The Core

- 6 degrees F this morning (now) near Chicago.  High today of 2 degrees F.  Wind with gusts up to 40 mph predicted for tonight.

>just winter?

A 1950's winter, yes.  Thing is, we've become accustomed to very mild winters.  Here, in the mid-Atlantic coast, we've had a winter or two in which we never had a frost.

Currently, it is 50f/10c. The forecast lows for the next 3 days is 13f/-10c.  It is usually breezy here, but winds will pick up to 30-35 mph today.

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Related, and likely to accelerate due to energy costs & movement away from fossil fuels, Debbie says.

"The sluggish population growth over the past decade was especially pronounced in the Northeast and Midwest, while the South and West were home to the fastest-growing states. These regional trends largely continued in 2021. Ten of the 17 states that lost residents last year were in the Northeast and Midwest. "


A Third of States Lost Population in 2021 | The Pew Charitable Trusts

https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2022/04/25/a-third-of-states-lost-population-in-2021

>just winter?

Yes.  It's because it's happening on the 3 days before Christmas that makes it a pain.

>A 1950's winter,

Yes.  Meteorology wasn't as fancy in the 1950's so we were more likely to be taken by surprise so that's something.

I was talking to some old guys who were in the National Guard back in the 1950's.  One bad blizzard they were called out to rescure people stuck on the Interstate.  They went out with 2.5 ton trucks and Jeeps.  Pretty soon they got stuck and the National Guard had to break out the half-tracks (left over from World War II) to rescue their own people plus the civilians.  Good times.

We don't get winters like we had in the 40's, 50's and 60's thankfully.

It was -10c in central Texas overnight, -23c with wind chill effect. We're busy sending "thoughts and prayers" to our power grid.

>>50s winter
>all the weather news was how Buffalo NY was "under X feet of snow with more snow on the way." 

2022: "Nowhere was the weather so destructive as it was in New York’s Buffalo. There, nearly two full days of severe blizzard conditions dropped visibility to zero and forced snow into massive drifts, shuttering the snow-hardened city"

America's massive winter storm by the numbers | Stuff.co.nz

https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/us-canada/300774121/americas-massive-winter-storm-by-the-numbers

>Arctic 'bomb cyclone' threatens holiday travel for millions of Americans

Southwest Airlines epic meltdown. 70% of flights cancelled for 3-4 days while they reposition crews. Impossible to contact customer service. The storm was too much for their crew reassignment system. A couple of anonymous employees posted in r/SouthwestAirlines/ letting people know there would be no flights for days, and find other arrangements if possible.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/27/business/southwest-airlines-service-meltdown/index.html

I was lucky to see this early on Twitter+Reddit and find a (very expensive) flight home before 2023. On Delta.