Welcome to the Deadly Ice Planet of Death AKA February
Posted on February 1, 2011 Posted by John Scalzi 36 Comments
It’s not much to look at, admittedly. It’s the mundane ice planet of death. But those apparent bald patches of lawn there are actually encased in ice, thick enough that Krissy and the dog both had difficulty walking across the lawn this morning. The roads are a mess, school is canceled and Krissy is staying home. And of course more mess is on the way, with snow, sleet and ice trading places as the day goes by, and a winter storm warning that doesn’t expire for 36 hours.
Looks like I picked the wrong day to stop drinking antifreeze.
Anyway, hello, we’re doomed. Welcome to February.
So, does this mean I can get the Tauntaun?
I’m bitterly jealous. All we have is “friggen cold”, without the fun of ice and snow. And “friggen cold” doesn’t get school/work canceled. /whine
Up here in Winnipeg, I woke up to -31 C with a wind chill of -44 C. It is quite literally like Hoth out there, and we’re recovering from a fresh dump of 6 inches of snow on Friday. I’d had a Tauntaun, but it froze before I reached the first marker.
Balmy 30 degrees C in Sydney tonight. You can have 15 or 20 of our degrees if you like. We might be able to get some sleep then.
Heck, we’re even looking at snow on the Gulf Coast this week. The front’s just now hitting, so it’s business as usual today.
My grandpa always said to wait until Valentine’s Day to plant the tomatoes. He was a smart man.
Pretty much the same down our way. The road outside my window looks safe enough, but I think I’ll wait until the afternoon for that grocery run.
Ah post-snowpocalyptic life is hard, I am glad that I am living here in Arizona. Wishing you some global warming err.. climate change, for the better, John. Spring is coming, maybe…
Up here, we’re expecting the midwest’s leftovers. About a foot of snow this evening. Fortunately, it’ll only be around -10 degrees Celsius. (14 F). So… T-shirt weather.
When I was a kid in the UP of Michigan, we loved those days!!! And look what a perfectly flat space you have on which to make an ice rink! Even better – it’s already started!! What are you whining about when there is so much fun to be had??? Get to work, man!
We’re a couple of hours north of you, and so far we haven’t seen anything yet. We’re already planning a day off for the kids tomorrow though as the weather report is calling for a minimum of 10″ of snow overnight.
Snowmageddon III: Snow Hard With A Vengeance is well underway here in the great northeast.
I hope the schools here let out early, it’s supposed to get bad right when the kids are on their way home. Might close up early at work tonight, not planning on going in tomorrow. Snow day for all!
Here in NY, the ice-pocalypse is coming shortly. It’s snowing incredibly hard right now, and there’s about 2 feet of snow on the ground that had already accumulated from a few previous snow storms. It has reached the point where no one knows what to do with the snow anymore. Loads of (not) fun.
“It’s not much to look at, admittedly” – Isn’t that the beginning of a Robert Frost poem?
Ah, Miami. This unseasonal chill is keeping the mosquitoes away and making so that the cool afternoon sunshine is delicious to sit in. Hardly any complaints from down here.
Bryan @ 3 —
I spent a winter in Winnepeg a few years ago. I learned then that Farenheit and Celsius cross back over each other at sufficiently cold temperatures–temperatures that Winnipeg oftentimes encounters.
So yes, I expect you win the Whatever bragging rights for coldest location on a regular basis.
I remember February temperatures, mid-May snowfall, spring rains/floods, and summer mosquitos.
Being Canadian, the people were very nice to me. I was even taken to a Goldeyes game! But I have to ask you (because I had the thought so frequently during my stay) why don’t people in Winnipeg relocate to someplace other than Winnipeg? Someplace more temperate, with fewer days below zero? You know, the tropics.
Say, like Fargo?
Well, here in NH, I the good news is that they are no longer talking about this latest storm dumping 18 inches of snow on us. The bad news is now they are talking about it dumping 2 feet of it (on top of the 3 feet we got in January). Snowmaggedon, indeed – glad I pushed the snow waaaaaaay back on the first plowing, otherwise my driveway would be a walkway.
My sentiments exactly.
“Looks like I picked the wrong day to stop drinking antifreeze.”
Great line!
Here in Chicago, we’re anxiously awaiting the Snowpocalypse which, if it delivers as promised by the weather people, will dump somewhere between 10 and 279 inches of snow in the next 24 hours.
It’s the ice that’s really the bitchin’ part. We got a good layer of it under the felgercarb that’s coming down.
Oh, I actually like the snow, though. I’m looking forward to snowpocalypse tomorrow when I’m staying in and writing. Wippie-wipp!
ice station zero
To Nick,
Yep, everyone thinks that we Winnipeggers are crazy. Perhaps we are a little off our rockers, but it’s still the only place I want to live! Amazing summers, tons of festivals, a cool coffee shop and/or used book store in every neighborhood, not to mention the friendliest people on the planet!
And I’m guessing that even though Mr. Scalzi’s abode looks like Hoth, he probably has similar feelings about his neck of the woods! Home is home.
Nick, if you’re ever back in Winnipeg, I’ll buy you a beer. Maybe Bryan will join us. We’ll commiserate about the mosquitoes!
When I was an 11 year old in Northern Minnesota, we’d have considered that a perfect place to play “soccer”. (Which there was more akin to hockey with no sticks and rubber balls.
Now I am very happy to be someplace where that never happens.
How’s that global warming working out for you? Haw haw haw.
(Can someone punch me in the face for that comment, please?)
MarkHB @24: Consider yourself punched. Hard. ;-)
Actually, this is one of the scenarios for global warming/climate change: bigger, more intense storms.
Here in western NY, it was bad enough this morning with the little baby storm. I’m not looking forward to tomorrow.
Colin McEnroe of the Hartford Courant has coined the term “Snowverdose.”
“Snowpocalypse” is so 2010.
iain@27
Oooooh, “Snoverdose”. I like that one.
I tend to use “Snowmageddon”, but have also used “Snowpocalypse”, “Snowapalooza”, “Donner Party Extravaganza”, “Blizzardzilla”, and plain old “Typical New England Winter”
I am reminded of the very best Lost episode title, “Some Like It Hoth.”
I came to Dallas Monday night for a meeting Tuesday.
Overnight Monday Dallas got hit with an ice storm, which closed the office, closed the airport, canceled my meeting, and canceled my flight home.
I’m flying back to New Jersey on Wednesday morning. They’re predicting the ice storm to hit NJ overnight Tuesday into Wednesday.
Stay away from me – I’m cursed.
The inglorious weather radar shows that the leading edge of the storm will hit my office in about 15 minutes. 30 minutes after that it hits the tiny little town we live in, with the entire heart of the storm passing directly over our house.
I blame Scalzi. ‘Cause, dammit, I can.
In the meanwhile, I’m outta here.
In Central Oklahoma we’ve got 4 to 12 inches of snow and sleet covering a 1/4 inch of ice that came down as freezing rain last night. But it’s better than the 18 or so inches that Tulsa got. And as I said on FB last night Thunder Snow…WTF?
You think your’re doomed? Have you seen the size of the cyclone bearing down on Australia right now? It makes Katrina look like… well, Katrina still looks like a huge devastating storm, but this cyclone Yasi is definitely physically bigger as well as having the highest intensity rating.
And just a few weeks after the massive floods just a little further south in the same state.
It’s not a competition, Mark.
These words “not a competition” – I do not understand them. ;)
I was just expanding the “We” in “We’re doomed.”
When we had our massive freezeover last month that shut down the city for a week, many here changed the city’s long standing nickname from Hot’Lanta to Hoth’Lanta.