 7 here, too.  Unfortunately, both stoves were left go cold.  Got in from work at 11pm last night, after two nights of less than 6 hours of sleep, was too tired to reload and wait out cat light off.  In a rush to get back out the door this morning, both stoves sit cold today.



On the bright side, the cost only comes about once every 20 years around here.  I think I used >200 kWh of wind yesterday.


----------



## bag of hammers

Seasoned Oak said:


> A block heater would be a much cheaper option,besides diesel is expensive and i dont think its good for the motor to idle for hours on end.



God bless the block heater - tired old vehicles starting up like its mid-June - that's a thing of beauty.   But I speak of my own gas engine vehicles sitting in my driveway.

Unfortunately, GM added a temp controlled block heater to it's vehicles - I wasn't even aware of this when I got my last truck.  The heater does not come on until it's -18 deg C (0 deg F)  .  So on all those balmy -17 deg mornings I get to go out and start a stone cold engine .  Probably some EPA or other requirement driving this, I dunno.  Yeah it starts, but in the big picture, I probably waste more energy (gas) than I save (electric) due to the idle and warm up time in the driveway.  Not to mention any add'l wear on engine parts from the many many cold starts like this. 

I'm not dumping my kid into a -18 deg  vehicle for a freezing cold ride to his school, looking through frosted up glass, so it warms up before I go anywhere.  My wife's 12 year old clunker with block heater starts throwing heat by the time the windshield gets brushed off but my new(er) truck will sit and idle for 5 minutes or more before I get some heat.  Thanks GM...     

Sorry for the side track / rant


----------



## bag of hammers

eclecticcottage said:


> I don't think the lake here ever really freezes.  We do get ice floating around, and we'll get ice frozen along the shoreline for 20-30' out.  I'm betting we get a LOT of it floating by soon from what blew over the ice boom by Buffalo and is currently jammed up in the upper river.  Every darn spring they let that thing go JUST as it's warming up here and it throws up back into colder temps for a few weeks while it works it's way through (I can leave work and it's 65/70 and get home to 40/45 degrees).



Wow the delta's are crazy.  Windchills approaching -40 this past week, but the weather forecast here for saturday is +3 deg C with light rain.  I think my head is going to explode.

Speaking of freezing lakes, this is a really cool pic that kind of puts the insane cold in perspective.  Yep that's the Great Lakes down there....

http://sploid.gizmodo.com/jaw-dropping-photo-of-the-frozen-great-lakes-looks-like-1496557704


----------



## jharkin

Same wild swings here ... -10f (-23c) last Friday, almost 60 (14) monday, back down to single digits now then up to the 40s again this weekend..


----------



## begreen

bag of hammers said:


> Wow the delta's are crazy.  Windchills approaching -40 this past week, but the weather forecast here for saturday is +3 deg C with light rain.  I think my head is going to explode.


Delta's always been a bit dizzy, but we still love him


----------



## yooperdave

bag of hammers said:


> Wow the delta's are crazy.  Windchills approaching -40 this past week, but the weather forecast here for saturday is +3 deg C with light rain.  I think my head is going to explode.
> 
> Speaking of freezing lakes, this is a really cool pic that kind of puts the insane cold in perspective.  Yep that's the Great Lakes down there....
> 
> http://sploid.gizmodo.com/jaw-dropping-photo-of-the-frozen-great-lakes-looks-like-1496557704
> 
> View attachment 123338





That is where I live
Our wind chills bottomed out at -50 the last couple nights.  Tonight, its -22 but I don't know what the wind chill will be.  Friday is warmer...hang on!


----------



## begreen

Here's something to ponder.


----------



## bag of hammers

begreen said:


> Delta's always been a bit dizzy, but we still love him



Oops - do I need to apologize to all the "delta's" on the forum?


----------



## Jags

bag of hammers said:


> Oops - do I need to apologize to all the "delta's" on the forum?


Don't worry.  The negative vibes just bounce off of his tin foil hat.
@Delta-T


----------



## begreen

bag of hammers said:


> Oops - do I need to apologize to all the "delta's" on the forum?


Would you apologize face to face to a guy wearing a mankini in winter?


----------



## Mrs. Krabappel




----------



## BrotherBart

The reason Martians don't live in the UP either.


