photos from the brutal cold that swept the US last week

[Opti]

Here are the craziest and most picturesque photos from the brutal cold that swept the US last week

My favorite is the one in Alaska, number 7 in the slideshow. I am disappointed with the Chicago Area picture. There were far better in the news including crashes and stranded vehicles. 

www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/here-are-the-craziest-and-most-picturesque-photos-from-the-brutal-cold-that-swept-the-us-last-week/ss-BB1h2mTf?ocid=msedgntp&pc=DCTS&cvid=4bc83585d7cd44648ccaa48a8cc676c2&ei=27#image=1

[Opti]

Looks like you might need to go to the URL to get the slideshow. They picked the falls in Patterson for their NJ pic.




In Paterson, New Jersey, ice blanketed portions of the 77-foot waterfall, turning it into an icy dreamland. Some disregarded warnings of the freeze to capture photos in the ice.

[Tiny]

IDK,  the Chicago one was just about right.   Snow on cars in a storage lot (maybe a dealer's lot maybe)?   Pretty Meh.   And that's pretty much what the bad weather was like.  The slow progression of a storm that has periods in between of doing nothing  don't always make for a spectacular storm here.   The round of bad weather was pretty meh.  sure there is snow/ice on the ground but it came slowly which means people (and suburbs/cities) were able to keep their sidewalks/streets and alleys clear.    With the melt off right at the beginning of the storm sequence there are no big piles of snow everywhere.      

Sure, it's cold.  But haven't had bitter near 0 degree F day after day after day.  It's pretty much been in the 30's (with colder over night).    As far as Chicago winter's go - it's pretty Meh.   Which is NICE!!   I like it.   

I do feel bad for all the places that don't typically get snow (or ice storms) that are getting them now.   Not being prepared (the ability to have clear streets) is always bad.  The possibility that lots of people will be without heat and electricity (or gas)  for many days - especially when they aren't use to have COLD along with that outage is also bad.  (I imagine most of the places hit by the cold/snow  are more likely to have long power outages during warmer weather - from storms/tornadoes.  )    

I'm biased.   I really like winter (January and February are my favorite months of the year).   I like snow and even the bitter cold (as long as I don't have to be out in it for long periods of time.)   I hope everyone  is safe and warm and dry and can ride out the winter weather without too much distress/discomfort.   
 
ADDED:  when there's a 24 to 36 hour period with constant falling snow and we get 10 or more inches of accumulation followed by constant winds (so the snow blows) and then once the wind really gets going the temps drop into the low teens with below 0 temps over night.    That's the kind of storm that shuts down Chicago and Chicagoland.  (you can usually travel within your suburb or community but any other travel is troublesome as some roads are not cleared passable).  That's when you see people doing dibs on the parking spot they cleared.   That's when many suburbs and Chicago communities open shelters for those who don't have heat. 

[pulmonarymd]

I agree. Here in New England it was cold, but nothing out of the ordinary. Also did not get a prolonged cold spell where it got into the single digits and never got out of the 20s. It is cold here in January. It snows. It is what it is. I remember a few years back when my son was ski racing, every race but 1 it was either below zero when we left the house or below zero at the mountain. Now that was cold!

[azucena]

This shows how icy it was in StL.


www.ksdk.com/article/news/local/watch-video-fire-truck-spinning-crashing-icy-road-imperial/63-034d0d14-ac56-47b0-9f30-a30ee3dd164b

[Tiny]

Jan 23, 2024 11:26:30 GMT -5 azucena said:

This shows how icy it was in StL.


www.ksdk.com/article/news/local/watch-video-fire-truck-spinning-crashing-icy-road-imperial/63-034d0d14-ac56-47b0-9f30-a30ee3dd164bIt 

Yes. Ice is far worse than snow. Ice will bring down trees and power wires and damage roofs.

I know Ice/Ice storms are the Big Bad thing for those in the southern parts of Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky and Tennessee (I have family/friends in those States). And it doesn't take much to coat everything with ice.


That was some amazing luck that the firetruck didn't hit a house or tree. I bet the driver was doing a "OH HECK!" and doing what they hoped would influence the sliding truck to avoid hitting anything. Once you are in full on free sliding - there's not much you can do - no matter if you are in a car or huge fire truck. I'm glad no one got hurt and the damage was minimal. I hope the fire truck didn't sustain any hidden damage.

[Tennesseer]

Jan 23, 2024 11:46:03 GMT -5 Tiny said:

Jan 23, 2024 11:26:30 GMT -5 azucena said:

This shows how icy it was in StL.


www.ksdk.com/article/news/local/watch-video-fire-truck-spinning-crashing-icy-road-imperial/63-034d0d14-ac56-47b0-9f30-a30ee3dd164bIt 

Yes. Ice is far worse than snow. Ice will bring down trees and power wires and damage roofs.

I know Ice/Ice storms are the Big Bad thing for those in the southern parts of Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky and Tennessee (I have family/friends in those States). And it doesn't take much to coat everything with ice.


That was some amazing luck that the firetruck didn't hit a house or tree. I bet the driver was doing a "OH HECK!" and doing what they hoped would influence the sliding truck to avoid hitting anything. Once you are in full on free sliding - there's not much you can do - no matter if you are in a car or huge fire truck. I'm glad no one got hurt and the damage was minimal. I hope the fire truck didn't sustain any hidden damage.

In February, 2022, I lost power for a week due to an ice storm here in Memphis. I moved to Memphis in February, 1994 and the city was still shut down from an ice storm two weeks earlier. The power was still out in some areas of Memphis and SW Tennessee three weeks after I moved here. Ice storms are terrible.

[pulmonarymd]

I'd rather a foot of snow than ice. Ice storms just paralyze an area.

[teen persuasion]

Day 4?5?6? of fog, after the quick warm-up rebound after the snow. We got only 20" or so of snow, spread over several days so manageable; mom & dad in the snow belt got 80".

Well, the quick thaw and rain has led to flooding. My library had a flooded basement, we're guessing it was a backup in the storm drains, because things were knocked over like a tidal wave ran thru. That's where we store donated/weeded books for book sales. All ruined, hundreds of boxes of books, plus supplies like paper goods.


This weird warm weather in winter isn't normal, or wasn't before. It got cold, snowed every few days, gradually built up snow piles all winter, with the occasional blizzard until the lake froze over and the LES machine shut off, and melted gradually in the spring. Our new normal seems to be alternating extremes of too warm to snow, and crazy LES multi day blizzards because the lake never freezes, and back to rapid warming causing floods. And repeat.

[djAdvocate]

how many did it kill?

over 100?