People want me to pick up food, so I have to blow the snow at 0 dgrs, windchill -16 dgrs, but with extra layers of clothing. Hang in there. Bernd

I remember as a kid we went 10 days and it never reached zero... I hope it never happens again .. I always like how squeaky and crunchy the snow is when you walk on it in the bitter cold..

Its hard to believe the plants are sitting there right up top, and they don't get destroyed.

Sounds like at least you'll have a thick layer of snow to protect your plants. Hang in there!

Leafwatcher, that wouldn't have been December of 1983 would it? I still remember the ice forming around electric outlets on outside walls and the 60 below wind chill.

They say we will get hit sunday with the snow and monday with the cold..calling for -17F which I don't ever remember seeing here. they said it has not been -10 here in at least 15 years.

Well, we will have night time temps down to 18 one night, which is pretty darn low for us, bracketed between nights at 28 and 25.....our days warm up between these lows generally, doesn't ordinarily stay below freezing during the day.

But WeatherChannel said that Fargo ND would have low of ---48 (that is a big long MINUS).....I cannot imagine what spending 10 days down below zero would be like, hopefully a once-in-a-lifetime event.

My DH says that down that low gasoline turns to gel and of course could not fuel any car or generator. So it gets down to the nitty gritty to keep your body and soul together! Stay warm.

Our daughter-in-law in southern NH sent a picture of their thermometer reading -10 today.

Sunny and warm here...lows in the 40's, highs in the 60's BUT we are in a drought. No rain, (winter months is when it is supposed to happen) and no snow in the mountains. Lawns and other stuff might go next summer. I'll quit taking showers before my hostas will suffer.

I Do empathize, as I have had frost bitten fingers and the tip of my nose back when I lived in the Chicago area.

We WILL get thru all of this weird weather stuff... Hold on.

-Babka

I have to share a funny story, I was always famous for staying warm, even back when I was skinny ! :)

Anyhow we went snowboarding at A Basin in Colorado.. man my feet were getting cold, and sore..that NEVER happens when I was out snowboarding.. well about noon we looked at one of the chalkboards on the ski lift up top and it said -25 at opening today.. that explained why my feet had been cold in my 20 dollar sorrels ! hahaha
Mad planter, if I had to guess I would say that long run of cold was in the mid 70's ..I can remember some 3-5 days where it was below zero .. I bet North of me in Minnesota that happens A LOT....

Arapahoe Basin, U.S. 6, Keystone, Colorado? Well, Leafwatcher, at the moment, it's a nice warm 6 deg. F there! LOL

Don B.

Beware

It's GLOBAL WARMING!

Just got back from out-of-town....apparently it got to -35Celsius here while I was away....BRRRRRRRR. Pipi-bursting weather. In Toronto there were broken trees all over some streets...Ontario Hydro were worked hard ..
cordoning off hazard areas, cars crushed under huge tree branches, yellow caution tape used, etc. what a winter and we've just barely started!

Stay warm folks! Stay safe!

At my house in upstate NY it is so cold that the cheap Accusomething thermometer broke. Local TV weather and Weather channel say it is 2 or 4 dgrs right now, but my thermometer shows 15 dgrs. Weatherchannel shows an hourly forecast of 13 dgrs, so perhaps my thermometer outside switched to WC forecast. LOL! Same thing happened last yesr. Need to buy a better thermometer. Bernd

Good GRIEF, Charley Brown!

It was a surprise to me this morning when DH came inside after opening his workshop.....it was 60 degrees there by 7 am. I reminded him that I never trust the weather reports for our area....I trust the sky because it never lies.

Surely some of the cold predicted will arrive, sooner or later, so I won't remove the old sheets and boat covers thrown over my unmovable pots and in-ground tender plants. But last year 2013 I gave away a lot of warm-loving plants to reduce the cover-up routine to a few minutes, and the move-inside routine to about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, the cumquat crop is weighing down the branches and look really beautiful and orange, so the cold weather will sweeten the fruits. Bumper crop this year. And my DH's snap peas are still blooming even though he covered them last night to prevent freezing before we get to eat those great peas. His cabbage and kale and spinach and turnip greens and green onions/scallions look beautiful too.This is his first year to experience a winter garden, which has no bug and blight issues. I'd say he is a happy gardener.

