Languish.org

General Category => Off the Record => Topic started by: garbon on January 12, 2013, 11:51:16 AM

Title: Californians brace for nights of freezing temps
Post by: garbon on January 12, 2013, 11:51:16 AM
http://news.yahoo.com/californians-brace-nights-freezing-temps-092646795.html

QuoteCalifornians are bundling up with sweaters and gloves and stocking up on firewood as they brace for several nights of very unseasonable freezing temperatures.

The National Weather Service is forecasting morning frost on San Diego beaches. Big Sur, on the central coast, prepared for daytime highs almost 20 degrees below Boston's. Even the snowbird haven of Palm Springs faced the possibility of freezing temperatures at night.

In addition, San Diego zookeepers turned up the heat for chimpanzees, tourists covered their hands on Hollywood walking tours, and some farmers broke out wind machines and took other steps to protect crops from freezing.

Freeze warnings were in effect in San Diego County valleys and deserts Saturday morning with lows in the 20s and 30s, the weather service said.

In Sonoma County, homeless shelters started handing out extra warm clothes on Friday to protect people from freezing overnight temperatures.

Morning temps fell into the 20s and 30s in many areas, and much lower in the mountains. A low of 12 degrees was recorded in the Big Bear mountain resort east of Los Angeles.

Some customers drove more than an hour to buy firewood.

"It's crazy busy here," said Renea Teasdale, office manager at The Woodshed in Orange, south of Los Angeles.

Still, it was business as usual as much of the state contended with temperatures in the high 40s and low 50s.

"It's still sunny Southern California, and I'm going to work on my legs all year long," said Linda Zweig, a spokeswoman for the Del Mar Fairgrounds, which is hosting a 5-kilometer run north of San Diego on Sunday. The lifelong San Diego-area resident is prone to wearing two sweatshirts when the temperature drops but refuses to give up on shorts.

In the San Joaquin Valley, the heart of California's citrus production, growers prepared for another round of freezing temperatures late Friday after seeing little crop damage Thursday night.

They run wind machines and water to protect their fruit, which can raise the temperature in a grove by up to 4 degrees, said Paul Story, director of grower service at California Citrus Mutual. Existing moisture, sporadic rain and cloud cover can also help keep in heat.

Snow shut a 40-mile stretch of a major highway north of Los Angeles on Thursday afternoon, forcing hundreds of truckers to spend the cold night in their rigs and severing a key link between the Central Valley and Los Angeles.

The California Highway Patrol reopened the Grapevine segment of Interstate 5 some 17 hours later.

Pretty crazy. Palm Springs with temps 15-20 degrees lower than the northeast.
Title: Re: Californians brace for nights of freezing temps
Post by: The Brain on January 12, 2013, 11:53:54 AM
QuoteSan Diego zookeepers turned up the heat for chimpanzees,

I bet.
Title: Re: Californians brace for nights of freezing temps
Post by: CountDeMoney on January 12, 2013, 12:14:31 PM
It's going to be in the low 60's here today.
Title: Re: Californians brace for nights of freezing temps
Post by: Ideologue on January 12, 2013, 12:28:07 PM
75 in Columbia.  Summer's gonna be murder.
Title: Re: Californians brace for nights of freezing temps
Post by: Eddie Teach on January 12, 2013, 01:11:45 PM
The cold isn't that bad, it's all the precipitation that's been coming with it.
Title: Re: Californians brace for nights of freezing temps
Post by: PDH on January 12, 2013, 03:51:43 PM
It was -10f when I woke up this morning.
Title: Re: Californians brace for nights of freezing temps
Post by: mongers on January 12, 2013, 04:35:54 PM
Quote from: PDH on January 12, 2013, 03:51:43 PM
It was -10f when I woke up this morning.

I didn't know Fahrenheit went negative.  :bowler:
Title: Re: Californians brace for nights of freezing temps
Post by: PDH on January 12, 2013, 07:13:03 PM
Quote from: mongers on January 12, 2013, 04:35:54 PM
Quote from: PDH on January 12, 2013, 03:51:43 PM
It was -10f when I woke up this morning.

I didn't know Fahrenheit went negative.  :bowler:

Here it sometimes gets down to -40f in Jan or Feb.
Title: Re: Californians brace for nights of freezing temps
Post by: CountDeMoney on January 12, 2013, 07:13:47 PM
What do you do for your car battery, PDH?  Do you have a heating element for it?
Title: Re: Californians brace for nights of freezing temps
Post by: katmai on January 12, 2013, 07:29:42 PM
Quote from: CountDeMoney on January 12, 2013, 07:13:47 PM
What do you do for your car battery, PDH?  Do you have a heating element for it?

