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This is just WRONG for so early in December!


Dicentra
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If it were - say - a month and a half from now, then I'd expect it.  I'd actually expect colder.  But for December 8, it's just not right.  As my so eloquent friend stated this morning on FB, "Crap on a cracker, it's cold!" :D  It's the cold - it gets to one's brain. ;)

 

On the bright side, we know we'll have a white Christmas.  Environment Canada has a chart of 39 centres in Canada and has calculated the probability of a white Christmas for each of them based on 57 years of weather data.  The only places with a 100% record are us (well, the closest centre to us), Iqaluit, Whitehorse, and Yellowknife.  Those other 3 are in Nunavut, Yukon, and Northwest Territories respectively.  Anyone wishing for a guaranteed white Christmas vacation destination, here we are! :D

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Okay, I know I shouldn't complain since your temp trumps mine but for California -3C (27F) is cold for us! And, we have to go play a soccer tournament today! :eek: I don't know how you guys survive the winter? :confused:

 

Well, for starters, we don't play soccer in the winter. ;-)

 

Although it's not unusual for my kids to be playing soccer in the snow at least once in October.

 

We're balmy here at the moment (currently 23F heading to a high of 27F), but I know the cold is coming.

 

OP, I'd try not to stress. Hopefully this is a temporary freak cold spell and not an indicator of an unusually cold winter.

 

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I agree.  This winter is very cold.  It isn't as cold here as it is where you are at, but it was 0 degrees with a -13 wind-chill factor last night when I went to pick my daughter up from work.  It is unusual for Colorado (not in the mountains) to get that cold in December.

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Temp at 10am:

-30C with a windchill of -36C.

 

Even for where I live, that's just waaaaaaaaaaaaay too cold for December 8.  If this keeps up, I'm worried that I don't have enough hay for the winter. :(

 

Hey, I used to skate to school in those temps, every morning. Brrrrr, six miles of ice and snow. Because I was young I didn't mind it but when I arrived at the place to change from my skates into boots for the walk to school my boots would be frozen :eek:

 

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I think we survive it because we're either insane or we were born here and we're just used to it. :)

 

I'm not stressing too much - I'm pretty sure we have enough hay.  There's always that nagging feeling, though, that we'll run out if Ole Man Winter decides to stick around until April (which happens fairly often) and we have to feed extra hay over an extended period because of the cold.  My horses are pretty chunky right now, though, so they've got some reserves to live off of if need be. ;)

 

I hear you about going to school in these temps!  I walked to and from university when I was in Winnipeg.  I lived off campus and it was about a 45 minute walk one way down Pembina Hwy.  Those windchills were crazy.  My husband just says it builds character, Shukriyya. :)

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I hear you about going to school in these temps!  I walked to and from university when I was in Winnipeg.  I lived off campus and it was about a 45 minute walk one way down Pembina Hwy.  Those windchills were crazy.  My husband just says it builds character, Shukriyya. :)

 

Yep, the windchill is what does it! And if you're husband is correct then we should have plenty of character :lol:

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This weather is just bizarre! We are "iced in" in Texas. And, because this area has practically zero snow/ice equipment,

we are all just sitting at home waiting for the ice to melt!! As a northern transplant, this is just the strangest thing.

 

I'm having a baby this week - I don't have time to wait for the ice to melt!! :scared:

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I grew up on the Canadian prairies (Alberta - sadly not in the Calgary chinook belt), and do NOT miss the winters one bit. It can get cold in northeastern Ontario with lots and lots of snow, but nothing like I remember growing up. I feel for you all freezing your tooshies off - my family is among the frozen ones! Hope it warms up really soon. 

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I'm sorry to say that I'm hoping it stays bitter cold for at least another two weeks in the Canadian prairies.

 

 

Because...

 

 

I don't want it to snow (sticky stuff) anymore.... Yet.

 

Bitter cold = better driving conditions. I want good driving conditions when I visit for Christmas. After we get home to my parents' from the city (airport) though, Let it snow!

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That is true, fraidycat - bitterly cold does indeed equal no snow. :)  Although if it gets just a bit colder, then I can go outside and do the throw-water-into-the-air-and-have-it-instantly-turn-into-snow thing.

 

It did warm up some this afternoon.  It's now -18C with a -23C windchill.

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Hey, I used to skate to school in those temps, every morning. Brrrrr, six miles of ice and snow. Because I was young I didn't mind it but when I arrived at the place to change from my skates into boots for the walk to school my boots would be frozen :eek:

 

 

Where on earth did you go to school? Some of the 'swamp kids' around here need to take a boat to get to the bus stop, but this beats that! 

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We have fairly good snow cover as well, Margaret, and I'm thankful.  I do NOT want to deal with a frozen septic system.

 

The propane truck is probably going to do its rounds in the next week or so.  I don't even want to think of what our propane costs will be this winter if this keeps up...  Bleh.

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We have no water for at least the next 24 hours because so many people's pipes burst that the plumber can't get to us until then. I feel so bad for the neighbour (we share a water main because both houses are on the same lot), who is just a little college kid who was moving out and didn't look at the weather report last night.

