EMERGENCY

I went to the Miami Herald site this morning, and the main story was about the brutal cold wave hitting South Florida:

Today's high: 69 degrees. The wind chill values will make it feel as low as 44 degrees.

Here at the ski area on Pluto we would kill for it to feel like 44 degrees. We would take off our clothes and run around screaming naked. We do this anyway, but that's because of the rum.

Comments

[Steve]

Last January, we looked out our patio door to find this weird white stuff on the grass. For some reason, frost in St. Augustine is colder to me than the snow I experienced while working in Michigan when I was younger.
I knew a guy in Michigan whose name was fourteen letters long. He could write his whole name in the snow in perfect cursive handwriting. I never witnessed the act itself but I can testify to the outcome.
How hard is it to write "Dave"?

[Brian]

If you voluntarily traveled to Pluto, then Plutonian weather is what you should expect. If I, on the other hand, voluntarily live in Miami,(*) then I expect to have sun and fun at all times of the year. The times that our temps dip to the lower regions of the mercury are usually short and welcome respites from last week's 88 degrees. There's nothing better than to have a nice cool weekend every now and then. That's what winter is here!

* (Hard to admit, but true.)

[Siouxie, freezing in Miami]

Watch out for shrinkage and chafing, Dave.

It IS brutal out there. I am in the process of dressing warmly just to walk my dogs. Lots of coats and layers will be involved. Possibly some rum too.

Al?? turn global warming back ON, huh??

[Jeff Meyerson]

Aww, poor baby.

*sends emergency warmers to Siouxie*

[Brian]

Hi Siouxie!

I always get a laugh out of days like today, because you just know that tonight, the smell of fireplaces will be wafting throughout many neighborhoods here. Burnin' those Yule Logs to keep warm!!

I prefer rum and warm apple cider myself.
; )

[Tash]

A cold wave tends to hit right after Christmas. We have been in Key West several times and this always happens. Northerners just get out their sweatshirts and keep touristing. Natives, in their tank tops, shorts and flip flops, cringe and clutch their electric heaters, moaning in pain. We just wonder why anyone would wear a tank top, shorts and flip flops in fifty degrees.

[Zoodle]

Pfffft.

Here in Winterpeg the temperature has risen to a balmy -19C which, for those of you who are metrically challenged, is -2F. The teenagers are walking around with their coats open and no mitts.

Compared to the -44C we had before Xmas (-47F) we feel positively Spring-like right now. :)

[Tash]

SHORT shorts, you know, and that's just the guys.

[Braniff]

"with temperatures forecast in the mid 40s in some inland areas, Broward County declared a state of emergency..."
Seriously? An Emergency?

[Steve Haller]

This website will help you visualize the weather in terms a geek can understand. Feel fry to try it where you live...

[Braniff]

How exactly can you get wind chill with 69 degrees? Wouldn't a wind just push warm 69 degree air against you harder?

According to the National Weather Service, the temp has to be above 50 degrees to calculate a wind chill, so whoever wrote that story must be delirious from the "intense" cold.

[Steve Haller]

or free, whatever your proclivity...

(Apparently in Detroit it's like Hoth. That explains those strange-looking walkers...)

[Jeff Tompkins]

Here in Charleston, SC, our temps have varied wildly. It was close to 70 on Christmas Day; the low this morning was 28 and some of the highs this weekend will be in the upper 30s. I don't put much stock in the forecast, though, because it seems the weatherpeople only get the forecast correct AFTER the weather has happened.

[trustf8]

LI update:
21 degrees + 45mph wind gusts = 2 degree wind chill.

(but at least our 2 feet of snow melted)

[Punkin]

We don't have varying temps here in The Great White North - we have summer - & frozen corneas.

I'd type more, but it's hard to see.

[Horace LaBadie]

Yes, but it's also 44 degrees inside.

[NotSherly]

I wonder where ron is. He usually chimes in on these discussions.
Btw - 17 degrees here in CT and I'm still envying Floridahhh.

[padraig the cheesehead]

Anybody below the Mason-Dixon line is a wimp, a fop, and a simpering bagatelle of a tortellini.

We in Wisconsin are petitioning to join Canada because the lack of proper cold is weakening our children. Why, as I write I see that they are being pampered with SEVEN entire degrees! The fancy Fahrenheit kind, no less!

That's it, I'm making them move their beds out of the garage and into the back yard, and taking away their blanket. Shivering is WONDERFUL exercise.

