It's hard to believe that I am putting this post up, considering the post that precedes it, but that's Colorado in the winter for you! Never a dull moment, always keeping you guessing!
The monster storm that is covering 1/2 of the United States right now included us here in The Springs. So glad. We don't like feeling left out. Here's the record of the Colorado Conlins Deep Freeze:
The monster storm that is covering 1/2 of the United States right now included us here in The Springs. So glad. We don't like feeling left out. Here's the record of the Colorado Conlins Deep Freeze:
Monday morning we hit our high for the day in the early hours, and as the day wore on the mercury plummeted and a dry, light snow began to fall. When the kids arrived home from school through the back door, a blast of snow entered with them.
On Monday night, our channel 5 weatherman, Mike Daniels, said that the coming cold front was the coldest Colorado has seen in a decade.
Early in the morning on Tuesday I woke up, 2:46am, thinking I heard a sound that could have been a pipe breaking. I think it was actually in my dream, or much quieter of a sound than my paranoid brain made it out to be, but I walked the house for 10 minutes anyway, listening for the sound of water in the walls.
Before this morning, our little weather-boy temperature gage that my cousin gave the kids two Christmases ago (which we all love to consult daily, but in particular me, because when the kids come down dressed for school in shorts and a t-shirt in December I just say, "What's the weather-boy wearing?" and they know they have to change to comply to his standards) had recorded a record low of -6, the spot where you find the record low now reads -17 (you can ignore the high of 126.5, we accidentally placed the sensor in a spot that caught the full force of the afternoon summer sun so it got a little hot; while I assure you that this -17 is legit, I also assure you our summer heat has never been anywhere close to 126.5).
When we watched the news this morning, the weather-net station at boy's elementary school, which is only about 6 houses up the street from us, was reading -17, with a windchill factor of -50 degrees. NEGATIVE 50!!!
There actually wasn't a lot of snow from this weather system, but school was canceled today anyway, purely due to extreme temperatures.
The condensation on the windows was frozen solid.
The blinds and curtains have been pulled tightly closed all day to keep the cold out and the heat in. I think it helped a bit, but just a bit. Our furnace has been on overdrive all day. I'm wearing my sweater boots even with the no-shoes-on-the-carpet rule to keep my tootsies warm.
Adam had to go out to secure the gate that got unlatched and was banging around in the wind. I told him that if he didn't return quickly I'd send Ruby out to find him with a barrel of ale strapped to her neck. He did return on his own, but in the two minutes he was outside he was so cold his teeth ached! I was glad the ale was unnecessary as we don't have any, nor do we have an old wooden rescue-dog barrel.
We did all manner of activities to create warmth: Running on the treadmill; washing and drying laundry, careful to catch it just as the dryer finished so it was hot coming out; baking choc-oat-late chip cookies; playing Wii snuggled under quilts and blankets in the basement (which was much warmer than the main floor--with all its windows); laughing heartily while playing board games; eating pancakes for lunch and soup for dinner, reading books squished close together for warmth.
On Monday night, our channel 5 weatherman, Mike Daniels, said that the coming cold front was the coldest Colorado has seen in a decade.
Early in the morning on Tuesday I woke up, 2:46am, thinking I heard a sound that could have been a pipe breaking. I think it was actually in my dream, or much quieter of a sound than my paranoid brain made it out to be, but I walked the house for 10 minutes anyway, listening for the sound of water in the walls.
Before this morning, our little weather-boy temperature gage that my cousin gave the kids two Christmases ago (which we all love to consult daily, but in particular me, because when the kids come down dressed for school in shorts and a t-shirt in December I just say, "What's the weather-boy wearing?" and they know they have to change to comply to his standards) had recorded a record low of -6, the spot where you find the record low now reads -17 (you can ignore the high of 126.5, we accidentally placed the sensor in a spot that caught the full force of the afternoon summer sun so it got a little hot; while I assure you that this -17 is legit, I also assure you our summer heat has never been anywhere close to 126.5).
When we watched the news this morning, the weather-net station at boy's elementary school, which is only about 6 houses up the street from us, was reading -17, with a windchill factor of -50 degrees. NEGATIVE 50!!!There actually wasn't a lot of snow from this weather system, but school was canceled today anyway, purely due to extreme temperatures.
The condensation on the windows was frozen solid.
The blinds and curtains have been pulled tightly closed all day to keep the cold out and the heat in. I think it helped a bit, but just a bit. Our furnace has been on overdrive all day. I'm wearing my sweater boots even with the no-shoes-on-the-carpet rule to keep my tootsies warm.Adam had to go out to secure the gate that got unlatched and was banging around in the wind. I told him that if he didn't return quickly I'd send Ruby out to find him with a barrel of ale strapped to her neck. He did return on his own, but in the two minutes he was outside he was so cold his teeth ached! I was glad the ale was unnecessary as we don't have any, nor do we have an old wooden rescue-dog barrel.
We did all manner of activities to create warmth: Running on the treadmill; washing and drying laundry, careful to catch it just as the dryer finished so it was hot coming out; baking choc-oat-late chip cookies; playing Wii snuggled under quilts and blankets in the basement (which was much warmer than the main floor--with all its windows); laughing heartily while playing board games; eating pancakes for lunch and soup for dinner, reading books squished close together for warmth.
We've had the kids on rotation every hour, turning on faucets until the water coming out heats up, then turning them back off. I've been listening for the sound of pipes bursting all day, now that I know from our experience a month ago what that sounds like, and haven't heard anything like it. But even so, when the thaw comes on Thursday or Friday you know I am going to be checking the basement regularly for any water where it does not belong!The high on our temperature gage never went above -7. And right now at 8:45pm it already reads -14. School is already on a 2-hour delay for the morning, with a full cancel always a potential since we aren't expected to get above 5 degrees tomorrow, the low tonight may reach -20, and the wind is howling.
In their prayers tonight the kids prayed that the homeless have found shelter from this cold. I hope so too.
It's hard to believe that we can have an almost 70 degree swing in the high temperature in just two days. CRAZY.
Today is officially the coldest day I have ever lived through in my life.
I am all done because my fingers are too cold from being out on the keyboard for so long.
4 comments:
I love the warmth-expending activities. Great idea. And everytime today I thought I was freezing, for we hovered around 40 with lows below and highs above, I reminded myself of our phone call this morning when you said it was -17. I can't complain...
I spent some time outside yesterday, and it was fine until the wind got ya! So bitterly cold. Glad you found things to do inside as a family that day!
Oh man - I need a weather boy! That thing looks awesome. The temperature on him?... not so much.
Holy Schmoley, -50! Woaah!! Cookies - excellent idea.
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