 

If he's not from the area, he probably didn't think it ever got below freezing here.

 

ETA: it was a record breaking low last night, the coldest it's been since '72. Poor little neighbour kid, poor landlord, mildly inconvenienced me.

 

Remind me next time I bitch about being a middle aged renter.

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It was -46 two mornings ago at my moms place. It is super cold for this early in the winter. I'm worried too. It's hard on the animals and we didn't get enough hay for this, not to mention hard on me. My joints are acting up like crazy.

I was laughing at myself this morning because my first thought when I saw that it was 20F (-7C) was "Oh good, it's warm out today."

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:smilielol5:

 

I figured the Canadians would find that rather vague. Ottawa, for the exacting among us :D

 

 

Now the skating to school makes complete sense, too! I used to skate from Ottawa U to Carleton for a stats course. It was great until the ice got so bad I couldn't glide, and when I fell I didn't slide, either.

 

Now the length of time that there is dependable ice is so short that it's sad. There is now an outdoor "Rink of Dreams" on the bank of the canal in front of City Hall (former Regional Headquarters) that has artificial cooling to ensure there is some ice for all the tourists during Winterlude.

 

Luckily, there is no problem like this on the prairies - even if they don't get snow that stays in one place they always have cold enough temps to sustain solid ice for skating (if you are brave enough to be outside!).

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I'll give you the opposite lol..... It's currently 85 down here in FL. We went to a Christmas parade yesterday morning and sweated to death. It's hard to get into the Christmas spirit when you are getting a sunburn lol.

Are you trying to get snowballs thrown at you?

 

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We're on our second snow day. It's a balmy 32 degrees and everything is white. Not a big deal at all, except I'm in Maryland and have grown accustomed to a token winter . . . an occasional snow day in January or February, then spring comes. December events are usually safe from weather cancellations. I have stuff to do!

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This reminds me of the Indian in The Long Winter who went into town and warned the white men of the cold winter coming.  Pa figured out that he meant that every 3 cycles of 7 years a very long winter would come.  Maybe this is the 21st winter since the last coldest one?

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I'll give you the opposite lol..... It's currently 85 down here in FL. We went to a Christmas parade yesterday morning and sweated to death. It's hard to get into the Christmas spirit when you are getting a sunburn lol.

im in the panhandle and it has been unusually warm this past week.  my kids have played with the hose outside & i've been running the air.  sunday i wore flip flops to church. my son wore shorts and a long sleeved t-shirt and was about to sweat to death.  

 

i'm ready for a sweater!!!!  i'm ready for hot cocoa!

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Now the skating to school makes complete sense, too! I used to skate from Ottawa U to Carleton for a stats course. It was great until the ice got so bad I couldn't glide, and when I fell I didn't slide, either.

 

Now the length of time that there is dependable ice is so short that it's sad. There is now an outdoor "Rink of Dreams" on the bank of the canal in front of City Hall (former Regional Headquarters) that has artificial cooling to ensure there is some ice for all the tourists during Winterlude.

 

 

 

That's a good long skate. All the way up Dow's Lake too if you're going to reach Carleton. And yes, I hear you on the ice conditions. One had to *always* be on the lookout for those deep grooves and even then there was usually a random one that sent you flying and skidding across the ice :crying: Ouch!

 

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Temp at 10am:

-30C with a windchill of -36C.

 

Even for where I live, that's just waaaaaaaaaaaaay too cold for December 8.  If this keeps up, I'm worried that I don't have enough hay for the winter. :(

 

Yeah those are typically Jan/Feb temps for us. 

 

We don't get a ton of deep cold like this usually this early in the winter, either. But we've had some nasty -20/-25 and that's cold enough for me. I do not look forward to the -40 and colder that is sure to come. 

 

I often wonder why I moved from the Windsor area to where I am now. These times of wonder tend to be from Oct-May when we're freezing!!

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Start looking for that hay now.  It is a hot commodity in Southern Ontario.

 

I hear ya.  Our regular supplier still has some in his hay barn and he's willing to put some aside for us to pick up later.  We're pretty good customers and I'm very thankful he's willing to do this for us.

 

I banked on 210 "hay" days this winter with total hay weight based on 2% of the horses' total combined weight plus extra for any days below -10C.  If we get an "early" spring (grass growing by the end of April), we'll be fine.  If it's a spring like this last one where we begin to wonder if anything will actually be green before June 1, it could be dicey.  We've got a few areas of standing hay that's in fenced off areas of the pasture.  Not the greatest from a nutritional standpoint but I could let them in those areas in late spring in a pinch.

 

It just keeps on being cold.  Today's high is -22C and there's currently a -40C windchill.  It's supposed to start to warm up by next week (by "warm up", I mean daily highs reaching -10C).  I'll be glad.  Hubby will be glad.  The animals will be glad.  My exclusively outdoor Great Pyrs don't even like it when it's this cold.  Their favourite temps are around -10 to -15C.  The cold really does start to tire everyone out after a while.  Sigh.

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