[Meyer C. Dhoates]

Dave, I was shocked to discover you are still alive. I used to read your columns back in the 90's. The 1990's, not the temperature 90's. It is truely amazing you have survivied all these years and apparently are still gainfully employed. What wonders will the next decade bring forth now that I have just discovered I missed the past 10 years.

[pogo]

Braniff, since wind chill is a measure of how fast exposed skin cools, it stands to reason that at any temperature below body temperature with a wind blowing there will be a wind chill.

/unsolicted technical analysis

[nursecindy]

I predicted this weekend that Siouxie would be freezing. It is 34 degrees here and last night was in the teens. Jeff T. and I must be getting the same weather because they're calling for my area to get a 'deep freeze' this weekend. I can take the cold as long as the white or icy stuff stays away. btw Dave, if you move around on those ski's you'll warm up.

[Eduardo vera]

Poor baby!

[Braniff]

I'll buy that Pogo, but if the temp is 69 and the wind is 14, how does that translate to 44 degree wind chill? I'm thinking it would be closer to 55-60.

[ArcticAl]

Say it ain't so! We'll start collecting warm clothes to send to our Floridian bretheren (and sisteren?). We are a balmy 4F with a wind chill of -13F today so we can spare a few extra clothes.

[Siouxie, freezing in Miami]

Braniff?? It was windy and it was chilly out there. So pfffffft!

*frozen hair flip*

I did survive the walking of the dogs butt dangit..I must brave the cold temps once more as I run into my heated car. Pray for me.

Tatas...(frozen)

[NotSherly]

Siouxie, do Floridians even own gloves?

[bonmot]

Quote of the story: :The high pressure has moved back out to sea, near Bermuda, opening the way for fronts to make their way south, said Robert Garcia, a student trainee in meteorology at the National Weather Service."

Oh wait. I thought that said "tranny". Never mind.

Does a meterological tranny swing between Fahrenheit and Celsius?

[Brian]

Surely we do NotSherly.

Scuba gloves
Water skiing gloves
Garden gloves
Biking gloves
Work-out gloves....
; )

[Mitch]

I'm about to go outside and torture myself with some winter exercise. Can someone tell me what the wind chill factor for 8, near running, miles an hour is?

"I was not talented enough to run and smile at the same time." Emil Zatopek

[NotSherly]

We're having a glovely day here, Brian

[EB]

This lady thinks Pluto sounds nice! We have below zero and "sunddogs" rainbows made by ice crytals in the air, both sides of the sun.. But that would be the fate of ND....

[trustf8]

*pours LI ICE Tea for all*

[Brian]

Today's one of those days that we here in South Florida can have one of my favorite cheap pleasures. It's so great to be out in "the elements", running around in the wind and chilly weather, and to then get back into your car. It's like your own private greenhouse,(*) with the sun shining through the windows. Probably the only time that I can say that I actually enjoy being in my car, windows up, and with no A/C on!!!

* green is that color that many of you "up there" see a few months a year.

[Jeff Tompkins]

Mmmm. LICE tea.

[NotSherly]

*throws snowball at Brian in his car.*

[Will (the other one)]

Dear Miamians:
Boo-freaking Hoo.
Love,
Native Plutonian

[Jeff Meyerson]

Believe me the attitude is real. I've seen the mink coats come out in Florida when the temps drop below 70.

Echoing what Braniff said (though it is obviously below 50):

Windchill Temperature is only defined for temperatures at or below 10 °C (50 °F) and wind speeds above 4.8 kilometres per hour (3.0 mph).

[Horace LaBadie]

That's windshield temperature in Miami, where most of the windshields have bullet holes. When driving in high speed chases, or simply going for a parking spot, this makes the temperature in the passenger cabin feel much colder as the wind comes screaming through the holes in the windshield. Or that might just be the pedestrians screaming.

[Will (the other one)]

By an interesting coincidence, one of our local weather men posted about windchill on his blog, with a handy chart. It starts at an air temperature of 40 degrees* and works its way down to -45**.

* For those that use degrees centipede and other oddball systems:
4.4444 deg C / 277.59 Kelvin / 499.67 deg Rankine / 3.5556 deg Réaumur / 9.8333 deg Rømer
** -42.778 deg C / 230.37 K / 414.67 deg R / -34.222 deg Réaumur / -14.958 deg Rø

[Theresa]

69 degrees sounds great to me too. It was 17 degrees last night when I got out of work going home brrrr.

[Eduardo Vera]

I prefer rum and warm apple cider myself.Too

[snif]

69? Here in Clearwater we'll be lucky if it reaches 60.

