This first picture (below) is looking through my south bedroom window. It's got a storm window but the outside pane is covered in feathers of ice. The sun's shining at least.
Another shot of the sun slanting through the glass, illuminating the ice. The "Pipe Brigade" was activated last night - I took the 2:30 a.m. shift - and all was well. We have the furnaces set to 64 degrees (about all they'll handle with the icy cold wind) and two kerosense space heaters running in the kitchen. All was well. It was actually pretty cozy-warm to walk into the orange glow of the kitchen mid-way through the night.
At the north second floor window at the top of the steps, thin threads of ice cross the glass (below). It's quite a different affect from the south side. Here on the north, the sun is hidden and the wind blows harder. It looks like there's more snow than there is: probably no more than an inch. But with a clear moonlit sky, the temperature fell off a cliff as soon as the sun set.
Want proof? Here's a graph of how the outside temperture fell overnight. You can see our 4 degree high to the left side of the graph and the -12 low to the right. It's climbing rapidly now that the sun's up.
One more night of this and then we should recover into the 20's by tomoroow afternoon. How sick I am of winter. That's rare for me to say, one who loves snow. But as an adult, as one who knows the cost of the cold, it's an entirely different matter.
