Winter here in MN too. Below freezing for the next week at least. Everything is snow covered. I have some baby kale in the cold frame.

And now -- brought to us by The Weather Channel -- there is another big storm ("Bozeman") out west and heading east!

It was -4F here this morning. I guess it's going to be another one of those winters. But I was thankful for the 6 inches of snow we have gotten in the last few days to help insulate the plants from the cold.

Eeewwwww... it's supposed to go down to 9F here tonight; I think it's time to get out my heavy winter jacket and put the lighter one away!

I'm with you Sandy! Eeewwwwwwww!!!!!

I am so sorry.

Thanks Debra, I guess it's time to start taking better care of my houseplants, 'cuz outdoor gardening is definitely over for a few months!

And another tidbit from the Weather Channel... Barrow, Alaska is warmer than Alabama

Oh my..those temps you are all having are just getting colder. When we used to live in Winnipeg, MB, well, this is the time of the year we do start to get snow. And when our temps get close to -10 to -15 C which will be like your 9F to 5F temps we start plugging our cars to an external outlet otherwise it will be difficult to make it start up. Hope your cars are in sheltered areas!

Tarev, I've been there, done that with the engine block heater... for some reason, people don't seem to use them as much anymore here Fortunately we have an attached garage that rarely goes below freezing (I can store my onions and potatoes there, unless we have an extreme winter like last year, then I had to move them to a different area), and we're retired so the vehicles don't stay out anywhere else for extended periods of time. Winter seems to be starting rather early even for here, though -- I really, REALLY hope it isn't going to be a repeat of last year

I think the block heaters are not mandatory here..in Canada it is..because of the extreme cold.
Yeah, hopefully this early snow/cold event is not a precursor of much worst conditions when actual winter sets in.

We are at minus 20 ºC or about minus 4 º F this morning.
With the wind chill, it will feel like minus 27 ºC, or minus 10 ºF.
But the sun will shine, and we can bundle up, and go out and about.
It will be about minus 5 ºC or about 22 ºF this afternoon.
Next week there are several days being forecast as about 0 ºC or about 32 ºF.

These cold spells are harder for those of you in the South.
We expect them every year-although not this cold,-- this early.

It is interesting how these weather patterns develop--so Alaska is warmer than the south
parts of North America.

I agree--there IS something attention-getting about Kodiak and Barrow, Alaska being warmer than Dallas, Texas. Strange stuff.

We've been a little cooler than Caroline with our high next week suppose to be 19F. We had -1F this morning which is an improvement over yesterday. It does seem earlier than normal to be this cold, but then how do you define "normal" when you are talking about weather..

I have just read there is some active volcanic activity in Pavlof volcano in Alaska right now..hope if it does erupt it will not exacerbate effects on weather patterns. It may be far from property lines so damage will not be much but ash cloud and such, it will surely affect our hemispheres somehow.

4susiesjoy said:We've been a little cooler than Caroline with our high next week suppose to be 19F.

Only a true northerner would call those temps "a little COOLER," Susie!

We were positively warm here this morning, then... at 14F !

Cold is really relative depending on where you live. I've been living here for 20 plus years and we've had actual temps(not wind chill) on rare occasions at almost -60F so anything above zero doesn't seem to bad. The hard part is when we go from 60F to the 20s in a week and pretty much stay there. Both the body and mind get a little overwhelmed with the change and the temperament gets a little cranky!

Yikes, as far as I know, -40F is the coldest we've ever had since I've been here (40+ years) ! I guess that's why you are zone 3b and I'm in zone 4b... (well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it, even if the new USDA zone map says we are 5a!). Probably hard to actually tell the difference between -40 and -60, though...