*goes for a hot cocoa refill*

[Desertal]

Talk about brutal. Yesterday, it was so cold here in Phoenix, I had to put the front windscreen up on the golf cart. That must be the wind chill factor y'all are talking about. I guess I'll have to start getting later tee times and bring more Grey Goose.

[NotSherly]

snif, grab yourself a /i while you're at it.

[Braniff]

Thanks Jeff M. for the correction. I meant to say above -50 and below +50. Either way, +69 degrees doesn't qualify for wind chill, which I find to be silly and meaningless anyway.

[Braniff]

So who broke the blog this time? I'm getting dizzy reading italics.

[CJrun]

snif broke the Blog!!

Meyer C. Dhoates
And does eat Dhoates,
Little lambs are yummy.
Typing with gloves on sucks
When you're a rummy.

[Steve Haller]

Will this help?

[Steve Haller]

Apparently it did. (I typed in < / i > only without spaces. I'm sure judi would have done this, but I seem to recall Dave fired her a while back ... ?)

[Lairbo]

It's so cold (How Cold Is It?) the blog's got italicicles!

[ubetcha]

How quickly the nortnern transplants to FL forget their nortnern roots. Here in my NE corner of CT it's just plain windy as hell and -1 with the wind chill. On Sunday it was 51 here while it was 50 in St. Pete. I'll still take St. Pete, and will if someone would only buy my house.

I can't seem to fix the italics.

[WriterDude]

SH, I tried that close tag code three times and it wouldn't take. Strange.

[ubetcha]

Oh crap! I think I rebroke it.

[ubetcha]

And refixed it!

[Steve Haller]

(sigh) Do I have to do everything around here? All right, once more: (types it in)

[Steve Haller]

See, this is why we need judi. Will someone please post some nekkid men or something to get her attention? (obviously I wouldn't have anything like that lying around ...)

[NotSherly]

I think Judi might be fixin things in the background. She's stealthy that way.

[Will (the other one)]

Will this work?

[ em] and [/ em] are equivalent to the italics tag.

[somedude]

At noon here in MT, we have warmed up to 18 F, warm enough so it can start snowing lightly.

[Meanie the Blue]

It's somewhere above freezing here in northern NJ, and there's lots of wind, but I have no idea what the friggin' wind chill is. The wind tends to make the cold colder - how difficult is that?

We have these things up here called long sleeve shirts and sweaters and jackets, and, in extreme cases, coats. I'm sure they can be found somewhere in Florida, along with instruction manuals in how to use them.

State of Emergency *coughsnorksnorkcough* - has the Red Cross been called out?

*TrueSNORK!@ CJ's nursery rhyme*

*grabs a tall LI iced tea, clinks tf8's glass*

[insomniac]

probably everybody's already figured it out, but their high is 69 degrees but the wind chill refers to whatever temp. their low
is going to be...

[Brian]

OK Meanie and all the other "Yes, we really love being frozen" folks out there. I'm not gloating about the weather here. I'm just used to it being this way most all the time. I lived the first of my 12 years in Buffalo, so I remember (vaguely) what it was all about.

If you all want to put it into some sort of perspective, how's this...
It hasn't been below 70 degrees here, more than maybe 5-6 days, since last March !! That's a lot of heat and humidity to put up with, so don't think that I'm impressed with anyone's ability to function in below zero weather. Try to live, work, and play in 90+ degrees and 90+ % humidity for months on end. You'll wish it was 50 someday soon too!

; )

[Miss Chevious]

Brian,

You're a hoot. I'm just sayin' that's all.

[Siouxie, thawing in Miami]

Brian!! I survived! It's actually quite lovely outside now.

(btw..I did wear my leather gloves this morning so yes, NSherl...I own some)

[WriterDude]

Sio, are we supposed to be surprised you own gloves? It's common belief that Dan Marino has a storage unit in Hialeah stacked to the roof with Isotoners from 1991.

[Meanie the Blue]

I don't love being frozen, especially, nor do I love baking for more than, say, a week. What I like about where I live is the change throughout the seasons, and particularly the moderate spring and fall periods. You won't find me bragging about sub-zero or supra-100 degreesF conditions, even when those happen occasionally.

What I find amusing about the Florida cold-whining (yes, I do get that it's not serious) (mostly....) is simply the portrayal of it as so extreme. It may fall outside the range of normal Florida temps, but, well, it just doesn't sound especially cold. And yet it's headline, state of emergency stuff.....

