Wednesday, December 08, 2010

Six degrees fondly Fahrenheit...

It's six degrees out there. If I moved to Minne-frickin'-apolis (perhaps due to severe head trauma or something) I'd only be one degree colder. They're predicting a high of 32°F tomorrow, which still misses the average daily high by a good ten degrees. After the last four days, though, I saw that "3" as a first digit and thought "Practically sunbathing weather!"

POSTSCRIPT: That high of 32? Yeah... no. The mercury climbed to thirty before giving up and heading back down.

31 comments:

Anonymous said...

Global Coldening is the new normal.

Shootin' Buddy

Anonymous said...

I remember the winter of '78...
Brass Monkey alerts and -70 wind chills.
It would freeze boiling water so fast the ice was still warm.

Gee, I sound like an old fart...

Blackwing1 said...

Rippin' on my home town, eh? Well, living in Minneapolis has its wonderful benefits. We get to pay outrageous property taxes for almost no services (next year's go up by 17.4%, even though assessed values are supposedly "flat"), the police no longer even show up to take crime reports, the corruption is as bad as any found on the East Coast, we're talking about subsidizing the local entertainment factory (because the football field, the "Hump", is just too small, you see), and we get Arctic winters with tropical summer humidity.

What's not to like?

og said...

(shakes fist) WHERE'S MY GLOBAL WARMING, ALGORE, YOU FAT SOB!!

Andrew said...

Well, you'd definitely brighten the place up, and nearly double our snark quotient.

If you decide to move up here, though, you'd have to work on your Minnesota accent: In "Minne-frickin'-apolis," the R is silent, and the I is rather schwa-like.

Anonymous said...

"Practically sunbathing weather!"

Pics, please.

AT

og said...

"Pics, please."


obviously you haven't been hanging here for long.

Jay G said...

It's all over, apparently - the morning news noted (almost gleefully) that Atlanta, GA was in the *twenties* this morning.

Where's the Global Warming? I was promised Global Warming!

I'm doing my part, Tam - I let my truck warm up for 10 minutes this morning; a whole 10 minutes of partially refined hydrocarbons being oxidized into CO2 simply so I could drive to work in warmth...

Unknown said...

It was a trifle cool in the shade, yesterday, but I didn't need a jacket. Just chilly enough in the morning to excuse goofing off with more coffee and Internet messin'.

Christmas Eve of 1954, I had guard duty at Inchon. 17 below zero, a 20 mph wind, and knee-deep snow. Color me as one each lonesome, homesick, shivering kid. I told the Lord that if He'd get me out of that (bleep), I'd find a place without winter and live there.

I surely wouldn't lie to the Lord.

John said...

Cold used to be good. Kept the vermin down and motivated humans to exert survival skills. Mebbe even boosted civilization's progress.

Perhaps Global Colding would be a Good Thing?

fast richard said...

By February a temp in the thirties IS sunbathing weather here in Minnesocold.

JG, when it is cold, ten minutes is not long enough to get the heater working.

Sherm said...

The forecast here the other day was "Sunny and Warm." This was for a high of 32. That told me all I needed to know about winter in Montana.

bluesun said...

It's in the twenties here and it's warm...

Darrell said...

Supposed to be near 60 and sunny today in Colo Spgs... :)

Jay G said...

fast richard,

It is when the truck is in the garage...

:D

ken said...

And, on the other temp scale. I will be warming up to ZERO!

Homer said...

#@!&%*# Algore; Central Florida was below freezing yesterday morning and in the low 30s again this AM, with another round of it promised for early next week.

I do not know enough four-letter words to describe this.

Once I have to put on a coat, I might as well live in Minne-$%^@#-sota.

Anonymous said...

Nicely obscure allusion in the title :)

Anonymous said...

Hell, I'm in TN, and the radio was predicting a high of 32.....

Anonymous said...

Obscure? It's the title of the story, was voted one of the best shorts ever (SF Hall of Fame), and was made into a Hugo-winning TV short.

Paul said...

You could also come straight west if you like. A few years back early in the global warming runup we had some 40+ days where the thermometer did not get above 0. Winds averaged 15 MPH out of the North/North West. Seems to have been late 80's to early 90's as I recall.

Old Grouch said...

It's all about keeping it cool in Cancun.

Anonymous said...

"obviously you haven't been hanging here for long."

Oh, I've seen the cheesecake, Og, 'toe and all...that '06 actually that was right about the time I visited the Porch for the first time, coming over from Xavier's. Maybe that has something to do with why I'm still hanging around ;)

But contemporary sunbathing pics in the balmy thirties? That would be, um...cool.

And of course making the obligatory "pics, please" comment kept someone else from having to do it.

AT

Anonymous said...

Oh righty then, and moving from the South to Circle City was a normal thought?

CIII

Anonymous said...

Uh, that garble would be: "that '06 post actually was right about the time..."

BTW, Ms. K., how goes "seven things to do before I die"?

Also, hit-count effect from Og's link?

AT

Anonymous said...

Yeah, them folks in Minneapolis just ain't right in the head. They've got to be plain crazy to live there...

(Current location - North St. Paul, Minne-snow-ta... :)

Ancient Woodsman said...

Some folks work outside. In this weather. Yep.

Brad K. said...

Tam,

I wintered over in Minneapolis back in '83-'84. The first snow of the season was 12 inches the day before Thanksgiving. It changed a lot of travel plans. I was snug in my apartment, thinking I was all set - when the phone rang. A friend was stranded at work (5 miles away), and couldn't get home to her infant (25 miles away). They stayed over with me 'til they cleared the roads.

I recall Christmas shopping the day before Christmas. A bright, nearly call afternoon. The mall lot was packed, traffic near the Rosedale mall was moderate. The bank sign across the way said -35F, -59F wind chill. You wear your winter coat, watch out for the breeze/wind, respect the cold and what it does to your vehicle. BTW - looking around that day - I felt comfortable in my hooded coat.

A neighbor explained to me that Minnesota has two seasons - winter and road repair. Which was the truth. The state tax was exorbitant - the lions share back then went to schools and road maintenance. As I recall, the highway patrol issued tickets for 1-2 mph over the limit. They still did back 10 years ago.

Downtown Minneapolis built a system of enclosed bridges over the city streets between apartment, shopping, and office buildings. It seems the lawyers (my cousin was one) didn't like having to get out in cold weather.

I went canoeing the first time while living in Minnesota. It was a church group outing. We drove straight north, into Wisconsin. On the last weekend in October. It rained some. It wasn't the warmest time I ever spent outdoors.

Atom Smasher said...

Mmmm, toasty Minneapolis...

Cond0011 said...

Minneapolis... Blunt head trauma... yep. Time for a song...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJUFTm6cJXM

@Blackwing1:

17% increase in property tax? Ha! You got me beat! Mine only went up 16%.

Blackwing1 said...

Cond0010: Yup, definitely the head trauma (and the job) keeping us here.

We bought our house in '92. Since then the value has gone up by a factor of 2.5x(original).

The property tax has gone up by a factor of EXACTLY 5.0x(original).