January 28, 2004

OK, yesterday's post was a little off. We are now experiencing close to the worst winter has to offer. When you are driving in to work and hear on the radio "Today's high is expected to be 2." you can be sure you are in for some cold weather. It was -8 this morning. For those of you unaware, the " - " in front of the number means it is on the other side of zero, as in negative. In other words, about -22 Celsius. With the wind chill, another term that some Southern people don't understand, the actual thermal effect on the body is between -24 and -38 degrees. (Or -30 to -40 Celsius). Wind chill below -50 and they close the schools. I was just talking with a co-worker about school closings. When I was in grade school, 1977-83, school closed once in awhile because of feet and feet of snow. It took some time to clear a path through 24 inches or more of snow. In my adult years, I haven't seen the schools close because of snow. It just hasn't snowed that much at one time, plus the snow removal technology has gotten better. Schools are often delayed by an hour or two, but are rarely closed due to snow. Now it is the temperature. More proof of global warming I guess. Tomorrow is supposed to be colder than today. The siver lining in all of this is that they don't have to worry about the St. Paul winter carnival ice palace melting before the end of the festivities.

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