----------



## Doug MacIVER

which is worse? the "POLAR VORTEX" , or from the old oil heat ads,"THE MONTREAL EXPRESS"?


----------



## woodgeek

I thought it was an 'Alberta Clipper'...


----------



## Doug MacIVER

woodgeek said:


> I thought it was an 'Alberta Clipper'...


that's a snowstorm! origin alberta swings so-east then e-ne, if you were kidding, over my head, have a day


----------



## yooperdave

BrotherBart said:


> The reason Martians don't live in the UP either.



Don't be so sure about that, BB!  Sure do get a lot of out of state license plates here year around.


----------



## yooperdave

Mrs. Krabappel said:


> View attachment 123384



No matter how bad you think things are, you never have to look very far to find things worse!
99 says men are from Jupiter cuz they're stupider!


----------



## bag of hammers

begreen said:


> Would you apologize face to face to a guy wearing a mankini in winter?



First time I read that, I thought you said "Would you apologize face to face to a guy _while _wearing a mankini in winter?"  

Which is an even scarier thought...


----------



## Retired Guy

Badfish740 said:


> In theory yes, but logistically challenging.  Let's say it's a fleet of 25 buses (I don't know the real number) which would be 25 block heaters drawing about 9 amps (That's what my old 7.3L drew) each = 225 amps.  Not to mention the mess of cords stretched all over the bus yard.  Idling diesels is common practice in very severe cold climates like the Upper Midwest/Canada, but it's usually only needed on older equipment.  There is also the risk of a phenomenon known as "wet stacking" where unburned fuel deposits accumulate on valve stems due to the cool running temperature at idle and the cold outside temperatures, but it has to be much colder than single (positive) digits for that to be an issue  Newer diesel technology, better glow plugs/intake heaters, and fuel additives help immensely.  LOL...she just texted me as I write this that she had to move her class across the hall due to a burst pipe...


When a local district went all diesel for their fleet - they bus 9500 students/day in 200 buses. They had problems with starting at temps below -10F and went to all block heaters. Posts and wiring were a major expense.


----------



## Enzo's Dad

My programable thermostat decided to pick its own temp on tuesday night, It went back to the factory settting of 62, the stove keeps the second floor at 64. I figured out what was going on and spent 6 hours thawing the system. I had to take the day off but beats dealing with a burst pipe and the aftermath. I have two runs in cralw spaces and the froze, but the pipes were intact. Installed pipe heaters and went back to a honeywell round thermostat. It is set at 65 no problems so far. The temp inside the crawl spaces was 20F. That is crazy 

On a positive note only about 75 days until motorcycle season


----------



## Dix

Jags said:


> Don't worry.  The negative vibes just bounce off of his tin foil hat.
> @Delta-T



*laughing*  even Rick's dog wore a tin foil hat for that one !!


----------



## Dix

Enzo's Dad said:


> My programable thermostat decided to pick its own temp on tuesday night, It went back to the factory settting of 62, the stove keeps the second floor at 64. I figured out what was going on and spent 6 hours thawing the system. I had to take the day off but beats dealing with a burst pipe and the aftermath. I have two runs in cralw spaces and the froze, but the pipes were intact. Installed pipe heaters and went back to a honeywell round thermostat. It is set at 65 no problems so far. The temp inside the crawl spaces was 20F. That is crazy
> 
> On a positive note only about 75 days until motorcycle season



The same for show season. 

Woot woot !!


----------



## woodgeek

an interesting blog post about the weather from building science guru Holliday....

http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/musings/twenty-below-and-grid


----------



## woodgeek

Enzo's Dad said:


> My programable thermostat decided to pick its own temp on tuesday night, It went back to the factory settting of 62, the stove keeps the second floor at 64. I figured out what was going on and spent 6 hours thawing the system. I had to take the day off but beats dealing with a burst pipe and the aftermath. I have two runs in cralw spaces and the froze, but the pipes were intact. Installed pipe heaters and went back to a honeywell round thermostat. It is set at 65 no problems so far. The temp inside the crawl spaces was 20F. That is crazy
> 
> On a positive note only about 75 days until motorcycle season



Nest update cause the prob?


----------



## Enzo's Dad

woodgeek said:


> Nest update cause the prob?


