<p>This is from a station farther south then I am. They are saying Miami might get freezing temps tonight and the Keys are are predicated to have a wind chill in the upper 20s. For gosh sakes it is 9pm and there is already a layer of ice on the car.</p>
<p>The up shot is I turned the hose on just enough outside and cascading over a few things, so maybe the kids will see and ice sculptor in the morning before school.</p>
<p>No, no, disconnect the hose (unless the plumbing is different than here in Texas). You don’t want the water to be in the outside faucet - that’s how it can break your pipes when it freezes. Disconnect hose, wrap faucet in towel, then in plastic if rain is forcast, then duct tape it together.</p>
<p>We bundle up and deal with it. I do feel bad for you people in the south as you just aren’t equipped for it. If it makes you feel any better it was -9 actual temperature here this morning. As for faucets, we have frostproof ones outside. We bring the hoses in around October.</p>
<p>As cold as it was today, the snow was beautiful and my dog ran for sheer joy plowing through it.</p>
<p>Upper 20s? That’s just “chilly” up here … light jacket weather. Minus twenty, now that’s winter coat weather! </p>
<p>BTW, another way to keep outside pipes from freezing is to open the faucet until water trickles out. Moving water doesn’t freeze as quickly as still water.</p>
<p>We have a shut off valve inside the house which we turn off when the water gets cold. Then we drain whatever is left in the pipe and leave the faucet open. Hoses get put away.</p>
<p>We did have one bathroom in our old house that was over a very cold crawl space. We had to leave that faucet trickling when the temperature got down to the teens, though I think the last year in the house we finally got enough insulation in the floor that we might have been all right anyway…</p>
<p>In our place, the outside faucet connects to a pipe that runs up a wall with an additional spigot away from the wall so that it is heated away from the exterior wall.</p>
<p>As far as keeping warm goes, there’s long underwear, fleece (multiple layers), down coats, gloves, hoods, etc.</p>
<p>It hasn’t been this cold in our area in so long I can’t remember. Low of 17 last two nights. We haven’t had any problems but houses down the street had busted sprinkler systems today. Having lived in a really old house when we first married, we learned to insulate the outside pipe coming into the house and leave the water trickling from the faucet at the farthest end of the house from where the pipe enters.</p>
<p>Some of the old houses on piers above the ground get the worst of it if they don’t cut off the water and drain the pipes. Highs here tomorrow in low 50s though so not too bad.</p>
<p>The thing that freaks most southerners out is driving on ice. The whole city usually just about shuts down.</p>
<p>I do feel sorry for you but when I woke up this this morning it was -6 F or -21 C. We Canadians just grin and bear it. Good luck on not having your water line freeze as I know that is a major issue. The other thing to be careful for some of you I guess is that your windshield washer may be just water and that will likely come close to freezing as well and if it does you may burst the reservoir. Not pretty when you need it and very expensive to replace on new cars</p>
<p>We are dealing with it by spending February in Florida. By then hopefully it will warm up in Naples. Several years ago DH promised that if we still lived in Illinois by this year, that we could be snowbirds. So I held him to it, even though it’s only for one month.</p>
<p>Many years ago we drove to Ft. Lauderdale over the new year to spend five days. It was absolutely beautiful weather. When we got back home (in a blizzard), I had an epiphany that I didn’t actually have to live in the north for the rest of my life. And yet here we still are…</p>
<p>And we’ve had pipes freeze and burst that we didn’t even know existed. I used to say that we should just keep the plumber on retainer.</p>
<p>Its the am now and no my pipes did not bust. We have some nice icles having off the bottom of the boat trailer now, and the down side around the pool thinks like a iced over pond.</p>
<p>The Scandinavians have an expression: “There is no bad weather, only bad clothes.” In other words, if you dress for the conditions, you’ll be fine!! </p>
<p>I took the dogs for a long walk yesterday wearing four layers, plus the scarf, hat, mittens, wool socks, and hiking boots. Toasty!</p>
<p>We can bundle up and add more clothes - problem is, down south they don’t have more clothes ;)</p>
<p>It went down to 42 deg in Key West, Miami had snow flurries Saturday night. The freeze has gone on long enough in Florida. I honestly feel sorry for the folks down there who don’t have heat in their homes. I saw where they were running out of space heaters.
After nearly 10 days the strawberry crop will most likely be destroyed. The Sea Turtles and Manatees are freezing to death.</p>
<p>When it finally warms up down there - hopefully before my flight to Fla on the 21st! - it will seem really warm for you!</p>
<p>The jet stream should be moving north soon as the arctic air mass that’s been making our winter so cold finally breaks up. You’ll forget this in February when it’s 70.</p>
<p>I have lived in Madison WI now for over five years after 30 in the DC area. The summers are great, but I can’t believe that this will be our final destination in life. Too darn cold. The summers are pretty nice though. The worse is when it’s cold and gray, which is much too often.</p>