Polar vortex collapse fun

[Campitor]

In the book 1491, the author mentions how some pilgrims abandoned their colonies to live with the indians. The indian lodgings were incredibly warm and well suited to winter. Basically they lived in a hoop house covered with water resistant fur in the winter and an adjustable opening in the roof to vent the smoke from the internal fire pit. At night they slept under multiple furs. In the 1800s canopy beds with drapes were used to help keep out drafts and retain warmth and people slept with night caps to keep the head warm.

If I lost power, I'd just wear multiple layers and sleep under 3 to 4 blankets. It's sad that so many people froze to death in their homes because there was no layers of clothing or bedding to be had.

[Kriegsspiel]

I think you'll like this article: The Big Sleep.

President Sarkozy’s 19th-century predecessors . . . too, were worried by the snail-like progress of the French economy, and wondered how to compete with the industrial powerhouse of Britain. But they were faced with something far more ruinous than unemployment.

Economists and bureaucrats who ventured out into the countryside after the Revolution were horrified to find that the work force disappeared between fall and spring. The fields were deserted from Flanders to Provence. Villages and even small towns were silent, with barely a column of smoke to reveal a human presence. As soon as the weather turned cold, people all over France shut themselves away and practiced the forgotten art of doing nothing at all for months on end.

In the mountains, the tradition of seasonal sloth was ancient and pervasive. “Seven months of winter, five months of hell,” they said in the Alps. When the “hell” of unremitting toil was over, the human beings settled in with their cows and pigs. They lowered their metabolic rate to prevent hunger from exhausting supplies. If someone died during the seven months of winter, the corpse was stored on the roof under a blanket of snow until spring thawed the ground, allowing a grave to be dug and a priest to reach the village.

The same mass dormancy was practiced in other chilly parts. In 1900, The British Medical Journal reported that peasants of the Pskov region in northwestern Russia “adopt the economical expedient” of spending one-half of the year in sleep: “At the first fall of snow the whole family gathers round the stove, lies down, ceases to wrestle with the problems of human existence, and quietly goes to sleep. Once a day every one wakes up to eat a piece of hard bread. ... The members of the family take it in turn to watch and keep the fire alight. After six months of this reposeful existence the family wakes up, shakes itself” and “goes out to see if the grass is growing.”

[Campitor]

The muscle atrophy must have been significant after such a prolonged period of lethargy.

[Jean]

I spent the last winter close to hibernating. I wasn't that bad.

[stand@desk]

Current Vortex Temperature -24 C Feels like -35 C

Wife and I ran 8km together..started to get cold so we packed it in. Weather is not going to change much at all for the next two weeks.

Vortex is not going anywhere fast here.

[Jean]

I'm glad it's over you and not me. My insulation ain't finished yet and my envelope ain't tight. I would really need my -40 sleeping bag.

[Aspirant]

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/bc/ba/6a ... 19ea07.jpg

Not much troubles in here, but the society is geared for the cold weather.

[Jean]

We have the warmest february I ever experienced. It feels like may.

[sky]

I am in hibernation mode this winter. A few more weeks?

[IlliniDave]

Still some below zero and single digit lows in the forecast for my dad next week. Interesting winter.

[tonyedgecombe]

We just had the warmest February day on record in the UK.

[TheWanderingScholar]

Estonia's doing the stuipd, few degree above, few degrees below, add some rain/snow, boom you have icy footpaths until someone can defrost them.

[theanimal]

One of the warmest Februarys once again in Alaska.

[Riggerjack]

Meanwhile, I had frost on my windshield yesterday. We're in the cold part of spring here in the Puget Sound. There are worried whispers of maybe a dusting of snow in the lowlands someday soon.

Well, spring got COLD here. We had a foot of snow near sea level, something I fantasized about as a kid. But I usually only find up in the foothills.

For me, it meant burning a week and a half of vacation time, building a 7 foot tall Snowzilla, local grocery stores getting hit with panic shoppers (WinCo was down to some bulk foods and a few odd condiments. With a line to get into their parking lot that extended onto I-5!) And some great times.

I wish it was as good a time for all others; and feel very lucky not to have needed to go to work when conditions were so unfavorable, anymore.

Bonus: It turns out that lotsa snow is about the only fix for Seattle area traffic. If most drivers don't use the roads, traffic planning really works! Maybe DOT is working a deeper plan than I thought. Maybe they have been engaged in this "war on roads" in an effort to break drivers of the desire to drive, by ensuring that every experience is as uncomfortable as possible...

For those who can think of driving in the snow, without having a panic attack (those braver than I):

Pemco made a fantastic set of radio ads for a northwest market, here's what they had for our snow driving (lipsynched by some guy, since I couldn't find an audio file, better to listen, not watch).

https://snipaclip.com/watch/SmoggyTrium ... rChefFrank

Stay warm!

[TheWanderingScholar]

Welp, it is official.
https://news.err.ee/915797/february-wea ... since-1961
The warmest February in in nearly sixty years.