 
No it was 6 years old, I think the unit died, some of the function buttons stopped working properly. I threw it in the trash and went to a honeywell dial, no programming no batteries. The second floor needs to be set at 66 at all times to keep the pipes from freezing in a cold snap, i am not taking any chances.


----------



## jharkin

And now ... Spring decides to show up. High 50s, pouring rain thunder and lightning. Waaaaa?


----------



## begreen

With this passing cold spell be grateful that you haven't woken up to this in the garage. Keep those pipes warm enough to avoid freezing. The consequences can be very pricey.


----------



## Redbarn

begreen said:


> With this passing cold spell be grateful that you haven't woken up to this in the garage.
> 
> View attachment 123737



Wow, thats quite a picture !


----------



## Shari

begreen said:


> With this passing cold spell be grateful that you haven't woken up to this in the garage.
> 
> View attachment 123737



Oh, twit!  Try explaining this to the boss why you can't get to work.


----------



## begreen

Uh boss, all my assets got frozen?


----------



## Doug MacIVER

OH no,its coming back again


----------



## Doug MacIVER

get ready again
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




wsi up to a foot bos, 2-3' maine


----------



## eclecticcottage

Yup, here too.  Tuesday looks like a high of 5.  Hope the winds stay away, that last blast was killer.


----------



## Doug MacIVER

how about another cold shot next week?


----------



## Badfish740

Once the temps got back to springtime levels I let the Englander go cold for the week.  I needed to replace the door glass gasket anyway.  Burned a little oil this week, but today I got the basement wood bin stocked up again.  It looks like it won't be as cold as it was last time, but regardless, we'll be ready.


----------



## Dix

Ready. Again.

Damn it.


----------



## Seasoned Oak

Round 2 for january coming this way. Almost as cold as the last one.


----------



## Dix

Seasoned Oak said:


> Round 2 for january coming this way. Almost as cold as the last one.



*Grumbles*


----------



## Ashful

Seasoned Oak said:


> Round 2 for january coming this way. Almost as cold as the last one.


Oh... great timing.  I'm down to maybe 1/4 cord left at the house.  Might be shuttling wood up from the wood lot in the dark one cold evening this week.  I hope that pesky ignition switch (assumed... not yet confirmed to be the source of my woes) on the tractor doesn't leave me stranded with a dead tractor in the back yard.

Maybe it's time to start keeping clydesdales.


----------



## Seasoned Oak

I guess the people at farmers almanac are saying" i told you so" about now. Coldest winter for awhile so far.


----------



## Ashful

John Bolaris called this one back in September or October.  I remember him saying, "repeated shots of very cold air this winter... not continuous cold, as there will be some warmer days separating these cold fronts, but there will be several colder than usual arctic fronts hitting us."


----------



## Doug MacIVER

Joful said:


> John Bolaris called this one back in September or October.  I remember him saying, "repeated shots of very cold air this winter... not continuous cold, as there will be some warmer days separating these cold fronts, but there will be several colder than usual arctic fronts hitting us."


here is one for philly


----------



## Jags

Thursday with a high of 0.


----------



## jharkin

Doug MacIVER said:


> here is one for philly




Doug where do you get all those cool charts?

Can you attach bigger ones, number are too small to read


----------



## Doug MacIVER

jharkin said:


> Doug where do you get all those cool charts?
> 
> Can you attach bigger ones, number are too small to read


WSI Energy, for the last one, I believe the are in Andover. copied off twitter. the others also from twitter, bastardi and dr,ryan maue. I think they are what they are on sizing  the copies. i'll see if I can improve the sizing,  the last one is an ensemble mean.


----------



## Doug MacIVER

European model via wsi energy


----------



## velvetfoot

The heating degree days around here are around normal, it's just that last year was warm.

7/1 to 1/19:
normal    3306
to date    3343
last year  2959


----------



## Seasoned Oak

2 More very cold waves coming,one tomorrow and one next week.


----------



## Doug MacIVER

you guys have had a tough one  http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?site=lot&zmx=1&zmy=1&map.x=235&map.y=104#.Ut2sSzYo7IU


----------



## jharkin

Interesting they keep upgrading this storm, we went from 4 in to now up to 10in snow expected, and now the Cape and South Shore is in a Blizzard watch.


----------



## UncleJoe

jharkin said:


> Interesting they keep upgrading this storm, we went from 4 in to now up to 10in snow expected, and now the Cape and South Shore is in a Blizzard watch.



