ENTS-- 48 below--that's nothing!!? The weatherman on the CBS-affiliate out of Little Rock, Arkansas, repeatedly pointed out that the metro area may experience up to 60 consecutive hours of sub-freezing weather this week--yes, folks, that's right--we do occasionally freeze here in the banana belt!
Having grown up in northern Wisconsin, we got pretty accustomed to truly cold winters.? It has been amusing to watch Arkansans scurry for their winter gear when the temperatures even threaten to fall to 50 degrees...But, as this list my wife's grandmother just sent me, cold is relative (at least in the eyes of Michiganders)... > > COLD IS A RELATIVE THING > > > > 65 above zero: > > Floridians turn on the heat. > > People in Michigan plant gardens. > > > > 60 above zero: > > Californians shiver uncontrollably. > > People in Michigan sunbathe. > > > > 50 above zero: > > Italian & English cars won't start. > > People in Michigan drive with the windows down. > > > > 40 above zero: > > Georgians don coats, thermal underwear, gloves, wool hats. >?> People in Michigan throw on a flannel shirt. > > > > 35 above zero: > > New York landlords finally turn up the heat. > > People in Michigan have the last cookout before it gets cold. > > > > 20 above Zero > > People in Miami all die. > > Michiganders close the windows. > > > > Zero: > > Californians fly away to Mexico . > > People in Michigan get out their winter coats. > > > > 10 below zero: > > Hollywood disintegrates. > > The Girl Scouts in Michigan are selling cookies door to door. > > > > 20 below zero: > > Washington DC runs out of hot air. > > People in Michigan let the dogs sleep indoors. > > > > 30 below zero: > > Santa Claus abandons the North Pole. > > Michiganders get upset because they can't start their snowmobile. > > > > 40 below zero: > > ALL atomic motion stops . > > People in Michigan start saying...'Cold enough fer ya?' > > > > 50 below zero: > > Hell freezes over. > > Michigan public schools will open 2 hours late Not exactly scientific, but not far from the truth, for at least some of these points.? I do think the last point of public schools opening late in 50 below is at least no longer true--bitter cold is now an acceptable excuse to close schools.? As a child growing up, I never remembered school closing for the cold--snow, yes, but not cold.? In my 6 years at Michigan Tech, we never had classes cancelled due to snow--they were just too danged good at removing it--but we did have the university close on parts of two consecutive days when heavy lake effect snows (about 3 feet in 2 days) coupled with -30 or colder temperatures made university officials halt classes lest some student get stuck off one of the remote side roads and freeze to death before help could arrive... Don ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Don C. Bragg, Ph.D. Research Forester USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station [email protected] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The opinions expressed in this message are my own, and not necessarily those of the Southern Research Station, the Forest Service, or the USDA. -----Original Message----- From: Lee Frelich <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Thu, 15 Jan 2009 10:52 am Subject: [ENTS] Arctic blast and insect pests Bob: An arctic air mass has enveloped Minnesota for the last three days and is on its way out east today. I checked the forecast for NorthHampton and Williamstown, and unfortunately the arctic temperature are expected to lose much of their impact by the time they get that far east--a relatively mild 5 to 10 below zero in your area, which may not be cold enough to kill hemlock wooly adelgid. Our high temperatures have been well below zero for the last three days and will be today as well. The coldest overnight temperature report I have found in MN so far is 48 below zero in Babbitt, but I have not seen the reports yet for Tower and Embarrass, which usually have the coldest temperatures. I'll bet they made 50 below last night or might tonight. I was on public radio this morning talking about how this prolonged fairly deep cold spell, although not quite the magnitude of historic cold waves in Minnesota, will nevertheless be a blow to populations of insect pests in Minnesota Lee > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org You are subscribed to the Google Groups "ENTSTrees" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