If I were there, I would be enjoying it. Although I do feel sorry for Siouxie's lizard (which WBAGNFARB).

[Dorakay]

The state of emergency is really just a call for more shelters to open, so that there will be more beds available for the homeless to keep warm at night. I'm a transplant from Michigan, so the cold doesn't really bother me. I'm with Brian, it's a relief for me after the sweltering summers, which I don't think I will ever get used to.

[bonmot]

All y'all test your frosticles all you want.

I'll stay here in the Deep South. Although it is a damp 45 degrees here today.

But at least there's no chin chill factor.

[trustf8]

*prefers 69 to anything else*

[NotSoShyJan]

It is warm always in Florida. Especially Miami. Got to wear shorts there in November. One might die here in California, trying to wear shorts in November.
*sends an winter jacket to Souixie*

[Brian]

Meanie, I'm never one to ever complain about it getting too cold here. I love it when it gets cool here. I actually start getting a bit stir-crazy because we don't have much of a change of seasons. A lot of the headlines and emergency "panic" is really just crying wolf most of the time.

It is difficult to take seriously when the news tells us how bad it's going to be, and then it ends up being 73, sunny and beee-uuu-teee-ful, as it is right now.

Time for a Lincoln Rd night, right Siouxie??
; )

[Meanie the Blue]

Exactly, Brian. The seriousness about it all is what makes me laugh.

When your pipes start freezing, when the car battery is dead from cold, when your breath crystalizes and falls to the ground, then you can panic. In the meantime, you just, you know, deal with it.

Dorakay, I do get that, too. Still, it just sounds so very dire, I have to chuckle.

[bonmot]

Ole is a farmer in Minnesota. He is in need of a new milk cow and hears about a nice one for sale over in Nordakota (that would be North Dakota for you non-Scandahoovians out there).

He drives to Nordakota, finds the farm and looks at the cow. He reaches under to see if the cow gives milk.
When he grabs a teat and pulls...the cow farts. Surprised, Ole looks at the farmer who's selling the cow, then reaches under to try again.

He grabs another teat, pulls, and the cow farts again. Milk does come out however, so after some discussion with the cow's current owner, Ole decides to buy the cow...

When he gets back to Minnesota , he calls over his neighbor, Sven, and says, 'Hey, Sven, come and look at dis ere new cow I yust bought. Pull her teat, and see vat happens.'

Sven reaches under, pulls the teat...the cow farts.

Sven looks at Ole and says, You bought dis here cow over in Nordakota, didn't yah?'

Ole is very surprised since he hadn't told Sven about his trip. Ole replies, 'Yah, dats right. But how did yah know?'

Sven says, 'My wife is from Nordakota.'

[queensbee]

air temp this morning - 7. windchill - 22. wind is still howling.
what was your question?

[bonmot]

Try some hot tea with Southern Comfort. That'll take the chill off.

[Guin]

Boston outside temp: -9. Boston office inside temp: 78. Arrgh, old school buildings with ancient boilers!

[Richard the Weasel-Hearted]

Just arrived back from Tampa this morning. It was indeed relatively cool. Had a hard time getting any sympathy from co-workers, though -- I had just shoveled over a foot of snow to get to the airport a week ago...

As best as I can tell, the ability of us mere bloggers to fix things by inserting closing tags went away months ago.

[crossgirl]

i just made the weiner dog a winter jacket out of a thermal long john leg but really, it's more of a casual evening gown. yes, it is freckin cold.

[Tash]

Siouxie - I hope the gloves helped. Um, what else are you wearing?

Man, we must be awfully bored, blogging like mad about the weather.

Guin, right on about the indoor temperature. That's what I fret about trying to predict, especially in buildings where each room is different. Layers only go so far, IYKWIM

[Loudmouth]

But it's a dry cold.

[padraig]

OK, here's a joke for folks up nort' here hey:

Ole's complaining to Lena about the snow emergency opposite side parking laws. "Geez Lena, one day they tell me to park da car on da even side of da street, da next day da odd side of da street, I can't keep it straight! Tonight I might leave da car in da garage just ta spite 'em!"

(Ask somebody from Minnesoter to explain it to ya. Or Nort' Dakoter.)

[NotSherly]

Lol @ the fireside stories.

If Florida has a cold emergency, then it's the duty of us Northern bloggers to hop on the first plane to Miami and lend our body heat to the effort to increase statal warming. First stop, kilt bar.

