So far, this winter has been pretty mild. We’ve managed to avoid the ten-plus inches of snow that hit Chicago this weekend, and the temperatures have been nice overall. There was the Sunday before Christmas which was miserably bitter, but a week later we were in the 60s with thunderstorms, so it’s hard to complain. And then this week comes along… I just hope the City Bus can start in -10F. Three nights this week have a low forecast below zero. I’d understand this if I lived in Duluth or Missoula, but I don’t. I live in central Indiana.
The Sunday before Christmas was the coldest day I can remember. The wind chill never got above minus 20. Fortuntely, I never had to go outside that day. Maybe I should just take the whole week off. The last time temperatures got this low, Martin University in Indianapolis suffered several million dollars worth of damage from a burst pipe, and Fark.com was chock-full of stories about people who burned down their houses by trying to melt frozen pipes with a blowtorch. Please don’t do that.