Well SPD.....I also HATE WINTER.....and I've been trying to think of an excuse to spend the cash to pack up the car and head way, way south.
Last night it got down to 5.1 degrees above zero under a clear sky. Right now....at 10:52 AM....it is 19.4 degrees and it has clouded up. We got a little snow but no much. Biggest problem was the terrible wind. It made taking Alfie for his walk an absolute torturous experience.
I took him to Petco and we purchased him a new jacket which he seems to love.
Anyway.....finally the wind has died down to more endurable levels. But having to breath that super cold air is rough for a guy like me with COPD. The bronchials and lungs do not like it at all.
One would loose a lot of blood trying to get a cat to wear those things!
It was supposed to be 28 last night, think it was around 29-30.
Yeah, better get to a warmer climate and have sunshine most days and rarely be holed up because of snow. In a few days, it will be in the 70's again.
Just covering up a few pots last night, I was getting winded with the cold. 
Did the FL crops freeze?
The next Winter system for Wed. night and Thursday looks to hit the Southern part of the Midwest and not Indiana, Illinois and Ohio. This one has lots of warmer air with it, so could be sleet, freezing rain and snow. If it moves further North could be messy!
Nothing close to above freezing temps predicted here for the next 10 days and single digits at night with a "few" inches of snow possible Wed. night into Thurs. Now paying the price for the mild October and November we had.
I just read 25 - 29 tonight in West Palm Beach, Fl. and 33 in Miami, the natives down there will be dressed like Eskimos. 
jfw wrote:Nothing close to above freezing temps predicted here for the next 10 days and single digits at night with a "few" inches of snow possible Wed. night into Thurs. Now paying the price for the mild October and November we had.
I just read 25 - 29 tonight in West Palm Beach, Fl. and 33 in Miami, the natives down there will be dressed like Eskimos.
It may reach freezing here in Indianapolis, later this week though the weather service is not "officially" mentioning it in the forecasts. That is the weather service doing a CYA thing. In the "Forecast Discussion" tab, they hint at WAA (Warm Air Advection) but because of the snow cover, sometimes the computer models do not take that chilling factor in and keep temperatures too warm.
Yours and my best bets are Thursday or Friday. Accuweather has 33 Thursday and 30 Friday here and 30 and 29 for "Chicago" which is centered on 60602 AFAIK. BUT if the WAA is stronger it could inch up. The next two weeks forecasts are for highs in the 20s at least on Accuweather's 15 day long range forecast, thru Dec 27. we will see.
wendigo wrote:It's already 39 here in North Florida and the winds been whipping all day. I think we hit a high of 44 today, but with the wind chill it felt below freezing all day. I have the space heater crankin'.
-Wendy
If it were 39 here, I'd be out washing the car. 
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
 56° F | 36° F
|
 65° F | 54° F
|
76° F | 58° F
|
72° F | 43° F
|
 58° F | 38° F
|
| Clear | Partly Cloudy | Partly Cloudy | Partly Cloudy | Chance of Rain
20% chance of precipitation
|
We're in a roller coaster weather pattern here. It's been in the 20s at night and tomorrow is supposed to be in the 70s.
hpmsrm wrote:Wendi, we have a son and daughter-in-law who live in Ocala, FL. I suspect he won't be using his swimming pool for a while. I guess it used to be a heated pool but it used enormous amounts of power to do the job and he decided it definitely was NOT worth it. So he disconnected the heater.
I don't think we're going to get quite as cold tonight as we did last night. at 6:30 Pm it is 22.8 degrees. Perhaps we're over the worst of it....for a while at any rate. I'm sure more is coming.
I'm sure you are right, Phil and it is still Fall! 
RCSMG wrote:
Well it warmed up enough for the rock salt to start working.
RC, not sure what you are using straight rock salt on but you may want to watch out. Know it's the least expensive ice melter but I found out the hard way it eats some concrete and damages plants/vegetation. I put quite a bit of rock salt down last year when we had 20" of snow and it destroyed an 8'X12' concrete porch pad outside my side door. I had to resurface the whole pad with about 2" of concrete this past summer. I sprayed it with a couple coats of acrylic sealer after pouring to protect it from the elements/ice melter.
Maybe you're using it on something other than concrete?
Here's some good info on ice melt products and their side effects:
http://www.askthebuilder.com/251_Deicing_Salts_and
And for those who have pets I've found this "Get a Grip Natural Ice Melter" is real good. Believe I paid about $7-$8 for a 20 lb bag at Anderson's. It's a whole lot less expensive than those large plastic shaker jugs of "Safe Paw Ice Melter" ($15/8lbs). I used to use/buy this expensive product but saved the jugs and fill them up with the "Get a Grip Natural Ice Melter" from the bag. Quite a savings yet safe for pets, concrete and vegetation.
More snow coming. Tonight. Looks like a NW-SE affair with snow coming in from NW / M Illinois down to Indy and on out to Cincinnati. The NWS is saying 1-3" for Indy but WISH-TV says 4.7." Ice and freezing rain in SW Indiana.
Local news was talking about Houston having April temps in December! Very windy, bright sun, 75! Beautiful day; why can't every winter day be like this?
We'll be back to near freezing at night, and highs in the 50's in a few days.
Had a taste for homemade cheeseburgers last night, fired up the Weber, it was 11 degrees outside but calm wind so it didn't feel bad and well worth the effort.
Woke up this morning to 3 above, light snow and upper 20's on Friday then back into the freezer for the weekend, highs in the teens and lows in the single numbers.
