Bracing for the Arctic Blast

As I write this, the sun is brightly shining over the numerous inches of snow that have piled up over the last month. On first glance out the window, it actually appears to be pleasant. However, I know it is not over 0 degrees outside. Yes, while those of you readers in what I consider now the south face the possibility of negative temps – know that we’ve been living with it now for a couple of days and we’re not done.

Tonight is supposed to be the coldest temps in 10 years. If you do the math on that one, I haven’t lived here for 10 years (quite yet). So, I do not know what these temps are going to feel like. All I know is that my car registered -26 Tuesday morning. That means if that wasn’t the coldest morning then could I possibly hit -30 tomorrow morning?? And those are air temperatures. Not counting wind chills. On the weather last night the wind chills were registering around -25 or so. That’s with the new formula for figuring out wind chills. With the old formula we would have been at -40. Seriously – how did Laura Ingalls do it up here!

I do have to give the Jeep “props” for hanging in with me this week as I force it to power through the tundra to and from work. It does keep me quite toasty. However, keep in mind that I have the blower on high for the majority of my commute. And that commute has been averaging over an hour both ways. With Monday afternoon’s 2 hour drive taking the award for “crappy commute” of the week.

As I write this over my lunch hour, I have also taken a moment to explore a warm weather get away. I now see the allure of being a snowbird. Not that I’m quite old enough to be considered a snowbird, I’m ready to find a job where I can work in the sun and warmth during the winter. Of course the airfares are a little steep right now….give me another week like this and I’ll cash in all of my frequent flier miles to go anywhere that the temp is over 60.

For those of you with thinner blood that aren’t ready for the arctic blast…prepare. Wear that hat (even if hats make you look stupid), double up on socks, gloves, scarves. Whatever you do….layer, layer, layer.