[O the U(manity)]

LOLLER!!! @ bonmot ... (loudly enuf to actually startle the more staid of my Nodak neighbors ... )

[cowhand214]

It's -5 here in Boston and I darn near broke myself carrying bunch of empty beer bottles to the recycling bin that blocked my view an icy patch.

LOL @ bonmot. That's excellent!

[Ralph]

It's 1°F and dropping, and I had to jump start my plow truck today, but it's nice to have wintah again in New England. I remember the good old days (the 70's) when it would drop to thirty below in January; for the last ten years or so -10° is unusual. I miss walking home across a frozen lake at -20° with the stars crackling overhead -- or maybe it was my eyelashes. Global climate change is ruining everything, and all we get out of the politicians is more hot air. Send them to Miami for the next hurricane and make them meet on the beach.

[Kris]

And here we were so worried about global warming! Apparently that Copenhagen meeting fixed the entire problem, just by talking and signing a non-binding agreement. Impressive!

So will we have global cooling next? (Sorry, should have said "")

And will Al Gore reduce his carbon footprint? Shouldn't he do this if he's going to nag the rest of us about ours? I telecommute and have a car that has good milage.

Check out this:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/gorehome.asp

And does Al still have his "green" houseboat? You know what's greener than a "green" houseboat? No houseboat!

He's completely ignoring the evidence that shows that some scientists have been skewing the results to make it look like global warming is happening (I don't know if it is, but scientists should tell the truth about the data).

Sorry, rant off now. It's just odd. Last week, I saw some signs on global warming at a zoo. Now, watching the snow outside in an area that usually doesn't get more than an inch of snow ever...

[snif]

Seems I broke the blog
Italics...slanted letters...
Pass me a doobie.

[Auntie M]

Man. Winter in Florida is weird. I was there around Christmas over 10 years ago, and remember chuckling about the "state of emergency" because it was going to be in the 40s. It was nippy, but come on! I think they were concerned about the homeless who were outside in such temperatures. It seems like it happens occasionally, so I'm sure you Floridians have a coat hanging around somewhere....

Oh, and meteorology is all voodoo. They sacrifice a chicken, and guess what the weather will be for the next 10 days.

[padraig]

Kris, the 911truthObamaBirthConspiracyGlennBeckForPope blog is three blogs down and to the right. WAY to the right. Please adjust your orientation.

[Just Ducky]

Just because I know y'all want to know, it's been cold and rainy here in Austin--only hit 40 today. Usually we're in the 60's (or higher) this time of year, but according to those voodoo meteorologists Auntie M mentioned, we're having a cold, wet winter because of El Nino. Why some little Spanish boy is wreaking havoc with our weather, I'll never know.

padraig, I think we all have various political views, but a good humor orientation is the only one needed here. I hope your Border collies enjoyed their Christmas goodies; mine certainly had a good time with his new bone. Well, until he broke it in half. But it was fun while it lasted.

[Meanie the Blue]

*Harks back to the days when the weather was not political*

*Tries to remember if harking is legal or not*

[Will (the other one)]

padraig, while I disapprove of using this blog for excessively goofy political rants, not all of us are three blogs way to the left, either.

[Will (the other one)]

Meanie, you should check with the Herald Angel on that one...

[Guin]

notices that the blog is still broken and wonders how many times Dave will fire judi when he returns from Pluto

[Cathy]

I was born and raised in Miami and something possessed me to move to Cleveland, Ohio a few years ago. It is currently 16 degrees and I have a foot of snow in my driveway.

That said, 16 degree weather in Cleveland is easier to deal with than 60 degrees in windy, wet Miami. The humidity is still in the air there, and when that wind gets going the cold gets into your bones and doesn't get out until the next beach day!

I can't wait to move home :-)

[Meanie the Blue]

I ran across THIS just this morning. Floridians could learn something from it.

[Annie Where-but-here]

That's about right, Meanie. We SoCalis pay good money to keep the snow stuff and other "negative weather events" contained to the mountains, where we can view them when we want but they can't get to us. Yes, we've taken the weather and put it in its very own zoo.

[Siouxie]

Thank you, Meanie. The "heat" setting on my ac has saved my life many many times. Thank GOD it's back down to a bearable 61 degrees. That was a close one.

[Annie Where-but-here]

*(((Siouxie))) for warmth*
Are you wearing eau de Manischevitz? It's so...you.

[Steve Haller]

Is Craig Ferguson tonight a repeat?

Or is Craig going to be skiing on the slopes too??

(See "Tonight's Guests" way over on the right)