I escaped the Polar Vortex

[Beerwildered]

For my Midwest and Minnesota friends - you’ll be in my thoughts and prayers...in between sips of my local beverage.

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

Workin on it myself....headin to florida for 4 days right when the cold hits, I'll take 72 over 12 anyday

 

[Abrayton]

Sitting in NW Wisconsin and bracing for record lows I must say I’m jealous

 

[NeoBrew]

I wish there was a “dislike” button!

Lucky bastard! We are looking at -29F by Wednesday. ...and no, that is actual temp, not the wind chill!

 

[MaxStout]

Heading to San Diego next week for our annual 2-week trip. The temps there will be 100 degrees warmer than here. Our lows the next few nights are predicted to hit -30F here.

Last time we had a polar vortex winter was 2014. The frost line went down so far that winter it heaved the footings on my deck a couple inches.

 

[RPh_Guy]

Hope the yeast slushy I got in the mail will be OK.

 

[passedpawn]

Workin on it myself....headin to florida for 4 days right when the cold hits, I'll take 72 over 12 anyday

It's pretty cool in FL, but not like up north. Expect mid 60's during the day.

Where you heading Mr Rotten?

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

It's pretty cool in FL, but not like up north. Expect mid 60's during the day.

Where you heading Mr Rotten?

Boca Raton

I've been watching the weather channel but your never going to get "real" local weather.....what should I expect. Online I'm seeing 72 high/67 low for Thursday Friday when I'll be there......Is that wishful thinking?

Edit: looks like your in Clearwater. Boca seems a good bit south of you...hopefully that makes a difference

 

[passedpawn]

Boca Raton

I've been watching the weather channel but your never going to get "real" local weather.....what should I expect. Online I'm seeing 72 high/67 low for Thursday Friday when I'll be there......Is that wishful thinking?

Edit: looks like your in Clearwater. Boca seems a good bit south of you...hopefully that makes a difference

I hope you enjoy your time in the sunshine state. We get cold here, and I'm sorry for folks that come down here and think it's gonna be tropical and it isn't. But I'll bet you'll be happy anyway FL is a lot of fun and sun.

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

I hope you enjoy your time in the sunshine state. We get cold here, and I'm sorry for folks that come down here and think it's gonna be tropical and it isn't. But I'll bet you'll be happy anyway FL is a lot of fun and sun.

Thanks, A few cold beers and a tee shirt and I'm golden

 

[mongoose33]

My campus has just announced it's closing due to the cold for the next two days. That, by my count, is only the 3rd and 4th days ever.

Funny story about the first time back in the early 70s. The chancellor called off classes due to a huge snow storm. He somehow made it into his office when, looking out the window, he saw students using toboggans to haul half-barrels of beer from the corner liquor store back to the dorms.

He said "If they can make it to the liquor store, they can make it to class. Never again!" No word on whether he considered whether the faculty could make it in or not. Or if they were invited to the beer bash.

About 7 years ago we had an ice storm on the last day of finals, they canceled that too.

If it wasn't going to be so blasted cold, I'd brew beer tomorrow or Wednesday, as I've now got two days off. Current low forecast is -34 with wind chills approaching -60.

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

If it wasn't going to be so blasted cold, I'd brew beer tomorrow or Wednesday, as I've now got two days off. Current low forecast is -34 with wind chills approaching -60.

You should. Just to see how fast you can go from boiling to pitch temp without a chiller.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

My campus has just announced it's closing due to the cold for the next two days. That, by my count, is only the 3rd and 4th days ever.

Funny story about the first time back in the early 70s. The chancellor called off classes due to a huge snow storm. He somehow made it into his office when, looking out the window, he saw students using toboggans to haul half-barrels of beer from the corner liquor store back to the dorms.

He said "If they can make it to the liquor store, they can make it to class. Never again!" No word on whether he considered whether the faculty could make it in or not. Or if they were invited to the beer bash.

About 7 years ago we had an ice storm on the last day of finals, they canceled that too.

If it wasn't going to be so blasted cold, I'd brew beer tomorrow or Wednesday, as I've now got two days off. Current low forecast is -34 with wind chills approaching -60.

I had a similar thing in the winter of 1996-97, when I was at Purdue. It was so cold they cancelled classes, and a bunch of students ended up sledding on Slayter Hill.