Same here. We started at 1"-3" then 3"-6".  Now they're saying 6"-10". After the storm passes temps drop to single digits overnight and daytime highs in the upper teens to low 20's. Guess it's time to go back into hibernation mode.


----------



## Badfish740

I ditched the econobox for the truck today since I have a 35 mile commute right through the 6-10 swath of NJ.  The normal hour drive will almost certainly become two tonight...  The timing on this one really sucks.


----------



## Woody Stover

I got some temporary fixes on a few of my biggest air leaks in the last couple days. I put window film on the only remaining window that hasn't been upgraded yet. Before I ran the hair dryer over it, the wind was bowing the plastic into the room and it took a bit of effort to push the bubble back in....with only a 10 mph wind.   Then I had one electrical outlet with a big gap between the box and the wall (wall board with an additional 1/2" of 'concrete' and skim coat.) I could see the exterior logs. There was also a gap, 3/8" at the widest point and about a foot long, behind the kitchen sink basin below the window frame. Just found that one recently. Water must have got splashed back there over the years and eroded the wall material. Wind gets behind the logs and seeks out any breach in the interior wall. I could feel air blowing in at the ones I plugged, and the window. I'm not sure how much those quick-fixes with some backer rod are going to help but I've still got 68 in the house, just re-loaded after a 9-hr. burn, and it's 17 out with winds 15-20 and gusts in the upper 30s. We'll see how well it does over the next couple of nights, which will be almost as cold as the last blast. It was down to 60 in here then but I would think I've gained a few degrees, at least. I hadn't been  too motivated to look for leaks until this bear of a winter came along.


----------



## Doug MacIVER

via ryan maue twitter next 7 days


----------



## eclecticcottage

Woody Stover said:


> I hadn't been  too motivated to look for leaks until this bear of a winter came along.


 
I hear ya!  We did the same.  There are some we can't really fix until spring, so those are just going to be there until then.  We did some new weather stripping on two of the old windows and around one door, that helped a lot.  We don't really have air leakage now, so no window film.  We also used a left over piece on a "new"  window also (as in, relatively new, we didn't put it in but it's not a nice wood frame original it's a junky Anderson vinyl replacement) that we have been wanting to replace.  I was hoping the neighbor that was replacing their original windows would get to it so we'd have a good wood frame to use, but it looks like we're going to have to use another vinyl one.  It just has to get done this year, it's shot.  DH is reporting 67 in the house with 5-6 degree outside air temp, not sure on wind chill.  Winds will drop the inside temp if they get above 15-20 mph.  Last time we had -25ish windchills we dropped to a low of 49 inside (in the stove room!) before I really pushed the stove overnight and we got it back into the 60's with the help of two 1500 watt electric heaters.  We get about a 6-7 hour burn on a full load of pine/spruce and we can reload every 4 to 5 hours if needed.  It's only a problem with single digit temps or high winds when it's teens or lower.  20's or warmer out and we're good, 40's or warmer and we can easily overheat it in here.  we have some serious weather sealing to do!!


----------



## bsruther

The last big freeze gave me a chance to find some areas where cold was penetrating the house. The basement was extremely cold when the temps were sub-zero, so I went down there with the IR gun and got some readings. The concrete blocks at the end of the floor joists were giving me 28F readings in some spots and some of these spots were right next to water pipes. Yesterday and today, I worked on insulating the joist ends and putting shrink plastic on the only window that didn't have it. It's 14F right now and the difference is very noticeable. My kitchen is directly above the area that I insulated and before, it was hard to keep that room warm at these temps. The floor was ice cold and no fun to stand on in socks. Now, it's as warm in the kitchen as the rest of the house. I also put a floor sweep on the kitchen door, coming in from the sun room and I'm sure that contributed as well.

So if it weren't for that polar thing we had the other week, I wouldn't have been ready for this next freeze.
Next, I'm going to fill in the basement window wells with snow, since it's going to be here for a while this time.


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## Doug MacIVER

hate, I mean hate cloudy days and 15* in dec-mar. what a difference in keeping the house at 70*. pushing the #### out of the f100 and using a 1500kw space heater for our first floor. mom in-law  in the raised ranch basement apartment is oil fired. let have some sun tomorrow if only for 2-3 hours. for those that have it, enjoy the am cleanup.


