The temperature at Inner Drive Technology World HQ dropped below freezing at 8:52 pm last Friday and will probably not go above freezing until at least February 6th. We have had three-week stretches below freezing many times, and every one of them has sucked. I lived through the longest below-freezing stretch in Chicago history, the 43 days between 28 December 1976 and 8 February 1977. I also lived through the record low of -33°C (-27°F) on 20 January 1985, the earliest first freeze on 22 September 1995, and the latest freeze on 25 May 1992.
At least the forecast predicts it'll get above -17°C (0°F) by noon. The temperature bottomed out at -20.8°C (-5.4°F) at dawn but it's already 2.4°C (4.3°F) warmer two hours later. If we get to the forecast high of -13°C (9°F), Cassie will be able to stay outside for 10 whole minutes, if she wants to.
I have to remind myself that we stay in this part of the country in part because this weather sucks to biting insects way more than it sucks to large mammals with central heating. Also, it Builds Character™.
Like so much in the world, we had ample warning that things would not go well. Seven weeks ago I noted that the La Niña phase had started to collapse, and that while La Niña correlates with cold winters here, the transition to ESNO-neutral wouldn't happen in time to save us from...this.
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