Take my advice: use your degree to get a job somewhere warm. That's what I did. Should be 71 here today

 

[balrog]

As I tell my kids, it just builds character.

 

[passedpawn]

I had a similar thing in the winter of 1996-97, when I was at Purdue. It was so cold they cancelled classes, and a bunch of students ended up sledding on Slayter Hill.

Take my advice: use your degree to get a job somewhere warm. That's what I did. Should be 71 here today

Me too. College in philly, moved down here day after I graduated. Highs in 60's today, getting close to 80 by end of week.

 

[NeoBrew]

As I tell my kids, it just builds character.

I'm going to go hard core on you with that one. It would appear that we Minnesotans are getting soft! We can't seem to drive in the snow. (...or rain, wtf?) When it gets cold out we close everything. We are not building character in our kids, we are teaching them that when the going gets cold...we should just give up!

 

[MaxStout]

I'm going to go hard core on you with that one. It would appear that we Minnesotans are getting soft! We can't seem to drive in the snow. (...or rain, wtf?) When it gets cold out we close everything. We are not building character in our kids, we are teaching them that when the going gets cold...we should just give up!

This.

A couple raindrops or a flurry starts and 35W turns into a parking lot as everyone freaks out.

 

[schematix]

I like the cold. Low here is only -4 at 8am and tops out at 9 tomorrow. You can keep the Florida heat. No thanks. Snow/ice are a hassle though. I like that in moderation.

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

Atlanta Georgia shut schools down today because it hit 34 and they were afraid it might freeze on the streets.....Now thats sayin something

 

[balrog]

I grew up in TN. We had freezing rain more often than snow it seemed. We didn't have plows so much as sanding trucks
(this is all, I understand, seen through the rosy glorified beer-addled memory)
Point is, I moved to Western MA a few decades ago and expected winter, and people who handled winter, and they did. Now decades later, it's as bad as I remember in my youth, when grocery stores suddenly get mobbed at the mention of snow. Of course, we have something now that we did not have then, with the ceaseless fear mongering talking heads on news and weather sensationalizing *EVERYTHING* in order to gain audience. Some sociologist somewhere could have a field day with all that I bet.

But I agree, parenting has changed from what I remember.

Carry back on
Carry over
Carry me back to ole St Louie
(anyone get that M*A*S*H ref?)

 

[mongoose33]

I grew up in TN. We had freezing rain more often than snow it seemed. We didn't have plows so much as sanding trucks
(this is all, I understand, seen through the rosy glorified beer-addled memory)
Point is, I moved to Western MA a few decades ago and expected winter, and people who handled winter, and they did. Now decades later, it's as bad as I remember in my youth, when grocery stores suddenly get mobbed at the mention of snow. Of course, we have something now that we did not have then, with the ceaseless fear mongering talking heads on news and weather sensationalizing *EVERYTHING* in order to gain audience. Some sociologist somewhere could have a field day with all that I bet.

But I agree, parenting has changed from what I remember.

Carry back on
Carry over
Carry me back to ole St Louie
(anyone get that M*A*S*H ref?)

More and more it seems like we are robbing people of their self-reliance, of what used to be natural caution. The best teacher is to experience something; if it's uncomfortable, we tend to try to prepare to avoid that in the future.

My campus has a few "ice warning" devices that are bi-metal thermometers that tell people when conditions are such that ice might form, and they might slip and fall. It's Wisconsin, for Chrissakes! It gets cold here, we get ice!

Before we had these handy-dandy "I'm too lazy or stupid to own my behavior" devices, we had to exercise...caution. Imagine that. Caution.

It can only be a matter of time until one of these doesn't work properly, it falsely tells someone conditions are "OK" and they actually slip and hurt themselves. Then the lawsuits fly.

 

[Immocles]

Folks mobbing the grocery stores at the mention of snow drove me nutssssss when I was a teenage kid stocking and bagging groceries. I never understood how people thought they needed 2 weeks worth of groceries for 6 inches of snow and a day and a half of wind.

The current freeze though, I get. I live in south-central Minnesota, rural communities. I just went out to the edge of my driveway (at my wife's request ) to feed the dozen or two robins that are hanging around (wtf??), and the SS bowl I had the food instantly dropped in temperature. I would not want to be some kid waiting at the edge of a farm driveway on a gravel road for the bus driver to hopefully be on time. Calling off college courses is one thing, adults can make up their own mind, but it can be a different story in the sticks when you're a kid. But hey, I also called in to work for the day, because the blazer was pretty growlly yesterday, and I didn't wanna roll the dice on if it was going to go on strike after sitting in a parking lot for 12 hours. Brew day!