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## Shari

Weatherman just said we can look forward to -30 windchill on Thursday.  

Argggg........


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## Badfish740

NW NJ is supposed to bottom out at 2 degrees around 5 a.m.  Snowblowing at that time of the morning ought to be fun   Wife's school already cancelled but I'll need to be on my way by 7:00


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## Dix

Shari said:


> Weatherman just said we can look forward to -30 windchill on Thursday.
> 
> Argggg........



Hang in there, Shari !!


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## TradEddie

I took a few minutes here to admire how well my rim joist and sill plate efforts are working. All bays at about 50F, it's 14F outside, falling fast. Last year I had ice on the basement window interiors, now the surface is still 42F. No drafts perceptible anywhere, which is a huge improvement.

I'm not looking forward to clearing snow tomorrow if it really goes to single digits, happily we didn't get as much as forecast. Philly seems to have gotten what we missed.

TE


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## pen

Not the coldest night we've had, but without flogging the poor stove that lives in the basement, I'm pretty darn happy with this for an average temp upstairs.


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## BrotherBart

Still snowing and 15 here. Snow should stop soon but temp will keep diving.  Expecting a high of 14 tomorrow with - chill factors. The Tropics of Virginia ain't supposed to be like this.

No sleeping in tomorrow. Early reload.


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## Badfish740

BrotherBart said:


> No sleeping in tomorrow. Early reload.



Sleeping in?  What's that?    I got up at the normal time (5:00) thinking that I'd have work today, if not a little late, and I that I should get a jump on snow removal.  Emailed my boss saying hopefully I'd be in by 9:00, went outside and dug out.  I came back in at 6:00 to find an email back: "Just got word we're closed..."  Of course, the inverse of that would be me sleeping in and the office being open   3 degrees here with a bit of a nasty wind out there in NW NJ.  The stuff is going to be blowing everywhere today.  My local road is a sheet of ice, but I'm just off a county highway to a state highway so hopefully those are better.  Englander is chugging away with a nice load of walnut and oak.  Stay warm all!


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## bsruther

-2F here, 70F inside. My basement insulating efforts seem to have paid off, the house is warm everywhere.


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## Ehouse

-18* at 06:00am here in central NY.  Brrrr.


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## Doug MacIVER

a look ahead from wsi energy


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## Doug MacIVER

nat gas this am http://www.investing.com/commodities/natural-gas-advanced-chart


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## Badfish740

Well someone had fun this morning:






I'm pretty sure Labrador Retriever heaven must be 2 degrees and covered in snow and ice


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## Dix

It's a whopping 9F here, with out the wind chill, here in Icy Hollow...The PE is settled in to bring the house back up to temp, and the 13 will be settled in shortly.

This is gonna put a dent in my firewood supply for sure.


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## velvetfoot

-11.5 here this morning.  Too many coals.


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## Badfish740

velvetfoot said:


> -11.5 here this morning.  Too many coals.



Lol...trying to burn mine down as we speak.  I'm banking them up in the back and using short splits.  Thank god for the massive firebox on this thing!


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## Doug MacIVER

lake champlain,vt


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## Retired Guy

-33 in Watertown, NY yesterday. -22 at 10 am today.


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## BrotherBart

Doing The Dixie Eyed Hustle said:


> It's a whopping 9F here, with out the wind chill, here in Icy Hollow...The PE is settled in to bring the house back up to temp, and the 13 will be settled in shortly.
> 
> This is gonna put a dent in my firewood supply for sure.



I hear ya. 5 degrees here with -10 chill factor and the cat ain't understanding why she can't go out and play.


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## Dix

BrotherBart said:


> I hear ya. 5 degrees here with -10 chill factor and the cat ain't understanding why she can't go out and play.



The Murph is asking the same question.

Waiting for my knight in shining red Dodge 1500 to show up and plow the driveway.


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## Enzo's Dad

Badfish740 said:


> Lol...trying to burn mine down as we speak.  I'm banking them up in the back and using short splits.  Thank god for the massive firebox on this thing!


 
Ok I was going to post about this as well. I have a ton of coals and I am also putting small spilts on top to help burn down. Seems to raise the stove temp.


