Ahira's Hangar

I'd go with the heavy coat, Menolly. If you're not acclimated to the cold, 40 degrees could well feel like -20. And that's even before factoring in the wind chill. (It's been in the 40s here this week, after a decently warm autumn; I spent the first couple of days freezing my tuchus off....)

My dad spent part of WWII in Iceland, stopped in Chicago for a bit, then went down to North Carolina to work with a buddy he'd met in the war. People there would put on a winter coat when it got down around, I dunno, 45 or 50, and marvel at Dad for being in his shirtsleeves.

Layers are an excellent idea. I'd seriously recommend getting a winter hat. You lose a lot of heat out of your head; if that's covered, you'll feel warmer.

Oh, and have a terrific time!

Winter really showed up beginning yesterday, temperature-wise. Earmuffs are a good thing. And mitts. And a down coat.

I love down; I make a point of buying only winter jackets that are down-filled. And I don't quite understand why they should be heavy: the great thing about down is that it's light yet super warm.

It was a lovely sunny day here today but it never made it up to freezing.

About two hours from here is a little Ontario town on the shore of Lake Huron, a little to the northeast of the Port Huron/Sarnia border crossing. The Great Lakes snow maching engine is operating on full right now; this little town is in Huron's snowbelt.

Right now they have forty inches of wet heavy snow on the ground AND they are forecast to get another twenty over this weekend.

And it is not even December yet. And this little Ontario town will have something like sixty inches on the ground by Monday.

It is called Grand Bend, Ontario.

And people sometimes ask me why I left the Midwest.

Moonwalker, I have a history of being allergic to feather pillows, so I'm leery of down in coats and so on. Some of the new polyester fills are almost as light and warm -- I'm thinking particularly of Thinsulate. (And as a bonus, polyester-filled sleeping bags don't turn into a soggy, lumpy mess if they get wet. )

All good points, ali. I hadn't considered allergies. Yeah, down is useless if it gets wet. Thinsulate is pretty good; I usually look for gloves that have it.

Beautiful snowy day.

Cold, though. Our Canadian neighbors are sharing their Arctic air with us this week.

Yep, cold is the word here. But I'm still heading out shortly...mainly because I'm nuts.

Really? That's good to know, MsMary! Not sure I'm willing to spend several hundred bucks on a down coat to test that theory, tho....

Yesterday they ahd big winter storm warnings across the Lake in Wisconsin. I was sort of expecting more of the same here today, but it suddenly got above freezing for the first time in a while today. So instead of getting ten inches of snow we are getting a boatload of rain. Most of the snow we had has melted and the ground has started thawing. Plus with all of the rain (still coming down) it is very humid. So the result is pea soup fog tonight.

Good night to be home and drink herbal tea.

Boiling hot here, with afternoon thundershowers. Surprising typical weather for this time of year.

--A

Looks like it will be a super snowy Christmas this year! We got four inches of snow the other night, will be getting up to ten inches of snow tonight (Monroe is supposed to get six inches and Ann Arbor ten, so we should be somewhere in between the two), and there are supposed to be more snow storms coming in on Sunday and on Christmas Eve! It is not supposed to be getting above freezing in the meantime, so we are going to have a ton of snow on the ground!

Environment Canada forecasted SNOWMAGEDDON for us as well. Hopefully that also means milder temperatures to come. I'm getting tired of this deep freeze we're in.

Yes, we are nicely warm for winter right now, chugging along less than ten degrees below freezing (in the twenties farenheit). I looked up you guys' temps and holy crap it is cold out there in the upper plains!

It is possible that the very cold is giving you a headache? Do you have a nice warm scarf to breathe through?

The storm is due in in about three hours, so I will be nice and safely home in my soft warm bed when it hits. And tomorrow is my day off, so I can watch Christmas movies and drink hot chocolate all day and not have to drive at all.

My kind of winter storm.