 

[MaxStout]

More and more it seems like we are robbing people of their self-reliance, of what used to be natural caution. The best teacher is to experience something; if it's uncomfortable, we tend to try to prepare to avoid that in the future.

My campus has a few "ice warning" devices that are bi-metal thermometers that tell people when conditions are such that ice might form, and they might slip and fall. It's Wisconsin, for Chrissakes! It gets cold here, we get ice!

Before we had these handy-dandy "I'm too lazy or stupid to own my behavior" devices, we had to exercise...caution. Imagine that. Caution.

It can only be a matter of time until one of these doesn't work properly, it falsely tells someone conditions are "OK" and they actually slip and hurt themselves. Then the lawsuits fly.

The trouble with idiot-proofing, is that someone will make a better idiot.

I have a chuckle every time I back out of the garage, the outside temp gauge in my car drops below 37F and I get the "roads may be icy" nag on the display. Cars are now designed for the lowest common denominator. And don't get me started on that cruise control radar thing...

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

And don't get me started on that cruise control radar thing...

Are you talking about the fact that adaptive cruise control exists, or that it flashes up a notification reminding you that you still have to drive and actually pay attention if you turn it on?

Because I LOVE the adaptive cruise. On long trips, there are often times where a car I'm following is traveling a comfortable speed and I have no desire to pass that car. But without adaptive cruise, I have to set my cruise which is always 0.5 mph faster or 0.5 mph slower than that car, so I have to keep adjusting my cruise to maintain following distance, or I have to eschew cruise entirely and do it manually--which becomes tiresome after 100 or so miles.

With adaptive cruise, I can set it and let it maintain following distance. If my speed fluctuates 1-2 mph, I'll take that as an acceptable tradeoff to having to constantly fiddle with it the entire time.

 

[day_trippr]

I'm a huge fan of adaptive cruise when crawling through stop 'n' go traffic for miles.
Much less tiresome to let the truck deal with it.
Otherwise I never use cruise control...

 

[JB_Brewing2]

Even though its -45 WC in January and 105F heat index in July here, I still wouldn't want to live elsewhere. Everybody complains about 5-10 days a year when weather is near unbearable, but the distinctive changing of seasons is silently marveled and enjoyed. We only have a very rare and very small rattlesnake in our woods and nothing else of significance that will eat or bite you in our waters. No worries about earthquakes or hurricanes either.

 

[doogie]

Carry back on
Carry over
Carry me back to ole St Louie
(anyone get that M*A*S*H ref?)

I'll even Hari-Carry if you show me how.

Was that Hawkeye when he was asked to carry a sidearm?

 

[balrog]

Well done, sir.

 

[Yooper]

I hope you enjoy your time in the sunshine state. We get cold here, and I'm sorry for folks that come down here and think it's gonna be tropical and it isn't. But I'll bet you'll be happy anyway FL is a lot of fun and sun.

It was cold yesterday- I couldn't get warm at all. But I'm a big baby, and yes, it's supposed to be in the 80s by early next week. When I rode my bike today, I was really struggling to not give up and go inside, but it did get to about 65 or so a bit later.

I really like it where we are in Florida- I'll PM you about maybe seeing if you're around on Saturday.

 

[Immocles]

It is spoze to warm up here as well. Like 30 on Saturday? It blows me away that its going to be a full sixty degrees warmer this weekend, and water will STILL freeze outside.

 

[Immocles]

I will trade the current week of however stupid hot and humid it is outside for this. Every. Damn. Time.

 

[MaxStout]

Temps here in the 90s with dew points in the low 70s, expected to climb to near 80 later this week.

I might have to road trip up to Grand Marais for a break from this.

 

[RPh_Guy]

I've decided to live indoors with heat & AC to avoid this sort of problem.

 

[MaxStout]

Meanwhile, people in Florida are getting a kick out of this thread. Again.

 

[kh54s10]

Meanwhile, people in Florida are getting a kick out of this thread. Again.

Yeah, since it has been in the upper 80s and low 90s for several months now with high humidity almost every day. A cold spell would be a day or two about 85 degrees.