Some type of heating block for battery and oil pan area :yes:
Title: Re: Californians brace for nights of freezing temps
Post by: HVC on January 12, 2013, 07:52:56 PM
Plus 10 Celsius here. 50 some thing ferignheit  I think. Way too not for
January. I blame Hans.
Title: Re: Californians brace for nights of freezing temps
Post by: garbon on January 12, 2013, 07:53:30 PM
Quote from: HVC on January 12, 2013, 07:52:56 PM
Plus 10 Celsius here. 50 some thing ferignheit  I think. Way too not for
January. I blame Hans.

:hmm:
Title: Re: Californians brace for nights of freezing temps
Post by: Tonitrus on January 12, 2013, 08:13:25 PM
I was just looking at the weather in California via Google Maps, and noticed they were showing a lot of the temps in the Central Valley and LA in Celsius (while much of the rest of Cali was in Fahrenheit).

Is there some kind of metric insurgency going on in California?  :mad:
Title: Re: Californians brace for nights of freezing temps
Post by: Ed Anger on January 12, 2013, 08:15:18 PM
ABOMINATION
Title: Re: Californians brace for nights of freezing temps
Post by: garbon on January 12, 2013, 08:22:16 PM
Quote from: Ed Anger on January 12, 2013, 08:15:18 PM
ABOMINATION

Clearly google is doing something wonky. Yes, LA and Bakersfield are havens for metric thinkers.
Title: Re: Californians brace for nights of freezing temps
Post by: PDH on January 12, 2013, 08:56:37 PM
Quote from: CountDeMoney on January 12, 2013, 07:13:47 PM
What do you do for your car battery, PDH?  Do you have a heating element for it?

You can buy a dipstick heater, that works - the old block heater is not a good deal as it can cause cracks due to uneven heating.  I just start my car ever few hours when it gets REALLY cold and keep a very light oil in there...and pray.
Title: Re: Californians brace for nights of freezing temps
Post by: Tonitrus on January 13, 2013, 09:11:23 AM
I got by without a heater in Alaska (my workplace didn't have plug-ins anyway), though Anchorage isn't too bad...averaging about 15 or so during the winter.  During the dips , I remember it getting as low as -30 to -40 once...my car would struggle a bit, but still started.
Title: Re: Californians brace for nights of freezing temps
Post by: Neil on January 13, 2013, 09:24:33 AM
They had better get this fixed in the next two weeks.  I can enjoy freezing temperatures here.
Title: Re: Californians brace for nights of freezing temps
Post by: PDH on January 14, 2013, 08:24:55 AM
Woke up this bracing Monday morning and it was -21f out.  Technically, that is colder than a cast iron toilet on the shadey side of a glacier.
Title: Re: Californians brace for nights of freezing temps
Post by: CountDeMoney on January 14, 2013, 08:34:09 AM
My windows are open already.

Stupid global warming.
Title: Re: Californians brace for nights of freezing temps
Post by: Brazen on January 14, 2013, 08:47:17 AM
It's just freezing (0C, 32F) here, with a light sprinkling of snow, and we have severe weather warnings  :rolleyes: :bowler:
Title: Re: Californians brace for nights of freezing temps
Post by: Admiral Yi on January 14, 2013, 08:56:22 AM
5 F here yesterday. :bleeding:
Title: Re: Californians brace for nights of freezing temps
Post by: Grey Fox on January 14, 2013, 09:33:22 AM
Firewood, do Californians really have Wood Ovens?
Title: Re: Californians brace for nights of freezing temps
Post by: garbon on January 14, 2013, 09:42:57 AM
Most Californian homes I'fe been in have had fireplaces.
Title: Re: Californians brace for nights of freezing temps
Post by: PDH on January 14, 2013, 09:45:47 AM
No need to worry.  The sun came up and the temperature shot up to -17.
Title: Re: Californians brace for nights of freezing temps
Post by: mongers on January 14, 2013, 09:47:14 AM
Quote from: Brazen on January 14, 2013, 08:47:17 AM
It's just freezing (0C, 32F) here, with a light sprinkling of snow, and we have severe weather warnings  :rolleyes: :bowler:

A balmy 6C here in central southern England.   :bowler:
Title: Re: Californians brace for nights of freezing temps
Post by: Grey Fox on January 14, 2013, 09:52:28 AM
Quote from: garbon on January 14, 2013, 09:42:57 AM
Most Californian homes I'fe been in have had fireplaces.

Fireplaces aren't good for heating past, like 10 feet, in front of them.
Title: Re: Californians brace for nights of freezing temps
Post by: PDH on January 14, 2013, 09:54:02 AM
Most lowland California homes don't have to worry about prolonged below zero temps either.
Title: Re: Californians brace for nights of freezing temps
Post by: garbon on January 14, 2013, 10:05:05 AM
Quote from: Grey Fox on January 14, 2013, 09:52:28 AM
Quote from: garbon on January 14, 2013, 09:42:57 AM
Most Californian homes I'fe been in have had fireplaces.

Fireplaces aren't good for heating past, like 10 feet, in front of them.

Of course not but then what PDH said.  To what you said - no I'd say that most do not have wood ovens.  Which yeah I agree the mention of firewood struck me as odd too.