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## TradEddie

BrotherBart said:


> I hear ya. 5 degrees here with -10 chill factor and the cat ain't understanding why she can't go out and play.



2 degrees here this morning and the cat demanded to be let out, 15 minutes later he still wasn't ready to come in. The allure of birds at the feeder was too much.
Cats are so dumb.

TE


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## Cynnergy

pen said:


> Not the coldest night we've had, but without flogging the poor stove that lives in the basement, I'm pretty darn happy with this for an average temp upstairs. DSCN0120.jpg



pen do you have a ninja in your thermometer?!?


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## pen

Cynnergy said:


> pen do you have a ninja in your thermometer?!?



If yours does not, then I highly suggest it!


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## Ashful

My dogs have 6" ground clearance.  Needless to say, they were NOT happy this morning.  On days like this, you need to stand defense when you open the back door, because they take one look outside and say, "no way I'm going out in that!"  You need to be there to catch 'em and coax them out the door when they try to retreat between your legs back into the house.


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## USMC80

Joful said:


> My dogs have 6" ground clearance.  Needless to say, they were NOT happy this morning.  On days like this, you need to stand defense when you open the back door, because they take one look outside and say, "no way I'm going out in that!"  You need to be there to catch 'em and coax them out the door when they try to retreat between your legs back into the house.


hahahaha.  so true.


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## Doug MacIVER

wsi says next week is colder


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## bsruther

Joful said:


> My dogs have 6" ground clearance.  Needless to say, they were NOT happy this morning.  On days like this, you need to stand defense when you open the back door, because they take one look outside and say, "no way I'm going out in that!"  You need to be there to catch 'em and coax them out the door when they try to retreat between your legs back into the house.




Wife took a pic of me yesterday, clearing a poop zone for our Toy Fox Terrier and Rat Terrier. The Toy Fox limps and whines if he gets the least bit of snow on his paws in these temps. And he really hates ice, can't even drag him across it. If he runs on it by mistake, his little feet keep going, but he stays in place, it's hilarious.


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## rideau

Doug MacIVER said:


> wsi says next week is colder
> Nearest I can tell I'm between 492 and 498 on that map.  What does that mean?  I haven't a clue how to read the map.  Any simple instructions?



We'll leave it at we are very cold and likely to remain so.  My Wheaten went out for one minute at 7 AM, after begging to go out for a while.  Went back out about ten minutes later, again for one minute.  At noon, he and I were out for about half an hour.  Just back in, and he was sitting on the stair landing watching the woods.  Huge excitement and hullabaloo (he obviously saw some animals, likely deer).  Let him out, but by then the animals were out of sight.  His normal modus operandi would be to chase after the direction they went, in order to herd them.  However, he chose to establish a beautiful stance near the garden, raise his head as if to howl, and deliver a series of rapid barks, series spaces about ten seconds apart, for about five minutes (I guess to establish his territory) and then was at the door to come in, expecting the usual praise (and treat) for defending the home front.

This is a dog that in normal winter weather spends the entire day outside.

When a Wheaten is cold, it's time to consider staying near he hearth.


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## Doug MacIVER

got my 2-3 hours of sun and we are just short of 70*, high for the day 19* taunton ws office. add the fact it just makes you feel better, welcome back old buddy.


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## Doug MacIVER

rideau said:


> [/quote       almost of the chart cooooold


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## Retired Guy

St Lawrence River ice.


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## BrotherBart

Weather dude just said that here it is twenty degrees colder than Anchorage, Alaska at the moment.


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## Dix

My hero showed up.SirWesley )




The car is parked behind the truck. Tomorrow AM, move the truck to the plowed area near the front, and let the car pull itself out with FWD.


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## Dix

Enzo's Dad said:


> Ok I was going to post about this as well. I have a ton of coals and I am also putting small spilts on top to help burn down. Seems to raise the stove temp.




Pine can seriously be your friend in a situation like this.


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## woodgeek

Doing The Dixie Eyed Hustle said:


> My hero showed up.SirWesley )



This guy?


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## Dix

woodgeek said:


> This guy?




Close.... as you wish


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## Badfish740

Joful said:


> My dogs have 6" ground clearance.  Needless to say, they were NOT happy this morning.  On days like this, you need to stand defense when you open the back door, because they take one look outside and say, "no way I'm going out in that!"  You need to be there to catch 'em and coax them out the door when they try to retreat between your legs back into the house.



