Monday, December 15, 2008

Oh, The Weather Outside is Frightful...

(Sorry. No "but" after that.)

As I write this, at 4:30 in the afternoon--which, granted, is past peak solar heating time in mid-December--it is currently -3 degrees outside. No. That is NOT the windchill. It's just the temperature. 

I realize that many people are going to read that and say (either outloud or to themselves) "He lives in Minnesota, what does he expect?" But you have to know that this kind of temperature is normal in late January. And it's mainly when we're talking about overnight low temperatures. Today, -1 was the high. We're expected to spend about 36 hours below zero before getting up to a balmy 7 degrees tomorrow in the midafternoon.

Average high on this day? 24 degrees, according to The Weather Channel. That's a difference of 25 degrees! That is the equivalent of Vegas having a freeze overnight, instead of only a temp in the 50s. Or of Miami being in the upper 30s, instead of the low 60s. It's a big difference.

Of course, this being Minnesota, we're pretty much taking it all in stride. I made sure to cover myself from head to toe--with only my eyes showing--when I went out to clear off the sidewalks. (One problem: My glasses not only fogged up, but also froze over. So I had to clear the walks with them off. My apologies to our neighbors for the mediocre job...)

In the house, it's noticeable too, though. Because it was warm (almost 40) and rainy yesterday, before dropping about 50 degrees in 14 hours, we've developed a lot of condensation on the windows (some liquid, some frozen at this point). Strange the tricks that Mother Nature plays. 

Don't worry, though. Christopher and I are still going to go out to dinner tonight with all of our parents. 

We'll try to get home before it gets too cold.

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