Moc, I have admit that does sound good. My sister and I were discussing how Florida is so crowded in the winter and Hawaii too expensive. We should probably look into other Southern states. We are planning on going South in winter when we retire in about 3 years,

In the twin cities, MN we only have a few below 0 days, where it is below zero all day and we don't have them every year. The last time it was this cold was in 1996 I believe. A similar cold spell in either '03 or '02 but not as cold; I can't remember. I just plan indoor activities like potting up coleus and planting hosta seeds. I also do a lot of cyber gardening during this time. When it gets above zero, I'll go to the gym to get some exercise.

Stay warm, Beverly

We're supposed to get down to -2 degrees this coming Wednesday morning,which,if it happens, will be the coldest it has been since I moved here. We've had some single digit temps but never that cold! Oh well,the hostas have been asleep since October,so they will be OK! Phil

toady we received over 10" of snow and it is still coming down, I can hear the wind starting to pick up as I type this.

This is the only picture I got today as I was outside replacing one of our main power lines running into the house today

I hope everyone stays warm and safe as the killer cold moves through!

Here the little snow that has fallen in the past few days has already melted.

luuk, welcome! Looking it up, you are from Lugano at Lake Lugano in Switzerland, very nice! Bernd

Thanks Bernd for the welcome, the picture was taken from the park of Lugano called Parco Ciani. In warm weather there are nice flowerbeds and a few Hostas variety, I will post some photos.

I think that was the lake where an aunt and uncle of mine had their annual spring vacation many years ago. Your climate probably is not as hot and humid as Florida is, though is mild all year long? Bernd

Oh no, we can only dream the climate of Florida !
http://www.meteoblue.com/en/switzerland/weather-lugano

Luuk, I had no idea! The picture you posted sure has a feeling of ELEVATION and HIGH ALTITUDE to me at least. After all, our elevation is "sea level" and I tend to get lightheaded on a 3-foot step-stool. Beautiful change of scenery for me.

Meanwhile, tonight is the night which spells WINTER for us in Mobile. Predicted to be 15F.....understand that most homes here have unprotected pipes (from cold), many tender plants, commercial crops at risk, all that sort of thing make this a near record-breaking low. (Although I saw somewhere that -5 is record low for the STATE of AL. Don't know what our historic low might be, in Mobile, but.....it is surely COLD FEELING already. Our temp right now is 34F and I made a second round dispensing blankets to special plants. Also heaped the bird feeders so all our wild friends could get calories in them to survive the night.

So Florida is pretty close to us, and tonight won't be easy for much of it as well....both people and crops.

I saw it on the news, "Weather Alert: the U.S. are preparing for a wave of frost more intense in the last 20 years"
Is sure that freeze damage are many, especially for pipes ...so hang in there !!!

Lugano is located in the south of Switzerland, surrounded by the mountains of the prealps, we have the warmest climate of the country. The minimum and maximum temperature for january are approximately: min 31F and max 43F, the elevation is 896 feet.

Luuk, I do not know the locale of this movie by Merchant Ivory but it is A MONTH BY THE LAKE. I count it as one of the most beautiful movies of the idyllic time just before the beginning of WWII.....that is what I'll be watching tonight, not a beach blanket movie. I'm doing a Merchant-Ivory week at our house. Waiting for milder weather.

Bev, your remarks about the activities you plan for during really cold weather brought home to me more clearly than any other comments, just how important it is to engage in meaningful activity. After years of doing this, you must know that the effects of "cabin fever" can be pretty devastating. I do not encourage anyone to read Jack London's CALL OF THE WILD while snowed in, for instance.

moc, I haven't seen that movie, but I read that is set up on lake of Como (Italy), very close to me.
Thanks, I will watch the movie.

It's after 10:00 at night here and just checked the thermometer and it's 6.6 degrees celsius or around 44 farenheit.

This is the warmest winter I can remember in Stockholm Sweden in the 16 years I have been here.We had 1 dusting of snow in Nov. and that has been it.

You all in the USA must be getting our winter by mistake.Sorry about that!!

We will probably get slammed in January.

My immediately prior homestead, only one county north of here, but waaaaaay down in the swamp, we saw -34 for several days a winter all 5 years we lived there. Grew lots of root crops...