LOL...My chocolate will romp outside in a manner resembling a bucking bronco until he has frozen dingleberries of ice hanging from his belly, icicles hanging from his jowls, etc...and he still doesn't want to come in.


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## Warm_in_NH

Less than ideal wood but it's keeping the furnace from kicking on the the kids are happy. Chilly here in CT, 4 above and windy.




Had the window by the toilet open yesterday for airflow while doing some renovation work...got cold...


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## UncleJoe

Went out to plow last night around 8:00. It was a balmy 14F with a moderate 5-10mph breeze when I left. Got home about 4:00 this morning. It was 1F with a howling, biting wind.   Do you know how good it felt to walk into a 75 degree, wood heated house? OK yeah, I guess you would know.


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## Dix

UncleJoe said:


> Went out to plow last night around 8:00. It was a balmy 14F with a moderate 5-10mph breeze when I left. Got home about 4:00 this morning. It was 1F with a howling, biting wind.   Do you know how good it felt to walk into a 75 degree, wood heated house? OK yeah, I guess you would know.



Most of us have a clue


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## Doug MacIVER

must almost be spring, first sunrise of '14 in barrow


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## Doug MacIVER

every retailer seems to have a wait list for bricks in so. mass.http://www.pressherald.com/news/Fir...more_than_a_decade_.html?pageType=mobile&id=1


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## Doug MacIVER

sign of the times? http://boston.cbslocal.com/2014/01/21/nh-thieves-raiding-woodpiles-for-firewood/


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## Doug MacIVER

gfs,Chicago, via ryan maue


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## bsruther

NWS says -4 for us on Monday night, but GFS tells a different story. According to them, it could be the coldest night of the year for the entire midwest/eastern area.
What is the Euro model saying?


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## Doug MacIVER

try this http://www.wunderground.com/wunderm...&dir=0&ads=0&tfk=0&fodors=0&ski=0&ls=0&rad2=0 use the navigate box on the right ecmwf in the selection box


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## Doug MacIVER

wsi opinion thru feb http://www.wsi.com/blog/energy/sub-...ated-to-continue-through-the-end-of-february/


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## Badfish740

Anyone else hearing talk of a blizzard weekend after next? 

http://midatlanticweather.com/the-hype-not-me-sorry-all/


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## Doug MacIVER




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## bsruther

They can only predict the weather for a week in advance, at best, and even then, they're often not accurate on the last few days.
The forecast models are bouncing all over the place. The GFS model is showing double digits below zero for Feb 12thfor the the mid atlantic region, all the way back to Illinois and completely covering WVa and part of Va., I'll believe that when I see it. In the next few days the models will completely change again. 
I don't think they have any more of a clue than we do. What they do have are some fancy animated graphics to impress us with.

I think we're all going to still get walloped with some snow, but I think most of the sub zero temps will become rarer, down this way anyway.


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## Warm_in_NH

Badfish740 said:


> Anyone else hearing talk of a blizzard weekend after next?



Heard mention of a possible storm here in NE maybe next Tues/Wed, but even the weather guesser said it was too far out to tell. Fact is, it's the same every year, if the jet stream is way low we freeze and have nothing more than a few clippers to deal with. When it starts to come back up, we warm, but we're back into the storm path.
A few stations were pretty clear that we (here in the north east) are going to be returning to an "active weather pattern" for the next week or so.

There were also showing the mositure maps, guess the air is getting pretty saturated over the country and they think it's going to "let go" somewhere...


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## Badfish740

I don't put much stock in it, I was just curious if others were hearing it also...  Seems to have gone viral at this point.


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## jharkin

starting tomorrow we are into a warm trend of 30s/40s for a week or so.  after that the 10 day is calling only for it to dip into the high 20s and some chance of snow.  I think (knock on wood) we might be over the hump with the deep freeze.......


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## Doug MacIVER

most models have a known bias to those that utilize them. most forecasters admit they use them ,but it is only one of many tools available to them. the long guys I read talk about overall continued cold against the mean winter temps. I like the idea that the mean temp at this time of year is on the rise.at the same time there remains significant cold against the means out there according to bastardi, maue and brett anderson at accu weather. hounds of winter are typically over feb., 10.


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