It's COLD!

[Perfect7]

The temperature keeps dropping, and has been below freezing for several days now. I think it is safe to say that winter has officially arrived in the USA!

[Meg325]

Same here for us! The past few days it has been below freezing. By Friday it is supposed to be back up into the 40s. Right now, we have about 2 or 3 inches of snow and more falling. Crazy, crazy weather!

[TJakob]

Yup same here too.  5 degrees with the wind chill factor!!!  We don't have much snow but I am sure it is coming!  We have had lite snow fall on and off consistently since Dec. 1.

[Val-the-nomad]

I am lucky enough to be living in a part of South Korea that is coastal and warmer than the capital. It's not so bad here right now and I haven't had to turn the heating on yet! (Though I am looking forward to doing that as the underfloor system makes everything toasty.)

I think I would find it impossible to live in the UK again now. Brrrrrr.

[Britlady]

Today we are experiencing a mini heatwave. I woke to find that it was -3 degrees (26f). Bliss! De-icing the car took about five minutes-so fast! Compare that to two days ago when I woke to -12 degrees (10f) and de-icing took around fifteen minutes because my de-icer kept freezing to the screen. Heck, I walked to school today without a hat on!

I'm hating this weather. This is NOT normal British weather, and it's killing me. We've had a ton of snow, and temperatures like I've only known in PA, USA. I want a normal, British winter thank you very much, where we sit at around 5c all winter, just dipping below freezing slightly at night. I want my internet to work and the power to not go out, and I want to be warm.

[winuxchrosh]

I think this is caused by global warming and all the world can feel the climate is changing.

[spacelover8126]

It's cold in Florida too.  Temperatures have been below freezing the past two nights (which feels extremely cold compared to our normal climate).  I haven't watched the news yet today to see if there was any damage to citrus crops.

[Silva]

I think this is caused by global warming and all the world can feel the climate is changing.

I beg to differ.

I'm 63 years old and have lived all my life in the UK. I remember Winters when I was a child that were even colder than we are experiencing now and we always had snow at Christmas, you could count on it. A sledge was something everyone possessed.

What I don't remember was all the panic and health and safety worries. I don't ever remember my school closing, we just sat in the classroom in our coats and scarves. Oh, yes, and the only heating in our house was a coal fire in the living room with the rest of the house like a fridge!

I couldn't tolerate this now of course because, like the rest of us, I have grown accustomed to the uncommonly mild Winters that we have been experiencing and I like our central heating. I think we have all become soft and spoiled!

[Britlady]

At 32 I am the product of those mild years. This weather I could handle in the USA where it was set up and where the infrastructure was there. But here-not a chance.

There, all the sidewalks were cleared-and fast. In fact it was required by local law that it had to be done within a certain amount of time after the snow fall ending. So you could walk safely, get around. Here on the other hand, the foot paths are three inches thick with ice rink smooth ice. And the town runs out of grit every single year, and every year reduces the amount of roads that it clears. Last year the local school closed for the best part of a week because no cars could get to it. They couldn't get up the skating rink ice hill that led to it, so there were no meals, no staff-and a dustbin truck crashed into the gate when it made it part way up the hill and then slid back down and into it.

As I say-the problem is not the weather but our lack of infrastructure, our lack of experience with it and generally the fact that we are unprepared. And I base this solely on my experience of living in a place that has a very, very good infrastructure for dealing with it.

[Silva]

You are correct of course, back in the days when we walked to school in all weathers even though it was miles away, priorities were different and people could cope better than they can now. I think local authorities have forgotten how to do it, or have spent the money on other things! Attitudes are very different now as well. My husband was brought up in Canada where he made pocket money clearing people's drives of snow every year. How many young folk can you see outside shovelling snow now?

[Perfect7]

I'm with Silva. The world goes through cycles and "climate change" is something invented by radical environmentalists that think the earth and animals should have higher priority than humans, which is totally backward.

[QueenB]

There were a couple days here in Seattle where the snow and ice were pretty bad. My boyfriend was working and it took him like 6 hours to get home!! It usually takes him like 40 minutes. I was really worried about him.

[Perfect7]

Wow, QueenB, that's pretty scary! I'm glad he got home okay! I live in the south, and the meteorologists here seem to enjoy predicting snow even though it is unlikely. I wonder if they do it just to help the grocery stores - because the minute snow is predicted, 80% of the people down here run to the store and stock up!

[wim2]

Perfect, it makes "perfect" sense to me that the weather people and the grocery stores could be in cahoots with one another.  We had some flurries today, nothing major and no sticking, but when I went to the store (to buy Mountain Dew and frozen pizza, mind you), there was not a loaf of bread or a carton of milk to be found.

[buddys]

Issued by The National Weather Service
Jackson, KY
4:38 pm EST, Mon., Dec. 13, 2010

... MIXED WINTERY PRECIPITATION LIKELY WEDNESDAY NIGHT INTO THURSDAY...

AN AREA OF LOW PRESSURE WILL TRACK ALONG THE TENNESSEE VALLEY WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY. COLD AIR WILL BE IN PLACE AT THE SURFACE... WITH WARMING AIR OVERRIDING THE COLD AIR AS THE AREA OF LOW PRESSURE MOVES BY TO THE SOUTH. PRECIPITATION WILL BEGIN AS LIGHT SNOW BY LATE WEDNESDAY... BUT WILL TRANSITION TO A MIXTURE OF SNOW... SLEET... FREEZING RAIN... AND RAIN WEDNESDAY NIGHT INTO THURSDAY FROM SOUTHWEST TO NORTHEAST.

AT THIS TIME... IT APPEARS THAT MOST LOCATIONS HAVE THE POTENTIAL FOR AT LEAST MINOR ICING. THE BEST POTENTIAL FOR SIGNIFICANT ICING... WITH BETWEEN A QUARTER AND A HALF INCH POSSIBLE... WILL BE FOR LOCATIONS SOUTH OF THE MOUNTAIN PARKWAY... AND NORTH OF HIGHWAY 80 AND THE HAL ROGERS PARKWAY. IN ADDITION TO THE FREEZING RAIN... 1 TO 3 INCHES OF SNOW WILL BE POSSIBLE NORTH OF THE MOUNTAIN PARKWAY. ANY CHANGES IN THE TRACK OF THIS SYSTEM WILL GREATLY AFFECT AMOUNTS OF PRECIPITATION AS WELL AS WHERE SPECIFIC PRECIPITATION TYPES SET UP. PLEASE STAY TUNED FOR FURTHER UPDATES.

We already have 6 inches of snow with an inch of ice under that and temps running in the 10-19 degree range. I'm cold and my long underware has officially given up on me.