Another cold blast. Keep the stove hot!

[Backwoods Savage]

For those who might be getting low on wood, you had best be getting some on hand. This cold that is coming might not be as bad as the last one but plenty of below zero temps mean keeping the stove humming.

Another Arctic front moving in will give another cold weekend. This to be followed by several storms moving across the U.S. next week. Right now it looks like the storms will miss Michigan but probably will hit mainly along the Ohio River area before the folks out east get theirs.

An interesting little story I found this morning concerning January 23:

1/23/09 In 24 hours ending at 4 a.m. MST this morning, temperatures in Cut Bank, Mont. plunged from 40° to minus 4°. That, however, pales in comparison to the 24-hour drop in temperature that nearby Browning, Mont. experienced on this day in 1916. Temperatures started that day at 44°, then plummeted in the wake of an arctic front to minus 56°. That equals a 100-degree drop, which set the world record for the greatest 24-hour variation in temperature.

Sort of makes you shiver just reading about it. Think I'll go split some more wood...

 

[PunKid8888]

Yup 100 degree difference in temp is pretty epic

 

[JustWood]

Bring it !! The ice is on and the Perch Slabs are startin' to pile up .

 

[Valhalla]

Thanks for the weather forecast. I thought we were having a midwinter thaw of 15F.

 

[Slow1]

We're hitting close to 40 here - 39 predicted anyway. I plan to go dig up my woodpile when I get home from work in a few hours since the snow should be a bit softer. Hopefully I can get enough moved onto the deck for the next week or so before dark. Never know what the weather really will bring, but somehow I bet this cold isn't going away very soon so I'll enjoy this "warm" day while it lasts.

 

[Northern NH Mike]

We hit a balmy 31 degrees in northern NH today. No sun, but a bit of a "tropical" breeze from the south. Took advantage of the weather to rearrange one of my piles, clear the snow off the cover of the second cord, rearrange the wood in the garage and clean some snow and ice off the roof. Looks like today might have been the annual January Thaw.

 

[gibson]

The old January thaw! Got up to 35* today and some of that bulletproof ice on my driveway melted. This is definitely an "old school" RI winter. I like it.

 

[lexybird]

45 yesterday today high is 12 or so ,glad i got my wood loaded downstairs yesterday ,nothing worse than loading wood in your house when its like an arctic tundra whipping frigid wind at 4o mph

 

[northwinds]

Ten below this morning, and the house dropped to 66 after a reload last night at 10:00 p.m.
Burned down the coals with a couple of small splits of poplar. Then I loaded up the biggest
piece of unsplittable gnarly wood that has ever fit through the stove doors of my Isle Royale. Had to turn
it two times before fitting through the doors. Its previous life was spent holding down tarps on woodpiles.

Caught fire quickly--I left the remaining coal bed spread throughout the whole firebox because I thought it
might have trouble starting. Laid small splits on the sides and on the front. Cruising at 625, but I'll keep
a close eye on the stove this morning to make sure it doesn't stall or get away.

 

[PapaDave]

Def. not as cold as the last one, woke to a balmy 0 deg. this morning.
Since it's been in the 20's the last couple of days, I moved 2/3 cord up near the front porch. Stove is right through the front door, well not THROUGH the front door, that'd be chilly, but a few feet inside the front door.
Nice time to reflect on how the wood usage is going and other stuff, too.
Hoping this will last the month of Feb., but doubtful.

Getting a log load this spring to chew through over the summer. Next years wood is c/s/s out back. Hoping to get at least 2 yrs. ahead this year. Dry wood is da bomb!

 

[Steve Z]

Don't think it will be near as bad as last one. Here in Maine it's almost 30 today and the icicles are dripping. The wind is picking up though which generally means a change is coming. Supposed too drop too -4 overnight and hang in the singles +/- for the daily highs and nightly lows. I'll keep the old Glenwood on bisquits and the Jotul on half throttle. My wood is holding up well. I'm into the best stuff and should take me till end of April.

 

[gyrfalcon]

Just at 0 here, which seems perfectly fine after last weekend's -20 and -12 in succession. Worse was threatened by the weather people a few days ago, but for some reason it hasn't materialized.

I have to say that although my little Tribute stove just isn't big enough to heat my main area well when it gets this cold, given its small size and preferred 400-450 cruising temperature, the darn thing is a real skinflint on wood consumption. Including the vast amounts I burned trying to keep up with -20 last weekend, I've only used about a cord of wood so far this year running 24/7 (minus the 4 or 5 hours at night after it's consumed its last load). That's pretty terrific. I only had less than 3 cords starting out and I was worried whether I'd get through the winter without running out. But my woodshed is still half full and I've got about a half cord of most ly rock maple and beech still in outside stacks. Pretty neat.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Now for the latest: They seem to think there just might be a huge ice storm this week! The only good thing about that is that they think it will miss us folks in Michigan. Hooray!

 

[gpcollen1]

Was 1 this AM when I got up - 5:30ish. In the teens today here.

Latest reports from my 4 digital thermostats in the house: 74, 77, 79 and 80. 3 stoves are running and loving it...

 

[Valhalla]

Glad that many here enjoyed a few degrees increase over the days past. We did not, however I do enjoy the slightly longer days and the warmer sun, when it is not cloudy.