Sorry about all the bad weather. The high pressure system that is parked over us and probably contributing to the whole polar vortex thing means its sunny and warm here. Got up to 61, and i was comfortable in a t-shirt in the sun 
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I was wondering about you west and central Michigan guys, looks like you are getting blasted with lake-effect snow!??
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Yeah we have major accidents all over the place. We are not as cold as other places and snow accumulation is not such a big deal for us, but there was some drifting. This combined with the frigid cold makes cleaning the roads more difficult and turns them into ice skating rinks.
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Well I would have to say it is definitely working.
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Mike I dont know if its lake affect snow or not but we got about 13 to 15 inches sun.day and monday Tonight we are supposed to get high winds and chill factors of minus 20 f. I need to bring wood into the garage should have enough in there for two or three weeks now so if it worms up a little this week end like the forecast says I will be set for a while.I probably should brew a batch of beer while its so cold out.
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Yes cold weather is bad but can you imagine working in water in this weather??? It was around -10F last night with a strong wind that made it feel like -33 F. About 8;00 PM the local lumber yard was reported to be on fire. 15 fire departments worked in shifts all night and I hear it is still smoldering this morning. The TV news interviewed a fireman and his eye brows and mustache were balls of white ice. They sure earned their money last night. Sounds like the yard is a total loss. TomC
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We’ve been waking up to -20 to -35 to over a week now. This morning it’s -32 with 12 mph winds. This gives us a real feel of about -58 F.
I’ve been reading on social media sites friends of mine who are experiencing failures in their furnaces this current week. The real cold has just reached down to the cities since yesterday which is 3.5 hours south of us. I understand their panic. When there is only one way to heat your house, panic is understandable. I’ve been in that situation a few years ago. It’s a helpless feeling. One has to wait for someone who knows how to fix a furnace to show up which usually is hours. If the house gets too cold, pipes can freeze and more problems pile up. Now, I’m under no one’s thumb.
Fire, that’s what keeps us warm. Fire by the means of wood keeps me warm. My fuel source is about 30’ from the house in a dry shed. Two trips to the shed per day will keep the wife and I in a 80 degree eviroment for over 24 hours. Last summer we traded a half weeks worth of our jams, jelly and syrup sales to buy a whole winter’s worth of heat. So much easier on my back.
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That’s a rare experience, been quite a number of years since we saw below minus 40.
Hopefully it damages the emerald ash borers. Some people will be finding out the hard way their antifreeze isn’t mixed strong enough. A good day to stay inside.
As Bill says, this would be bad timing for the circuit board on a gas furnace to crap out, as they frequently do…
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Good morning Mr. Bill .
I don’t think us folks down south can really understand how cold it is there .
Yesterday we had a weather forecast of 1-2 inches of snow , which we didn’t get and temps near freezing. All the local schools, government offices and a lot of business were closed .
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Way ahead of you…
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Minus 12F (-24C) and holding, with a 25mph wind… Car started, got to work OK, staying indoors! 
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Have Wood Will Travel
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Sorry to hear about your predictable misfortune there Mike. I think I am going out to prune the fruit trees now.
Glad you made it to work, but it sounds like you northern folks need to be careful not to get stuck somewhere and turn into yankee-cicles.
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I just went out too cut some wood for reserve wood, only got on load half done and am heading back out, its about 20 below with all the wind, i got a thick feather coat that keeps me sweaty warm, its my cheap gloves that are only good about 10 minuts before hands start hurting from the cold.
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I am sitting just thinking of what you are doing Kenin. The Hands, feet, and the face, if you start to feel the hurting it is time to go inside and warm them up. It is hard not to sweat when working, having the right amount of layered clothing on and the right type of clothing on, will keep you warm and not over heat causing you to sweat. This is very difficult for me. It seems I sweat very easily in winter, spring, summer, or fall, when I am working.
Bob
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I went out yesterday to startup the Motor home, it has been a few weeks since it has been started and the 440 cu. in. dodge engine has been warmed up. After getting it started, I let it warm up on the fast idle setting. Just for fun I checked the exhaust temp reading at the end of the tail pipe. The temp was about 30 *f and the temperature reading coming out the end of the exhaust pipe was 573 average. That is not much differences from hot summer months at 580 *f plus. All wasted energy in heat.
Bob
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Hi bob stay warm and dry as we can. its hard too stay in when the sun is shinning through the cloulds nic and brite. i need too make a wk ram muffler too safe that kind of heat back too the burn air zone/ burn tube.what ever zone its callled. Supposed too be exstreem cold next 24 hours ounce the sun go’s down.This may be the last extra cold spell though i dought it.
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Here is a link to a new-ish documentary about diesel autos in Germany, and the ban in Stuttgart. I found it interesting and thought-provoking. Not intended to be political, but it ends up being that way.
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Well sadly for us we’ve just had out third Local morning commuting in road exiting crashed killed. All within 5 miles of our house
Not a spec of snow here yet.
No actual freezing rain has occurred either.
Frozen dew-down.
Night frozen previous days rain.
Frozen down evening fog.
24F this morning. Asphalt road sticky more-or-less safe.
Between higher up here and the lower down city/urban core areas there will be 100 days of a transition zone from cold-safe to 31-33F snot slick unholy.
Only going very, very slow in the transition zone is 270-300 days commuting survivable.
And yes. Studded winter tires bridges this well. And overall does safety slow you down.
Sigh.
These self-killed are usually the young and inexperienced. The Bold.
Hard to get those experiences, and settling down wisdom’s if you are dead.
Sorry to be morose. These dead-to-young really hurt my heart.
Steve unruh
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Our family home was on the shore of Simon Pond in the Tupper Lake area.
When I was 11 or 12 my dad took me out on the ice in the car. He would drive
straight and then put the car in a skid or sharp turn to slide and taught me how
to recover from them. No worry about traffic. I taught my wife the same way. Well,
that after I pledged my life that the ice was safe. Never less than 8 inches. Some
do it on less ice. A few cars are retrieved in spring 
Thin ice doesn’t care how big your cohones are 
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